The music stops. The guests sober up, albeit only slightly, and begin lumbering toward their hotel rooms. Slim men in red vests bus away a sea of empty drinking glasses. You turn to your loving wife of 40 years and look her in her big, beautiful eyes as you speak.
“Well honey, it seems that our youngest daughter’s wedding was a big hit. I’m glad we held it at the Hilton. They did a real nice job. Now, what do you say we take this half bottle of flat champagne back to our room and—”
Suddenly, screams fill the banquet hall. Your wife buries her big, beautiful head into your chest in pure terror. You see the source of the uproar the instant you raise your eyes off of her. There it is. The biggest, meanest Kodiak bear you have ever laid eyes on. And in Charleston, SC of all places!
The brute lets out a terrific bellow and launches all 1,300 pounds of its bulk straight at you and your wife. She has fainted, and is far too … let’s say “beautiful” for you to carry without herniating all 23 discs in your spine simultaneously.
But all hope is not lost. In one deft motion, you reach underneath your tuxedo jacket and pull out your gold-plated pearl handle Colt Commander. It is the 1911 you only carry on special occasions. You put the charging devil under your sights and take some solace knowing you loaded your pistol with the very best 45 ACP ammo for bear defense earlier that day.
Is 45 ACP Good for Bear Defense?
No.
Many cartridges are better for bear defense than 45 Auto. If you can be convinced to carry a revolver, then a beastlier cartridge like the 44 Magnum, 454 Casull or 500 S&W Magnum would serve you much better. And even if you are limiting yourself to a semi-automatic, you’d do well to choose the 50 AE or 10mm (the latter of which is issued by the Danish military for defense against polar bears).
But the 45 ACP isn’t your worst choice for bear defense by any means. You’re probably already thinking it by now, and the answer is yes: any 45 ACP cartridge can quickly turn any black bear into an extremely dead thing. But it’s still considered underpowered for actually “hunting” black bear. General consensus holds that a minimum of 1,000 ft lbs striking energy is ideal for harvesting the species. Even an overpressure 45 ACP cartridge strikes with less than half that much energy at close range.
The minimum recommended striking energy for taking grizzly is much higher: 2,000 to 3,000 ft lbs, depending on whom you ask. Factor in the 45 ACP’s relatively wide bullet, which exhibits characteristically poor penetration on thick-skinned and densely muscled animals, and you’re just not talking about a great bear slayer.
None of that means the 45 ACP can’t get the job done. Recall Bella Twin’s famous feat: a record-setting grizzly toppled with naught but a .22 cal rimfire bullet to the eye. This underscores the most important thing you can say about shot placement. It counts for nearly everything. And if you’re already accustomed to carrying and firing your 45 ACP handgun, then you might reason it’s your surest solution for bear defense even if it’s widely considered to be underpowered for the job.
Shot placement’s not the be-all and end-all when it comes to bear defense, though. You also want to choose the best ammo for the job – and that ammo won’t look like your conventional self-defense fare. It will be loaded with bullets which do not expand.
Whereas expanding bullets are inclined to anchor themselves within the quarry before they can strike a vital organ, a bullet that is exclusively designed for penetration is less likely to exhibit such shortcomings. In other words, you want 45 ACP ammo that invests virtually all of its energy into inflicting the longest wound column possible.
Top 45 ACP Bear Defense Ammo Selections
Federal Solid Core +P 240 Grain Syntech Jacket FN
Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman +P 255 Grain Hard Cast FN
Underwood +P 255 Grain Hard Cast FN
Doubletap +P 255 Grain Hard Cast SWC
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