I shot 7 black bears one fall, some big buggers, when working night "prowl shift" at the Jail.

On 2 occasions, I used my .45 Colt 1911. One with with 230gr. FMJ - 860fps, side of the head at about 12 yards. The other, a big one by our standards (375 to 400 pounds maybe close to 7' squared), was a 20 yard shot, broadsize through the lungs with 260gr. Speer HP using 12gr. W630 powder. The velocity of that load was 960fps from 5" Wilson Bl. Speer's manual noted 11.0gr., and the measure dumped 12.0gr. even - close enough for me.

Both bears dropped at the shot, however the lung shot bear moaned before expiring seconds later.

My M29 Smith&Wesson was no more effective than that, however a bit longer ranges, perhaps. The .44 Mag Marlin sacked them best. I used other rifles on the other 3, on one night, with buddy Keith. We doubled one huge fat bear, using the roof mounted spot-light in the 'remand tower' to light him up. I used a 165gr. SP (2,860fps) from a little wildcat of mine (.30 on an 8x57 case) and 129 (3,250fps) from his 6.5x68. Both were perfect broadside shots, however that bear still ran 30 yards, with no lungs or heart left. He was only 60 yards from us. What was interesting, was that the handguns and handgun ctg. rifle anchored them, but not the 'smaller ctg.' rifles.

This was in the fall when they were roaming about, eating everything they could find, trying to put on fat for the winter. The jail's dumpsters were prime targets, but just happened to be on the Prowl Officer's perimeter route.

I (Firerams Inst.) was asked to shoot the 'trouble' bears due to them chasing & stalking some of the prowl officers prior to my shift bracket starting.

One other bear was shot that fall by a couple of my riot squad members, both using 12 bore with 00buck. The first 4 shots were body shots at about 20 to 25 yards and that really pissed off the bear which ran behind a dumpster, popping it's teeth and growling. The next shot was a side head shot(by the other lad) as it came out looking at the first guy, at about 10 feet - THAT killed the bear.