357 Mag enough to drop a bear?

[Hobbs4421]

I will soon be buying a sidearm to protect me during archery in the woods of NE PA. I know the 44 mag would be recommended by many, but is there a hot load for the 357 mag that will drop a bear?

I'm specifically looking at two guns:

1-Taurus Model 44SS4 which is a 44 mag and holds 6 shots.
OR
2-Taurus 608SS5 which is a 357 Mag but it holds 8 shots.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Isaac

[twency]

You seem to be asking the same or inter-related questions in different threads. You'll probably get the most useful discussion by keeping it all under one roof.

[ar15jules]

Just keep this in mind. A hunting partner of mine hit a bear behind the shoulder with a .45-70 this year and we tracked the blood for close to two miles before we lost it due to heavy snowfall. I guess it wouldn't be possible to carry a 12 gauge with slugs while archery hunting....

My point is this. If you do have a legal justification to shoot at a "charging" or "threatening" black bear, which in and of its self is odd, you are going to have to make one hell of a shot with a revolver of any caliber to keep it from mauling you if that is what it was intent to do.

Jules

[R L Suehr]

I would say pick whichever you will shoot the best. .44 mag is generally considered the basement when it comes to hunting bears. With that said, stopping a bear attack with any handgun is kind of a crap shoot. I always recommend carrying bear spray as a first option. It can actually be more effective. I personally carry a .357 for my general woods carry gun and I give bears a wide berth when encountered.

[dkf]

I'd go .41mag or larger.

[Hobbs4421]

You seem to be asking the same or inter-related questions in different threads. You'll probably get the most useful discussion by keeping it all under one roof.

Thanks for the advice, but a little to late now that I started this thread.

[BadMonk]

I would say pick whichever you will shoot the best. .44 mag is generally considered the basement when it comes to hunting bears. With that said, stopping a bear attack with any handgun is kind of a crap shoot. I always recommend carrying bear spray as a first option. It can actually be more effective. I personally carry a .357 for my general woods carry gun and I give bears a wide berth when encountered.

^^^^^
This, definitely this.

[Hobbs4421]

I would say pick whichever you will shoot the best. .44 mag is generally considered the basement when it comes to hunting bears. With that said, stopping a bear attack with any handgun is kind of a crap shoot. I always recommend carrying bear spray as a first option. It can actually be more effective. I personally carry a .357 for my general woods carry gun and I give bears a wide berth when encountered.

Good advice, thanks! What kind of spray would you recommend?

[IronButt]

Given a choice between a .357 or .44 mag as a deterrent against a pissed off bear, I 'd choose 12 Gauge slugs.

Bears are fast. One would probably be pretty close before you realized it had bad intentions toward you. Six shots from a handgun, (If you had time to get six shots off), may stop it, or make it want to go do something else. Then again it might not.

[R L Suehr]

I have something similar to this. The can looks a little different, but same company. It got pretty good reviews when I researched it.

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/searc...&search=Search