What Would Be The Minimal Firearm To Disable or Kill A Grizzly Bear?

Question

A friend and I were having a debate on what we thought what kind of firearm weapon it would take to disable or kill a mad grizzly bear who attacked you in the woods if it was truly life threatening and you couldn't run away and escape. I told him I thought a .22 magnum up to a .38 pistol with a minumum of 6 shots could take down an adult grizzly bear, probably a powerful female.

Now I am not a hunter and have no desire to harm any animal in the wilderness, but I was curious about firearms. My friend laughed and said a 22 or .38 would only make the bear madder and wouldn't do much to disable it, unless you might get a lucky shot through the bear's eyes or ear.

Anyone know how much firepower it would take to disable a bear attack?

Answer 1

While it is quite clear that you know nothing of large game, and not a lot about handguns, your supposition is not without merit.

The largest grizzly ever killed was killed with one shot from a Stevens Favorite .22 Long. The bear had his head through a window trying to enter a cabin, and an Inuit woman stuck the muzzle of her rifle in the bear's ear and pulled the trigger. Result, lots of bear meat to be preserved and a big hide to tan.

With that said, you'd be more likely to catch me hiking naked that going through grizzly country with a pop-gun. At a minimum, I'd carry a heavy loaded .44 RemMag, or .45 LC revolver. By preference, I'd have a Marlin M-1895-G loaded with Garrett Cartridge Co.'s 540 gr. Hammerheads.

I read a statement from an Alaskan Game Warden, who said that he'd never heard of a bear attack being stopped with a handgun.

Your buddy is pretty well right.

doc

Answer 2

Quick answer: You are... Wrong. Forget the .22 and forget the .38 Special.

One Grizzly at the turn of the Twentieth Century was terrorizing the Territory of Wyoming. The Territorial Government offer a $10,000 in gold reward to the hunter who brought this bear in dead. Many tried to earn that reward money and were never seen or heard from again. Years later a rusted out rifle or belt buckle was found.

The Grizzly was finally killed by a man who trained a dozen dogs and had a custom .30-40 Krag rifle built for the task. (The .30-40 is not an especially powerful rifle but it is way more powerful than any .22 Magnum or .38 Special). While the bear killed his dogs the hunter emptied and reloaded his rifle into the bear not missing a single shot. After methodically killing each of his dogs the bear started walking slowly toward him intent on inflicting the same fate on the hunter. The hunter's rifle was now empty for the third time. Rather than reload the entire magazine the hunter opted to load a single round. He aimed carefully between the bear's ears and fired. This final shot killed the Grizzly but the Grizzly got to put one huge paw on the hunter's boot before it died.

Once the bear was dressed it was found to have over a hundred big caliber rifle bullets in its body that had been there for years. The biggest surprise was when they found five bullets lodged in the brain. These rounds had been fired up from the underside of the bear's head by revolvers, presumable just before the bear killed the persons doing the shooting. They too were different calibers.

Even smaller bears can absorb a lot of lead. If I were hunting Grizzly I'd opt for at least a .458 Winchester magnum rifle and nothing smaller for backup than a .44 Magnum with a six inch barrel.

Best.

H

Answer 3

"Can you?" is very different from "Should you?" Can you disable a grizzly with a 22 magnum or 38 special? Yes, if you're good and probably a little lucky. Should you depend on those calibers? No! Black bears are smaller and less aggressive than grizzlies, and a .44 magnum is generally considered the smallest caliber you can count on to stop a black bear, it is certainly the smallest caliber I would feel comfortable with facing a grizzly. Most of the people I know consider the 30-06 the smallest acceptable caliber for grizzlies with 7mm magnum and 300 Winchester magnum being preferred. I even know people who insist that the .45 caliber range (45-70; .460 Weatherby; 458 Lott; etc.) is the only thing you can actually count on. I've never actually depended on one, but I do know people who depend on a short barreled shotgun loaded with various combinations of slugs and OO buckshot for "protection" against bears (black and grizzly) when they're in the woods.

