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44 spec.
Posted by BrownBear on Jul 15 2005
Good background on your thinking, Jeff, and I agree. I reserve pepper spray for sitations where bullets aren't allowed or might be a bad idea (as with a crowd of people). I'm more concerned about untrained people packing handguns than I am bears, but it sounds like your wife is an ally rather than a threat.
Choosing between the 44 spec and 45 ACP hardball is a little tougher, but I think either would suffice when planted right. Your wife should spend time shooting and carrying both, then choose the one that suits her best.
I have watching all the hullaballoo over penetration, stoppers, and such for a long time. If you're facing off with a bear, odds are you aren't going to need penetration as much as accuracy to travel the short distance into the brain. Bear skulls aren't all that thick or tough, based upon all of them I've handled. I'd be a little concerned about the hardball RN glancing off a skull rather than penetrating on an angled hit, but not about penetration if it hit perpendicular enough to penetrate. I glanced one off a steer head in my youth, but didn't recognize the error in my ways till it subsequently got up in the chute while I was straddling it. Who needs rodeos?
Trying to make up my own mind on the whole theoretical rat stew, I've shot a whole lot of deer with an assortment of handguns over the years. Not that deer have much to do with bears, except that they are flesh rather than newspaper. I found the 44 spec (240 gr) and 45 colt (250 gr) to be surprisingly good rounds, both with Keith-style SWC's at standard velocity. The hardball 45 ACP was not nearly so quick as either of those at putting a deer down. The 38 spec with a 158 gr SWC was much more effective, while the 38 spec w/ 158 gr RN was almost unidistinguishable from 45 ACP hardball. A flat point on the bullet seems to have more to do with quick kills than does bullet diameter. I'm yet to recover any of the above bullets from deer, so who knows which penetrates better?
Have a great trip!
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