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Bridget’s 10mm vs. a Bear

I have had to use a handgun on a bear and because of my experience I upgraded to a 10mm. Actually because of my story and video a friend left me his 10mm after he passed away to better protect myself. We have a healthy population of bears in South Georgia around the Okefenokee Swamp . I work in forestry and have had quite a few close encounters. This particular time involved a wounded bear that was hit by an F250. I was trying to do the right thing and put the giant boar bear out of his misery. His lower back and both back legs were broken and we assumed he would't go far and were certain he wouldn't survive. After contacting the state DNR and telling them about the situation I tracked him through some rough swampy areas with the 18 year old driver of the F250. I decided to leave my 12 gauge behind so it didn't get to beat up and just kept my 40 S&W on me. I know there are a lot of bandwagon 40 haters but it is still a great self defense cartridge against bad guys in my opinion, just not great against big bears. After a slow careful 3 hours we finally saw the bear. The bear was 12 yards away and turns to get away but he realizes he can't run so he turns and lunged himself at us. I fired and fired and fired...after the 9th shot he stops coming and the 11th he finally falls shots 13 & 14 were just to make sure. Bear weighed in at 560 lbs and would have been #2-3 in the state at the time if he had been taken during a legal hunting season. The State inspected and said we did the right thing and gave us a road kill tag so we could mount the bear. While skinning for a full body mount we found some of my bullets never penetrated the 4" thick layer of fat around the bear. One shot when down his throat, another in his snout and into the back of his mouth, 3 hit his head but did not penetrate the skull. Now I carry the 10mm when I am in the bear woods and luckily I have not had to use it.
cool story.. glad you're carrying a 10mm now it is a great round for big predators in my opinion!
 
I love the 10mm. Very flat shooting for distance, too. I switched from a Kimber target in 10mm to the Glock 20 with night sights, a trigger job and a KKM barrel. That is my new outdoors go to, owing mainly to it's capacity over the Kimber. The KKM barrels tend to shoot high a bit, which makes this gun shoot a hair high at 25 yards, but dead on at a 100. I hand load a 175 grain JHP , and it is pushing close to 1500 f/s at the muzzle. At a 100 yds, it still has the energy of a .40s&w at point blank.
thats some cool data you have there.. I agree I'm glad I carry a 10mm such an impressive round. more and more people are starting to use it now!
 
Amazing, wasn’t this just days after you had to use your Saint in a possible self defense situation? Or was that another young lady I read about on The Armory Life? Either way, great way to stay prepared. Good on ya :)
Like Mike explained these stories are accumulated from my years of backcountry and trailer living adventures. The more time you spend in the mountains the more often you run into predators.. but luckily its still not THAT often!
 
Well Mike, you make it sound like you're Marlin Perkins sending Jim on his more risky assignments.
"I've sent Bridget out there to wrestle with 3 Kodiak bears 🐻, while I do a review of the new Hellcat pistol 🔫, several hundred miles away" 🏃‍♂️🐤🐥🤣.
hahaha its quite the opposite actually! Springfield gives me the freedom to share my stories from the backcountry and its been so fun sharing my own experiences through the years! I stay very safe, I promise!
 
Wow, it does make me sound a bit cold-hearted, doesn't it! But, I've met Bridget and she seems like she can take care of herself! I'll give her some more sedate assignments next time around so she doesn't have to risk her life — you know, like all those easy ones we editors always give ourselves :)
Hey Mike, been getting Armory life for a while now, great articles. Your right about Bridget being able to take care of her self. I know this because she's a Jersey girl! and I'm married to one. She doesn't even need a gun.LOL......But it's waaaaayyyy better that she has more than one gun.:D
 
Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled Bridget’s 10mm vs. a Bear and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/bridgets-10mm-vs-a-bear/.


I enjoyed reading your story and I’m glad you didn’t have to use your 10mm to defend yourself against that bear. While I agree with your choice of 10mm for bear country, I personally would choose something with a much higher magazine capacity than what the Range Officer offers.

Having said that I would also suggest to Bridget that she carry bear spray with her on her treks into the wilderness along with her 10mm. If she would have had to shoot the bear she would have orphaned those two cubs. Not good for the cubs. Just a suggestion.
 
No criticism about writing a story promoting the Springfield 10mm. I have been very close to over a hundred bears in my life, unarmbed with many of them and armed with various long guns and with my S&W M29 in .44 mag. Never has the bear's body language motivated me to even touch the .44 mag or point the long guns. The most nervous I have been was awakening to fresh snow and findingg that a grizzly had circled my bed during the night. Go to the woods armed with a knowlege of bear behavior and body language.
 
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