I'm looking for a back up pistol for my bear bow hunting. I had a bad experience with a 357 mag on a bow shot follow up( felt real good about the shot and didn't wait nearly long enough in faiding light. One shot in head, one in neck, one in chest with the 357 and it still managed to make it 75 yds, not to mention single lung with bow). I'm looking for a lot better stopping power. My wife is interested in doing some bear hunting with the pistol as well out to 75 yds. She has relativly small hands but is comfortable with shooting 44 mag type power. I hear the TC contender has a smaller frame that may work. Any thoughts on model and caliber would be appreciated.

contender is single shot,that could be a disadvantage on a mad bear.that said the contender is a verry diverse and acurate gun with a barrel option for almost any thing you want to shoot.as a backup for a bow or to backup a contender while on a bear hunt I would look into a ruger super red hawk .44 or if you like single action a super black hawk .44. both the red hawk and black hawk are verry reliable and acurate.there are guns larger than a .44 but the .44 will work well on bear without excess recoil and ammo is available almost any were.

I would go w/ the 44 mag also. Instead of a ruger, I would opt for a Taurus Ragging Bull. Due in my opinion to a better/more comfortable grip and a muzzle brake. My wife really likes shooting the 44 mag. in this gun even w/ heavy loads. She has small hands, is 5'1 and weighs 110 pounds. If the gun is comfortable for her, it should work for your wife also.

Good advice from Keith, but I would also suggest you look at a 41mag Blackhawk. The grip frame is a little smaller & might fit her hand better, & the 41 mag with 265gr hardcast with a large meplat is a great load for black bear (it's also my bowhunting backup gun when I'm chasing moose here in brown bear country.).

I don't think that Bears should have pistols..

My choice as a back-up the Bow would be a 45 Colt. Properly loaded the 45 Colt is hogher on the food chain than a 44 Mag IMHO and experience.
If you need the handgun the 45 Colt will pack mor "Wallop" without excessive recoil

A Great Day to you and I hope you never find yourself on the running end of a wounded bear (Black Bear or Brown Bear). Neither is what you would call fun.

If it's Power your after The Ruger Alaskan chambered in 454 Casull is the "recommended" Bear gun on a lot of sites. While I admit the 44Mags and higher do have more punch than the 357 Magnum, personally I wouldn't be so quick to count it out. Shot placement is the key more times than power. Me personally I would never take a head shot at a bear unless I absoutly had to. Skulls are way to thick and a bear can travel quit a way with half a head. I still to this day do not understand why a head shot can take so long to kill an animal but a heart shot drops them like a stone. Anyway, I take nothing away from your shots but, well paced shots with a 357 Magnum can do more good than a fairly placed shot with a 44 Mag anyday. Most people honistly dont put in the time to practice for emergencies like the aggitated bear with an arrow in his butt. Again, practicing you contengency plan could include a trip to the range where you throw an arrow downrange then follow up with 2-3 quick "taps" from your 357 Magnum (or whatever you have at the time).
Just one man's opinion. Thanks

JWp475 is absolutely right about the 45 Colt & it too is available on the smaller gripframed Blackhawk.

By the way, welcome to the site!!

another vote for 45colt.

I'm also a big 45 colt fan. I would prefer the Ruger Blackhawk over some of the DA revolvers because of it's size and weight.

I give the 45 blackhawk another vote.

Save yourseflf the time of deciding and just go straight to the 500!!!

Just MHO, I have a very petite GF, she's 5ft and 105# soaking wet, We were out last year and she got hold of mt 454 raging bull, I can't keep her away from it now. My home is Eastern North Carolina and we have some huge black bear, we've never had to put more than 2 into the boiler to to the trick The grips don't seem to be an issue with her and with and Alaska sportsman chest holster, carry isn't an issue even crawling through the laurel tunnels and brambles.

Can't stand those compensators(too loud want to be able to hear after the hunt), my choice would be a John Ross custom:

Man, the black bears must be REALLY BIG where you guys are!!!
I don't even need a 500 for the brownies up here in Alaska :-)
44 mag is still the most popular handgun with Alaskan outdoorsmen by a HUGE (2 to 1 over all others combined I believe) margin.

Sorry I thought the discussion was for charging black bears, not a handgun to hunt with. Big differnce. Once their adrenelins up can be very hard to stop.
Steve

that is ok just remember someone taking a shot at you will get your adrenaline up same as a bear.

I'd vote for the .45colt, Blackhawk with the Bisley grip frame.

