450;

The houndsman let the other guy go along. He wasn't too keen on the terriers, either, but the hounds and terriers never mixed. The terriers were nowhere near the bear during the fight.

The terrier fellow eventually found the last remaining dog. It went for a gala stroll who-knows-where...in the opposite direction from the bear!

The houndsman's gun wasn't empty...it was a new rifle he had just bought about a week before. It was a Winchester in .444 with the side safety, and the safety was on when he put the muzzle at the bear's head! His previous lever gun was an old 94 sans safety. Under the stress he forgot the safety was on and just kept pulling the trigger hard, but nothing happened. He backed off and got out of the way, and then by the time he realized the safety was on the fight was over.

For myself, I have always wondered what would have happened had I been shooting either a Keith-type or expanding bullet. The Nosler JHP's I was shooting did not open up at the 1175 fps I shot them at and punched .45 ACP-230-FMJ-type wound channels, that is, mere holes, thru the bear, with very little peripheral trauma. The holes thru the lungs were just holes, no bloodshotting at all.

I should have known by testing, except I didn't test them in my media till after!

The one bullet I recovered from the bear looked exactly like the one recovered from the media. No expansion and just a bit of lead smear off the point.

I have a load now using the Remington 240 JHP that I like, and that bullet opens at the 1200 fps speed. I mostly use a revolver for varmints, butcher stock, dogs and trapped critters, so I don't know if I'll get another chance at a bear with it but on our small bear such a load has to be better than the "hard" Nosler IMO.