Quoted:
You are more likely to have a confrontation with people than bears.

The thing is, sometimes in town you can still encounter a fairly large black bear. Local logic has it that the best way to load for bear is JHP and heavy solids, alternating. The JHP is for pain and trauma, the heavy solid is in the hope you can actually penetrate enough to kill the bear.

Note that I'm not into mixed loads in general, although I try to stay open-minded and adaptable, depending on the circumstances. I think in this case it's more like splitting the difference between effectiveness against bears and humans (or other predators). The penetration of most JHPs against even relatively small bears is already rather questionable, and I think they'd be next to useless against large bears unless you hit their skulls just right or the bullets cause enough pain to deter them, which is hard to say, as I've never been a large bear that got shot with underpenetrating JHPs. Basically, only every other shot will have a chance of punching deep enough to cause some real damage, which is a major disadvantage, in my view (although I'm no expert on this topic).

It may be better overall to stick with only solid (i.e. non-hollow-point) bullets if bears are a real concern in town, as they are in some areas. I'm sure that hard-cast WFNGC load from DoubleTap would do a pretty good number on humans as well (they sure knock the stuffing out of teddy bears ;)). It's a compromise, to be sure, but i think that it may be a better one than using a mixed load.

In my area, mountain lions are more common, and while I seriously doubt that there would ever be an occasion for me to have to shoot one (although there have been two in-town sightings in recent years within a couple of miles of my place :eek: ), I'm sure that my 180 grain PDX1 JHPs could do the job. My 200 grain WFNGC rounds are for the black bears that I have yet to see even in the wild, but do live in the area and have occasionally been spotted in a nearby town. I never expect to have to shoot one, either, but I like to be prepared anyway.

1) What's the heaviest bullet you've seen in a .40 S&W and where can I get them.

200 grains is the heaviest weight that I've seen so far in this caliber.

Just to clarify, no one is trying to advocate the .40 as a bear gun. It is just something you should plan for if you live in his little town.

It's better than nothing, especially if you use the right loads. Even far more powerful handgun calibers can really only poke holes against large bears, in my opinion--they're more effective, but only by so much.

For me:
The ballistics of a .40 SW with a 135 grain bullet is about the same as a .357 mag.

That's more or less true in terms of external ballistics for typical factory loads, but .40 S&W has relatively poor sectional density at 135 grains. 200 grains for .40 S&W and 158 grains (or even 180 grains or more) for .357 Magnum are more to my liking for use against large creatures. They may still be less than optimum, sort of like using .22 LR against humans, but with the right loads they can penetrate and kill.

That said, there are issues. Both are not good calibers for a bear greater that 250 lbs (IMO, although there are several anecdotal stories where this was true). A bear's heart beats slower and a hit to the blood supply will not disable them as quickly as it would for a similarly sized human. Their central nervous system is protected by more bone mass..so it is harder to short their nervous system out. The bigger the bear, the bigger the problem.

Sure, but there isn't much that can stop the really big ones quickly. I've read stories about brown bears that died from gunshot wounds from service-caliber pistols before they could kill the shooters, but unfortunately the shooters got mauled some. :uhoh: I'm not convinced that even a .454 Casull packs enough of a punch to stop a large bear quickly, short of a direct CNS hit--it may not even do that with humans, for that matter. From my perspective, bigger is always better to some degree, but if a bullet can penetrate deeply enough, then it can kill.
Manco

Quoted:
Not to hijack, but I'm looking for hard hitting .40sw for backcountry for a G22...

Quoted:
Not to hijack, but I'm looking for hard hitting .40sw for backcountry for a G22...

Quoted:
I carry a Colt 1911 when I hike.
I usually stagger one ball then one Hydra-shok.

YMMV