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Statesman wrote:
If attacked by a bear, will a series of .45 rounds stop a grizzly bear? I'm assuming they will bounce off their thick skulls, and one should fire at their throat our abdomen (heart).
Unfortunately, a .45 is a grossely inadequate caliber for stopping a grizzly.
This fact is welldocumented in the books "Alaska Bear Tales" and "More Alaska Bear Tales"by Larry Kaniut, whichdocument an eye-opening anthologyof hundreds of real-life accounts of bear attacks in Alaska.
Many of these big bruins sustained multiple hits from large caliber rifles before finally succumbing to their wounds, but not before shredding the shooter to bits first.
Forget a body shot with any pistol caliber! Your chances of hitting the heart are slim and even if you did pierce the heart it will take a while for the bear to die from pericardial tamponade or shock.
Ditto with a throat shot.Because ahumanneck has much vulnerable anatomy, a GSWis likely fatal.However, it is doubtful that a pistol shot to the neck of a bear will paralyze the animal or cause it to exsanguinate from a carotid arteryhit.
Your only hope is a well placed face shot; too high and the bullet will ricochet off the forhead, and too low will break the jaw really pissin' off the bear.
Bear spray (if used properly) is actually far more effective than any pistol. My advice is that if you don't carry at least a .223 caliber weapon in Griz country, have bear spray in addition to the pea-shooter pistol.
