.22 and bears

theamazingdrew

theamazingdrew

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Nov 18, 2009
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I was reading this article about a father and son who were out camping. They were in bear country (didnt say specifically). at around 3am a brown bear smashed through their tent and attacked the father, turns out they set up their tent right next too a females den while she had cubs. so the boy (age 14) grabs the .22 they had and unloaded all 10 rounds into the bear without aiming 4 actually hit the bear 3 in the head and those 3 broke through the skull and killed the bear.
What do you guys think would happen if you put 10 .22 rounds into a bear (semi auto .22)
do you think this was a freak accident? or do you think 10 .22 rounds would kill a bear regardless?
 
I think it was a freak accident. He must have hit a natural hole in the skull like the ear, nasal or eye. I've read accounts where .50 cal. muzzleloader balls did not penetrate bear skulls.
 
Codger_64 said:
I think it was a freak accident. He must have hit a natural hole in the skull like the ear, nasal or eye. I've read accounts where .50 cal. muzzleloader balls did not penetrate bear skulls.
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I dont mean the skull specifically just 10 rounds in general from about 5-10 ft
 
It's very hard to believe. If true, it's a freak accident, or someone had a favour coming from above.
 
I'd say they were very, very lucky.....and probably couldn't repeat that outcome again no matter how many times they tried. A rimfire round can kill a large mammal, but not with any reliability, and certainly not without a direct hit into a vital organ at short range. But then...."any port in a storm".

- regards
 
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Depends on the round but .22 is fairly dense for it's size so it would probably penetrate better than a .45.
Not my first choice for self defense but .22LR is a very deadly round.
Go here: http://billstclair.com/energy.html
and enter velocity, bullet weight and caliber.
 
Lucky shot placement. The world record for largest grizzly (not Alaskan brown) was held for years by an old woman in Canada who took it with a shot behind the ear with a .22 long. It can be done, but I would personally prefer using at least a .338 for large bears.
 
never shot at a bear.

i've taken pigs with a single shot from a .22 in the past. granted it had to be a damn good shot to drop a pig.

i've also had numerous .22 rounds bounce clean off a pig.

i've had .222, .223 and .303 rounds bounce clean off a pigs skull too.

so yes, i rekon it is possible to kill a bear with a .22. however, personally, i wouldn't reccomend it and rekon it would take a fair measure of luck.
 
Last year I came across a black bear on a trail during a backpacking trip which was about 75 yds away. From what I could see, it was a smaller one. I was more worried that my dog would get loose after it than anything else so I grabbed my .22 pistol from my pack and let loose the whole ten round mag into the ground hoping to scare it away. Well, that didn't work and at this point my dog had seen the bear but he was tied off by then so he wouldn't run after it. The bear pretty much just looked at me like I was stupid and started to walk toward me in a non-caring manner. I didn't want it to get any closer so I reloaded the mag and fired another ten rounds into the dirt while screaming "go away! go away!". Eventually, after reloading/firing the mag two more times it must have decided that I wasn't that interesting any more so it turned the other way and slowly walked off with absolutely no fear of my gun shots or my barking dog. When it got really close I thought very seriously if the .22 was adequete enough to defend myself and my dog and I was convinced that it wasn't. I imagine if I would have unloaded the whole ten round mag into it, it would probably injure it badly but even at its size, I wasn't convinced that it was enough.

Of course this is all opinion on my part but I'll never go out with only a .22 ever again. I'm sure a well placed shot would kill a bear but when you come across one 6 miles into a backpacking trip only 75 yds from you and you are trying to dump your pack, catch your breath, tie your dog off, reload mags, and scream to your scared friends behind you on the trail, I'd really hate to rely on one well placed .22 shot. Just my .22 cents.
 
Shot placement is king. I have heard of polar bears shot with a 22. I wouldn't want to depend on it. Learned from my grandfather. He killed everything with his 22 pump. Most of the time it was a one shot affair.
 