You never mentioned what type of bullet you were using in the .357 mag.Hollowpoints are not the best choice when penetration is needed,ask Larry Kelly about that,.44 mag revolver emptied into a brown bear with 240 gr.hollowpoints.After that lesson he used a non-expanding bullet and shot a bigger brown bear than the one his guide finished after Larry made him mad.I'm partial to the .454 casull eventhough the .357 mag. would work with the right bullet.

Cottonstalk has taken and/or been in on more Black Bear kills than anyone that I know of and he uses and is a big fan of the 45 Colt. He has had great succses use hard cast LBT style flat point hard cast 300 or more grains. He has taken them full of adreinaline with out a problem with the 45 even on his hands and knees in very thick brush.

Hard to beat a properly loaded 45 Colt IMHO and experience as an all round handgun, plenty of stoping power with out the excessive recoil or size of the stretch frame revolvers

Use your head is the best advice.A bear charged up by hounds is big adrenalin for the bear but how you control yours means alot.I have witnessed great shooters fall to pieces when the chips are down.Now I know of no way to try to practice this,but I run to get my blood pumping then shoot with what I plan to use.I have seen 44mags take lots of bear with 300gr xtps,wfns,and cast core factory loads,and 45 colt hard casts from 260-300s.I have seen tried some smaller calibers with not so great results,so from my experience a 44 would be minimun.I have seen a 500 S&W used and they work,but aren't necessary.Learning to shoot under pressure is the key,any way you can prepare for that is good.

I think the 45 colt with the right load is the best option.--JMHO

This would be my first choice......



But, I will throw another vote in for the venerable .45 Colt.

Revolver in 44 mag or 45 LC...

My 2 Cents
On a Primary Hunting Handgun a Muzzle Break is OK. You will probably be using hearing protection when shooting it.
In this application we are talking about a bowhunting backup handgun. You will probably need it in a hurry and not be in a situation to get hearing protection in play. This leaves out the really big magnums in my opinion.
This leaves the 41 Magnum, 44 Magnum, 45 Colt and handloaded 480 Ruger. Any of these should work well when properly loaded. This leaves picking what you want to shoot them in. I would probably go for open sights on a backup gun as well.

The difference in noise between a revolver with a brake VS one without is not enough that I can tell. Remember a revolver has a barrel cylinder gap that is closer to the shooter than is a brake.

I fail to believe that a 41, 44 mag and a 480 is quiter than a 475 of 500 L or JRH

I agree with you. But, some calibers seem to be quite noisy IME such as the .454 Casull and the .460.

the smaller and faster the projectile the louder the noise. My 460 was loudest I'd had until I bought a 410gnr and that even without the brake like the 460 had was absolutely deafening and considerably worse than any of my 475's or 500's. I was running a 41 cal bullet to the same speed as the 45 cal. I've noticed the same thing with my rifles, when my wife shoots her 222 the noise is sharper and harder on the ears than her 270 and when I'd got to the range out of my 3 big rifles the 300 and 375 RUM and the 458 LOTT it was the 300 that would turn heads when it went off. Anyways that's been my observations.

Go with a Ruger Alaskan in 454 then you can put 45LC's in it..
this is my fiance's favorite revolver, she is 5'6" and 126lbs she shoots the buffalo bore 325gr hard cast loads out of it and it is a wonderful backup to any thing.

Black Bear are easy to kill and die fast if hit properly. If something goes wrong, they can be tough.
I think the 44 mag with a good 240 gr bullet or heavier weight would be the minimum I would want stop a bear.

JD338

Just my opinion, but that right there is enough to make me look into something bigger. I have no experience with bear, nor do I crave any, but I wouldn't use the "minimun" anything to save my life. lol

I'm with you, I'm not one for minimum calibers.

Thats funny! I never considered a 44 magnum a minimum caliber!

See the little guy in the middle? That's a .44 magnum -- flanked by a .475 Linebaugh on the left, and a .500 Linebaugh on the right......LOL!

I don't do minimum!

Recoil

Sure there are bigger calibers out there now, but how big a caliber do you really need?

As big as you can handle I reckon. No such thing as too big. Is such a thing as too small IMHO.

Recoil

As long as you can shoot it well, there's no downside to larger calibers, but there is a whole lot to gain with regards to performance on game. The key to this argument is competance with the increase in recoil generated by the bigger calibers. They are difficult to master and require a boat-load of practice.

I think I'd like a quick follow up shot for anything that bites & is upset w/me. That situation IMHO begs for a DA. I prefer SA's & don't even own a big bore DA. I'd go for the 4" Redhawk in 45 Colt. I've been warming up to those since they introduced them. I'd stuff it w/as big a fat, flat bullet I could handle! I agree w/"No such thing as too much"!