Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Guns N Gear Bear defense load?? .45lc

If things fall into place I’ll be headed to Wyoming for a bow elk hunt early fall. Brown bears are there, and I was gonna take my Taurus judge .45 LC for little help if needed be. Few different loads out there, but not sure what all that judge can handle, was looking at buffalo bore ammo, any suggestions or thoughts on the deal. Round and ammo, I’m all ears. Thanks

I read a report they were say harden cast lead was best.

Buffalo Bullets are good for thick skin animals

Now would be a great time to buy a glock 20

Your rifle will serve you better than any handgun. With that said, I lived in AK 27 years and had more bear encounters than I could count. I never felt uncomfortable with a 40 S&W in the woods and have killed several moose with a Glock 22. Most guys who carried handguns for bears carried 44 mags or 454 Casulls and I know guys who have killed brown bears with 44 mags. I've killed brown bears hunting and under Alaska's Defense of Life or Property Statutes, as an LEO. All were killed with a 375 H&H, which was the rifle I grabbed when dealing with problem bears in town. I'm not sure a bullet type, with a handgun, makes a lot of difference. Brain or spinal shots will be the only ways to immediately stop a determined bear. Neither the skull nor the spine are particularly hard to penetrate, but they can be a little difficult to hit under pressure.

The key for bear defense in a handgun is to maximize straight line penetration. This means either hard cast lead or flat nose mono metal. Unfortunately, your judge won’t handle +p loads, and to my knowledge there are no commercially loaded “bear defense” loads for standard pressure 45 colt. A 250 grain bullet at 850-ish fps doesn’t really inspire a lot of confidence for me as a bear defense load. I don’t know what handguns you have available, but if you’ve got a modern autoloader in 9mm, 40 or 45 that can handle +p or +p+ loads, you would be better served using that and some of the great loads from choice ammunition or buffalo bore. The general rule has always been 44 mag and up is ideal for bear defense, if you can shoot it effectively, but anything is better than throwing rocks. If you’ve had to buy something new you’d probably have a hard time beating the value/utility of a Glock 20. When I went to Alaska, I took a 6” 629 shooting 300 grain WFN hard cast at 1300 fps, and it definitely helped me sleep better at night, I absolutely would not have wanted anything less. When you’re in a tent in bear county, 400 miles from anything in the pitch black and you hear noises in the night, spending a few bucks on a gun that inspires confidence seemed like the smartest choice I ever made. Whatever you decide on, buy extra ammo and practice with your gun, it’ll be a whole different animal with bear loads.

Leave the Judge at home and carry a 9mm with hard cast lead.

I think the judge with full house BB loads would be worse for your health than the bear.

I have a judge but I question it's effectiveness beyond 5 ft after watching YouTube videos of tests.

The best patterns were with buckshot IIRC. The rest had a huge spread beyond a few feet.

The answer is the Ruger Alaskan in .454.

I got one as well. It serves it's purpose but it's typical Taurus quality.