Best 10mm round for Bear Country

gap1916

I carry the 10mm in several hand guns. What is the best 10mm round for defense in Bear Country? I would think it would be 200 grain flat nosed FMJ. Please chime in and thank you.

RCrosby

The best 10 mm for bear protection?
A .44 mag., 300 grain hard card, flat nose with a case full of 2400.
That would be my minimum. When you're talking protection, by definition you need to look at ability to stop the critter, not simply kill it. IMHO the 10 mm is too light for that.

Werwolf

The 10mm is a great round and is like a .357 Magnum in an auto loader although it would not be a recommended bear stopper; look into the .44 Magnum as a side arm in a Garrett Cartridge, Corbon or RBCD for maximum effect considering proper shot placement, even then no guarantees, but it should knock them into next week which will give you enough time to consider your next move should you meet up with the same bear again, hopefully not.
Also consider a Mossberg 590 Special Purpose 9 shot 12 gauge shotgun using 00 buck or sabot slugs or a mix of both and a Marlin 1895 CB 9 shot .45-70 Gov. using Garrett Cartridge, Corbon or RBCD for maximum effect considering proper shot placement.
Hope that helps.

jthoresen

Greg,

Here is what I use for wild hogs.

Sig220_Ruger77

Here are a couple of good loads.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=105

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=158

Jon

ruger41

I think it depends on the type of bears in your area--if you are talking 200lb black bears then I think you could use a 10mm but * & grizzly bears in AK,MT,ID & WY would be a different matter.

CS8161

A 10MM is much better than carrying nothing at all....especially if you have a high cap 10MM pistol with 15 or 16 of those 200 grain FMJ cartridges. If you are going to carry the 10MM in bear country, do yourself a favor and carry a can of bear spray too. I know many people on here sneer at bear spray and say it is useless...but if you do alot of reading, you will see that the bear pepper spray is surprisingly effective...if you have the time and the nads to use it when being charged by a bruin.

v35

For a little perspective on the 10 mm round, consider it has essentially the same ballistics as the old 38-40 in its black powder configuration out of a rifle.
That round has long been prohibited in many states for deer hunting along with the 44-40.
Both these rounds were boosted a good 500 fps in their high speed loading to about equal the 44 mag.
You wont be able to get near those loadings in an autopistol.
While it's a real powerful pistol, it's no great shakes as a dangerous game weapon.

ATF

Years ago I saw a Ted Nugent video of him taking a Water Buffalo in Africa with a bow.To make the story short he wounds the Buff with the bow and it charged.He finished it off with a 10mm auto,I don't know what make I think it was a S&W.[8D]

dfletcher

I have an older Smith 610 with a 6.5" bbl. Much as I'd like to carry it as back up when I go bear hunting, I've moved up from a Smith 41 Mag to a Ruger Redhawk in 44 Mag.

Werwolf

Absolutely nothing wrong with bear spray and an airhorn accompanying your firearms, its actually recommended and works on liberals too.