Is a 45ACP enough medicine

[Mr. Longbeard]

Do you think a 45 ACP is enough to stop a 300-400 pound black bear???

[Vapodog]

No

[Rebel Hog]

I know that a .44 Mag w/ JSP ammo will.

[Briman]

Do you think a 45 ACP is enough to stop a 300-400 pound black bear???

Yes, but probably not fast enough to do you any good.

[RedAllison]

ML if all I had to stop a POd blackie was a 45ACP then I would be greatful. BUT it is not anywhere near what I would want to use to actually hunt one or cleanly (and quickly) kill one with. The season before last I purposefully decided to try out a 45ACP on deer just to see what would happen.

I have a buddy with an old pushbolt 45ACP rifle with about a 16" barrel and a 3x9 scope on it. It is very easy to pop cans and bottles with it @ 100yds but he had never tried it on deer. So I bought some warm MagTech +P hollowpoints that certainly should've been flyin as fast as an ACP can push em. I got in a bowstand (don't worry it was gun season!) and waited. Shortly a doe flew by with a little buck hot on her trail. She ran by one time to fast to shoot. But she looped around and came back about 10 minutes later. This time she stopped perfectly broadside @ only 15yds, I couldnt've asked for a better shot.

When I shot her she went down in the front end and scooted about 10' and then got her front legs back under her and took off (the lil buck just stood around wanderin what happened). I continued hunting and took her trail after about 2 hours. She bled poorly and if I hadn't known her travel path (it was a narrow strip of woods) I would've lost her trail through the rustled leaves. Anyway I found her dead a good 250yds away and the damned coyotes had started on her hindquarters! [:@]

The shot had taken her cleanly in the right lung but didn't penetrate the left lung!(That's why she didn't bleed much and ran so far.)I would've thought that at that range and with warm loads she should've had a hole in each side of her. I decided then that there would be no more hunting with a .45ACP for me. As much as I would like to use my Para LDA "Black Watch" SSP, I am not willing to risk loosing or wounding an animal.

I thought and talked about it with others (on this site as well) and we came too the conclusion that the ACP just doesn't have the velocity to push hollowpoints through big game animals. If I were take that exact same shot again I believe I would've been better of with ball ammo. It probably would've at least penetrated both lungs if it did'nt exit through the body cavity on the otherside.

Penetration is key too taking ANY animal IMHO. It's a prerequisite for dangerous game in Africa (and big bears in CAN and AK) and also for bowhunting so why should it not also apply for deer and blackie sized game?

I would rather have my 357Mag S&W than my Para if I were going to try and kill anything other than an intruder with it. If you are looking for a big game pistol then start with at least a 44Mag IMHO!!!
RA

[Roskoe]

I helped a guy skin a 300 lb. black bear back in the 1988. We noticed it had anhealed-over injury in its front shoulder. There in the muscle tissue was a 200 grain .45 lead SWC bullet. Not very impressive.

[HighDesertWolf]

ORIGINAL: Mr. Longbeard

Do you think a 45 ACP is enough to stop a 300-400 pound black bear???

noway, but you might see about getting a 460 rowland conversion for your im assuming a 1911. that 460 rowland pushes a 230 grain pill nearly 1350 fps. which is pretty much identical to the power of a 44 mag.

[uncle matt]

.45 ACP was simply designed for shooting thin skinned humans. It does a dang good job on them too, with well placed shots giving quick kills and poorly placed shots tearing things up well enough to usually bleed em out.

For a bear? I'm not saying it couldn't kill a 300 or 400lb bear. But certainly wouldn't be on my hip.

[Mr. Longbeard]

Thanks for the input... I have a lot of bears were I hunt and and I spend a lot of time in the woods, turkey scouting, bow hunting. And I have seen quite a few and these bad boys and theyare not small!!!! I have yet to see one under 300lbs... I was leaning towards the 45 because it is pretty easy to tote around in the woods... I also have a M629 44 mag. I guess I'll start to taking that

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: Mr. Longbeard

Do you think a 45 ACP is enough to stop a 300-400 pound black bear???

Depends on what you mean by "stop". I would never shoot a black bear, or any other bear, with a .45 ACP unless I had nothing else to defend myself with, and was about to get bit, or worse! This goes for ANY OTHER HANDGUN, as well, although there are admittedly a few rounds that are enough better that it would be less of a problem. I for one would not shoot any bear that was not menacing me with any handgun. If you want to hunt bear, use a high-intensity rifle round with a bullet heavy enough for the job!

OTOH, I have proven to myself that the .45 ACP GI hardball 230-grain load has sufficient penetration to go through the head of a black bear and several inches into the dirt beneath that head. I did this by shooting my Colt Gold Cupusing .45 ACPball ammo into the top of a black bear's skull from a distance of about three feet, then digging up the bullet after moving the bear. However, in order to defend yourself against a bear with a handgun, you have to place the bullet on the end of the bear's nose as he is approaching you so that the bullet travels up the nasal passage into the brain. This is the ONLY hit that you can depend on to stop the bear instantly, and if he is charging you fast enough, he might just land on you when he falls. This is a tricky shot, because if it goes high it can glance over the bear's forehead doing little damage. If it goes low into the front of the chest, it might eventually result in a dead bear, but not soon enough to save your bacon!

Your .44 Maggie is a much better choice for bear protection, AND I recommend that you use HARD-CAST Keith-type semiwadcutter or LBT style flatnose bullets in it, NOT jacketed hollowpoints that make big holes but don't penetrate sufficiently