Grizzly Bear Defense

[Shotgun]

I just watched a video of a guy shooting .40 hardcast (Grizzly ammo) through upwards of 11 jugs of water. That seems like a lot of penetration. If penetration is the key, does it really matter if you are shooting 9mm, .40, .45 or 10mm just as long as you get deep penetration?

[GJM]

You guys are gonna get me to pull the USPc .40 out of the safe....

Let us know how it goes. Not a Compact, but I have a few USP FS .40 pistols, and have seen some stoppages with flat profile bullets. Not observed that with the USP FS 9/45.

[GJM]

I just watched a video of a guy shooting .40 hardcast (Grizzly ammo) through upwards of 11 jugs of water. That seems like a lot of penetration. If penetration is the key, does it really matter if you are shooting 9mm, .40, .45 or 10mm just as long as you get deep penetration?

I don't think it matters much as long as your gun is reliable with that ammo.

[MickAK]

I just watched a video of a guy shooting .40 hardcast (Grizzly ammo) through upwards of 11 jugs of water. That seems like a lot of penetration. If penetration is the key, does it really matter if you are shooting 9mm, .40, .45 or 10mm just as long as you get deep penetration?

My opinion is it becomes a moral issue if you're spending enough time in bear country being quiet and dragging around bloody game.

There's no replacement for displacement. The deeper penetrating loads and calibers are more likely to result in a bear that crawls off in the brush and dies vs. crawls off in the brush and suffers and possibly jumps the people sent in to euthanize it.

Otherwise I don't think it's likely to make much of a difference if a bear breaks off a charge or not. It will make a difference if the pistol malfunctions, or you drop it, or you can't hit the broad side of a barn with it.

I switch to Lehigh penetrators for moral reasons. I don't actually think they're going to turn a bear better than Gold Dots. But they're more likely to kill one, even if it takes a minute.

[GJM]

My opinion is it becomes a moral issue if you're spending enough time in bear country being quiet and dragging around bloody game.

There's no replacement for displacement. The deeper penetrating loads and calibers are more likely to result in a bear that crawls off in the brush and dies vs. crawls off in the brush and suffers and possibly jumps the people sent in to euthanize it.

Otherwise I don't think it's likely to make much of a difference if a bear breaks off a charge or not. It will make a difference if the pistol malfunctions, or you drop it, or you can't hit the broad side of a barn with it.

I switch to Lehigh penetrators for moral reasons. I don't actually think they're going to turn a bear better than Gold Dots. But they're more likely to kill one, even if it takes a minute.

Frankly, if the bear comes and I don't have a long gun in my hands, I have already screwed up.

[5pins]

They are poly coated SWCs and they feed extremely well. I have run a little over 500 of them so far through the gun. It has been my experience the .40 cal Glocks (Gen 3) have never really been noted for their accuracy, but maybe its just this grain weight, or this individual projectile. Whatever it is, the load (out of this Gen 3 gun) seems to produce pretty good groups.


I just sent some ammo down to a guy who is going to shoot some into some 20% gel for me to see how they do. I am curious to see the results myself.

Hopefully he has several blocks of gel to line up. I have a feeling it will penetrate pretty far. Is he using clear gel or the real stuff?

[fatdog]

@GJM I know you were testing them, did you finally come to conclude the Underwood loaded 140gr solid copper 40S&W Leheigh's were trustworthy and reliable in the gen 5 Glock 40's?

My tests of the Underwood cast coated .40 200gr loads proved they were not. I know you have cited their 9mm loadings of the penetrator bullets to be reliable. I found that as well, and the .357Sig loading of the penetrators by Underwood have been perfect in my G32 and were perfect in my old USP compact after a substantial test quantity.

[GJM]

@GJM I know you were testing them, did you finally come to conclude the Underwood loaded 140gr solid copper 40S&W Leheigh's were trustworthy and reliable in the gen 5 Glock 40's?

My tests of the Underwood cast coated .40 200gr loads proved they were not. I know you have cited their 9mm loadings of the penetrator bullets to be reliable. I found that as well, and the .357Sig loading of the penetrators by Underwood have been perfect in my G32 and were perfect in my old USP compact after a substantial test quantity.

Based on shooting hundreds not thousands in G5 23 uppers, I would say yes. Some years ago I tried, and was ultimately unsuccessful, in getting hard cast to run in my G4 22 pistols. Even with KKM barrels.

[Shotgun]

Frankly, if the bear comes and I don't have a long gun in my hands, I have already screwed up.

Well, that's true. If and when I get to go to Alaska, I will certainly have a rifle in hand on some hunting trip. A pistol would be a back up if not superfluous.

[Clusterfrack]

Montana trip is going well so far. We saw a bear, but it wasn’t interested in us.



G20.4 AIWB is working well as a trail gun.








Mrs CF is packing bear spray and an air horn.