Is The 357 Mag a good grizzly round?

Answer 1

No! Too light a bullet, too slow. If you must use a pistol go with nothing less than a .44 Mag, .454 Cassul or .460 Ruger is better. A rifle is much better. 357 can be adequate if used properly - first dont use expanding, hollow nosed bullets as they often break apart on or just under the surface of the tough hide of a bear next keep in mind that to stop a bear quickly, or any animal, requires extreme trauma from rapid blood loss (as its not often likely you will be lucky enough to hit a fatal spot like a spinal cord under "combat" conditions) - the 357 bullet when not expanding will penetrate very well but doesnt cause enough blood loss and trauma to drop a bear quickly so you need to fire as many rounds as possible as quickly as possible to create as much blood loss as possible a larger caliber like the 44 magnum is better because not only is it larger for casing more blood loss but its fast enough to cause a shock wave in side the body that causes severe injury and trauma - problem with high power handgun rounds is that unless you are very skilled its hard to get off a second or third round quickly so your first round has to be successful also dont shoot the head straight on as the 357 will just glance off the skull - if the bear has his head down aim for the spine behind the head - if the head is up shoot for the neck and chest area i use a ruger redhawk 44 magnum revolver for bear but i also train a lot with it - if you go with a powerful caliber you must train with it a lot more than with a lower power gun