Ok, so this sounds nuts, but my great uncle dropped a black bear with a .22 short, one shot. granted the bear ran for a mile (honest, they tracked it a mile) and the "post mortem" found the bullet in it's heart. I've personally seen blackbear skulls with single .22 holes in them, reputed to be the single kill shot, and I have been told in honestly by people I trust that if push came to shove, a .22 hitting perpendicular to the skull will penetrate from close range. having seen cows shot in the head with .22 and a cow skull is rather thick, I personally believe it could be done. Was the case in the OP a freak accident? I don't think so, HOWEVER, I think there was still a fair amount of luck in this case, and it isn't a method I'd recommend.
Sambo, I've personally bounced .22 off of beaver skulls and they are a damn sight smaller than a bear, however it does all come down to angle in that case I think, small round skulls being harder to get a perfect perpendicular impact angle than big flat skulls like cows.
 
It all depends. Sometimes you get lucky and the bullet passes through an area where it encounters soft tissue (eye) only and finds it way to the brain. Any bullet from .17 up will kill a bear if it makes it into the brain or heart. Ive killed a few bear and 2 were headshots that dropped it immediately. A .22 can kill a bear with a perfect shot through the eye or ear but you dont always have time to be perfect and therefore a .22 is not what I would choose for bear defense or offense.
 
Theres a confirmed story about a man in Alaska getting chased by a polar bear with one shot left in his .22 and no where to run with the bear closing on him. Shot blindly over his shoulder while running, hitting the bear in the eye and killing it.
 
sambo. said:
so yes, i rekon it is possible to kill a bear with a .22. however, personally, i wouldn't reccomend it and rekon it would take a fair measure of luck.
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Some Hill folk use a .22 autoloader to poach black bear . . . but they tree the bear with dogs and empty 30 rounds into the treed bear and wait for it to bleed out. It is slow, cruel, unsportsmanlike, and criminal . . . but it does work.

I've heard verified tales of bears who were attacking hunters being killed by a sheath knife, or in one bizarre case a broadhead hunting arrow the fellow had in his hand. Very rare isolated incidents involving incredibly LUCKY individuals who should've been killed. Bear attacks are ugly, and there usually is no contest at all, with the lone hunter or backpacker becoming a chew toy in short order.

Is it possible to drop a bear with several rapid head shots from a .22? Almost anything is possible. Bear skull is THICK. I've heard of .357 magnum slugs skipping off a bear's cranium. I've also heard of bears absorbing multiple 12-gauge shotgun slugs without even slowing down. Bears are tough.

If it happened, it was due to LUCK more than anything, and it probably struck the carotid or the brain stem rather than penetrating the skull.
 
I heard about a ranger disappearing up in canada somewhere a few years back (dont remember details)....they later figured out that a grizzly had gotten him, but werent sure how because they all carry large pistols for that very reason (.357 or so). Later a very large grizzly was shot in a nearby town because it was busting around peoples houses....they figured out that it was the same bear that got the ranger, because of its stomach contents, but also because of four .357 sized holes in the bottom of the bears jaw, but no exit wounds, and no holes going into the upper skull/brain cavity!!! big bears are some thick headed creatures! far as i can tell, only shots to the temple, ear, brains stem, or perfect perpendicular hits will do the job....if that!

I'd say the kid and his dad definitely had some luck/help from above that day...
 
Fubarski said:
Sounds like some BS has penetrated YOUR skull.
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This is an ignorant statement have you ever tried to kill a large animal with a .22...?

I have seen many cows killed with a .22lr before they are butchered as mentioned by others above, one of my family members has an elk farm and kills them with a .22 before they are butchered. Believe me you still have to hit them at the right angle/spot but its possible.

There are numerous accounts of large game animals being killed with this caliber. That doesn't mean its the best choice, I would say the worst considering all the better suited calibers out there. But that doesn't mean it cant be done.

Think about the past how hunters would use a sling and rocks / whatever other primitive weapons to kill large game with well placed shots. All their weapons suck compared to todays, but they made them work with their skill set.

Sorry if I went on a tangent there but it annoys me when people make ignorant comments disregarding ideas or even facts with a closed mind.
 
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