It seems like this topic is devolving into each person's personal experiences with which can arguably be different than another person's. For example, in my personal experience, hunting black bears with a 270 works well. I haven't got a bear with the non leaded ammo (TTSX) but have had very good performance with Remington's 270 Core-Lokt 130 grain. I haven't shot a bear with a pistol but am currently looking for a pistol, caliber & ammo that I consider sufficient. I don't plan on hunting blackies with just a pistol but want to have a backup pistol for when I'm field dressing deer, scouting or changing out SD cards in game cameras. At this point, I am thinking a Glock 10mm to begin with and then transition into a Ruger 41 or 44 mag. But that's just me.

I have read a lot of online information from several people who guide and/or hunt a LOT of black bear, some of them over 100 black bear kills. All of those people seem to think a 10mm, 41 or 44 mag are good black bear pistol calibers for hunting. If a black bear was charging me, I like the crumple effect of a 44 mag with heavy bullets (not JHP) but can also see the value of multiple shots from a Glock 10mm platform since I have extensive experience with Glocks in 9, 40 and 45 calibers.

In reading this topic, people are all over the map on calibers and guns. It looked like everybody is talking about black bears since grizzlies/browns would admittedly be a different subject and consideration. Most of the posts appear to be about hunting bears, not stopping bear attacks. The posts don't specify what style of hunting as in spot and stalk, using hounds to tree a bear or ambush from a tree stand, etc. Each of these methods could present a bear more switched on or not. The posts also don't list a breakdown of bears killed by pistols versus rifles. Mrbb brings up the topic of appropriate ammo but with the members who have posted, I honestly don't think any of them are using JHP ammo designed for people. Each of them is a hunter and I would bet money they used the best hunting bullet(s) available.

Mrbb mentioned many of his hunters taking running shots on bears which is kind of iffy since bears run pretty fast and most people suck at running shots (don't ask me how I know that specifically about black bears). He also mentioned many of his hunters' shots didn't hit vitals. That is also a recipe for a wounded bear or pretty much any other animal getting away. I realize mrbb has other bear experiences and obviously did not have personal control over the quality of shots taken by the group he hunted with. None of us really do. But, people who take bad shots, especially at running animals that are obviously in some kind of flight or fight response, aren't representative of or useful to those of us who plan on taking good shots. And if a black bear is running towards me, it's as many shots at the head and torso/chest area as I can manage. And if it's with a Glock, I can get off a lot of well aimed shots in a short amount of time.

RR, I am very curious to hear about each of those 14 black bear kills. Distance, rifle or pistol, ammo used and bear behavior. The blackies in my area don't want anything to do with people which is a good thing. Even the lions keep a wide berth which is good since they're not on the hunting menu anyway.