What is the best 44 mag ammo for bear defense?
Just to make a point here,
BEAR SPRAY is much more likey to turn an agressive bear around that shooting at it with ANY kind of gun!
Bears are quick over short distances, and they will charge right though a poorly placed shot (and that's even if you hit the darn thing!).
The more nasty versions of bear sprays are MUCH more likely to actually discourage the bear from continuing the attack, simply because it immediately takes away breathing and eyesight
And that will trigger the 'Flee' instinct.
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I've hunted a lot in "Bear Country" and I often carried a Ruger Blackhawk loaded with 250 to 300 grain bullets.
The last black bear hunt I was on I took a good sized black bear with a single 250 Grain Partition Gold bullet from Winchester.
I've taken 4 pretty large bear with handgun, all with a Ruger in .44 Rem Mag.
While in bear country on a recent trip to Alaska, I carried a 12 Gauge since the bears are so much bigger up there,
But on a hunting trip three years ago, where I filled a bear tag and a wolf tag, I carried my trusty Ruger Blackhawk chambered in .44 Rem mag as back up to my rifle.
Most of the guides were carrying .44 Rem Mags or .454 Casull.
Only one hunter up there with a .460 S&W Mag, and when we were out doing a little target shooting, he couldn't hit anything because he couldn't keep his eyes open when he pulled the trigger...
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'Bear' guns are no exception to anything else...
You have to be able to keep your eyes open to hit the target, and if you have some silly 'Hand Cannon' you can't control, you aren't going to do that.
Shot placement is the name of the game, and if you are comfortable with shooting your .44 Rem Mag, then that is the one to use.