Answer 4

many times with a huge high quality rifle say a .30-06 Springfield or better with a minimum of a a hundred and eighty grain looking around. not that i might, yet as quickly as I hunted grizzly bear i might have a devoted bear gun. Of the rifles I already very own it would a sort of: Remington 673 instruction manual Rifle in .350 Remington Magnum Ruger #a million stainless in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum Ruger #a million-H in .458 Winchester Magnum The .4-5-8 could be my first determination simply by super combating potential, albeit like my different Ruger it quite is a single shot. nonetheless, i will reload it immediately for followup photos that with bear are regularly mandatory. The 4 around total technique of my .350 magazine. provides the sole 'benefit' over the bigger bore Rugers I very own. different calibers common in massive bear united states are all of the 7mm Mags, the .3 hundred Mags, the .338 Mags and the previous standbys: The .30-06 Springfield and the .308 Winchester. those 2 I evaluate the bare minimum for grizzly bear. H

Answer 5

If you don't know the answer, don't fool around in bear territory. Don't ever go after game of any kind with minimum equipment.
There used to be a fellow who hunted and killed grizzly bears with a Stevens Crackshot, single shot .22. He didn't just grab it up and say, "I'm gonna go kill a grizzly." He was an expert marksman who knew the only place you can kill a bear with a .22 was shoot straight in between the nose holes or at a slight up angle into an eye socket. There a lot more calibers than .22 or .38 that won't penetrate a bear's skull
I would recommend at least a lever action .30-30 for quick second shot, and hit him where he can't out run you if don't kill him.

Answer 6

I'm siding with your friend. A pistol would only piss off a grizzly bear. Sorry I can't give you an exact caliber but you would need a high power hunting rifle to effectively take out or kill a bear unless you get a really really lucky shot. By the time you aim the bear is already chewing your head off. Have you ever seen how thick a grizzlys skull and hide is? My uncle bowhunts bear. Bear "pepper spray" might be more effective than a pistol.

Answer 7

Man you better do some very serious research because people pumped up on drugs (and or alcohol) don't go down after being shot with a 22 or 38spl. And you don't point a firearm at an animal unless you plan on making a clean kill, never disable. I am sure that you be a little pissed off if someone took poor shot placement on you, so think what would happen if you hit a wild animal like a 1000lb. bear.

Rifle: 7mm mag or 338 Win mag as a minimum

Answer 8

A .22WMR or .38 would not penetrate a bears bone mass. My friend who is an EMT picked up a guy who tried to commit suicide by pointing a .38 special point blank at his chest and lived. The bullet got stuck in his sternum! Bear bone mass is going to be much stronger obviously.... If your talking self defense then maybe somethng like .454 casull in revolver or .44 magnum. Unloading any light caliber into a bear is not going to do any good. A charging bear needs to be knocked backwards by a powerful round. Even if you uloaded 5 .243 shots into a bear it would still come forward from inertia. There are all kinds of stories about a bear mauling a man and then dying seconds afterwards from gunshot wounds. When adrenaline is going that will keep coming till you put something into that not only injures it, but is powerful enough to push it back.

Answer 9

Your friend is right. It would not even slow it down. For close in work, nothing beats a 18 1/2 or 20" 12 gauge pump shotgun loaded up wtih slugs to stop a big bear in it's tracks. Most experienced hunters or guides say that the minimum rifle caliber for Griz is a 375 H&H. In big bear country, if I was limoted to carrying a handgun, I'd carrry one of the new S&W revolvers in 500S&W. There are a lot of other handgun and rifle cartriges that would work as well, these are just my personal choices. But for certain, no .22 or .38spcl revolver should even be considered as adequate to stop any but the smallest game.
Good question though.

Answer 10

If I was going up against a bear face to face, I want to make sure that I have a high powered rifle capable of semi-automatic or better yet fully-automatic fire.

At long range, I would probably use something like .338 Lapua magnum.

I know it may be more than enough to kill a grizzly bear, but don't take your chances.

I'd rather live shooting a bear 20 times with my FAL than die trying to kill it with a .38 special.