Handguns for Bear

.45-70 Gov or .454 Casull

Larry Weishuhn

I was near the coast of Alaska at the beginning of the Peninsula on the big water side south of Lake Iliamna. The hunt for Alaskan brown bear had been tough, but not finally a bear!  The angle was steep!  I was bone weary.

For the past several hours I had been trying to get close enough to the bear to take a shot with my .454 Casull.  I had no idea why the bear remained feeding and resting on the hear 45-degrees slope since mid-morning.  Thankfully it had.

For hours I had crawled, along with my guide Joe Polanco, steadily upwards, starting at ocean’s edge.  First literally snaking through alders while trying to avoid devil’s claw.  Then, descending into steep ravines.  The going down was tough enough. Trying to crawl out of them was frustrating and nearly impossible. Several times just as I was about to reach the crest, vegetation and soil on perma-frost turned loose. I slid all the way back to the bottom then had to again try to claw my up the steep slopes.  After “traversing” several gorges, we looked down and across one last deep and broad “valley”.  At the bottom was a waist deep glacial stream. The bear was high up the opposite slope.

Stepping into the literally near freezing water I nearly lost my footing.  By the time I got to the other side my legs seemed to turn to rubber.  I laid face down on the steeply upward slope jus out of the icy stream to catch my breath and rest for a few moments before trying to crawl, hand over hand to where I could see the Alaskan brown bear I hoped to take, feeding about 300-yards up the hill.

I glanced at Joe. “Twenty-five more yards!!” said he pointing upward. I started crawling upward to reach a basketball-sized boulder I could use to pull myself into a standing and walking position.  We headed upslope.  Fifty-yards later, I stopped.  Again Joe said “Twenty-five more yards!”  Taking a deep breath, I trudged upward.  Far more than simply twenty-five steps Joe whispered, “Twenty-five more yards…”  I was beginning to think my guide was out and out lying to me. But glancing his way he appeared to be as tired and worn out as I felt.

I did give him twenty-five more yards.  Whereupon I crawled in behind a thigh-high boulder.  Glanced upward.  I estimated the bear was about 125-yards away, but then accounting for the steep angle, I thought it 75-yards distant.

I turned toward Joe, “Not going any farther! I’m shooting from here.  Good rest.  Real distance only about 75-yards. I can put a bullet into the vitals from here. I can’t go any farther!”

Joe started to say something, didn’t, then helped arrange my daypack to create a solid rest.

The bear was broadside, a steep angle above us.  I settled the crosshairs just behind the bear’s onside shoulder, took a deep breath after cocking the single-action’s hammer. Forcing  out all my breath I started squeezing the trigger.

The bear fell, did a full 180-dgrees and landed on its feet giving me just enough time to cock the hammer and put the crosshairs, this time, on the bear’s shoulder and squeeze the trigger.  The bear went down.

I again cocked the hammer and prepared to shoot again.  Joe started pounding my back in congratulations, then accepted his congratulatory hand, But without taking my eyes off of the downed bear.

I watched the bear for a couple of minutes before making another move.  When there was no movement we started up the steep slope.  I had to stop numerous times, adrenaline waning, to sit, rest and catch my breath. It took nearly thirty-minutes for us to crawl to where my bear lay.

I was absolutely thrilled, most of my life I had wanted to hunt Alaska brown bear. Thanks to my hunting partner Jerry Baker, and Branham Family it had finally happened.

Little did I know another grand and down-right scary adventure awaited, after we skinned my bear and started down toward wherever our small skiff waited at the ocean’s edge.  That tale is best told at another time, around another campfire.

I have since taken another Alaskan brown bear, that one with a .375 Ruger rifle, a huge bear that Rowland Ward awarded the Best North American animal in their 2024 competition.  I have also since then taken other bears with handguns, black bears chambered in .44 Mag (revolver), and .308 Win, .30-06 and .450 Marlin (single-shot), as well as Alaskan grizzlies with rifles.

This Fall (2025) I have a black bear hunt planned in Maine with Randy Flannery and his Wilderness Escape Lodge (www.wildernessespace.com).  Randy and I have been good friends for years, but I have not before hunted together.  Graciously Randy is allowing me to accompany the hunter who buys the hunt Randy graciously donated to the 2025 DSC Foundation Gala (www.dscf.org).

Randy’s expansive hunting area is home to huge black bears.  A few years ago, hunting property he now hunts, I saw the largest black bear I’ve ever seen, bigger than a 563-pound bear I shot on the White Mountain Apache Reservation a few years ago with a Thompson/Center .50, 209×50 Encore muzzleloader.

I saw the monstrous Maine bear while hunting with a flintlock.  Sadly, it did not go “Bang”, only produced smoke in the pan.  No doubt in my mind the bear would have weighed well over 600-pounds. I still have nightmares about not being able to take that bear.  But come September I will be hunting the same area where I saw that big bear.  Randy’s hunters have taken bear that weighed over 600-pounds; 300 to 400-pound bears are not uncommon in his area.

Initially after setting up that hunt, I have been thinking of hunting with a .45-70 Gov., Rossi R95 lever-action rifle topped with a Stealth Vision 3-18×44 SVT with operational lighted reticle, shooting Hornady’s LEVERevolution  325-grain FTX loads.

The closer I get to the hunt, I am really thinking of hunting with my Taurus Raging Hunter .454 Casull double-action revolver.  It is topped with a red-dot sight and shooting Hornady’s 240-grain XTP Mag ammo.  My revolver loves this load!  Using a 3-minute red-dot sight (meaning the dot covers 3-inches at 100-yards), from a solid rest, I can put 5-shots into a 2-inch or smaller group at 100-yards and all nearly in the same hole at 25 and 50-yards. I can shoot smaller groups than what the red dot covers at 100-yardsl, always amazes me!

Using this combination, I can hit an 18-inch diameter steel gong at 500-yards at least 2 out of 5 shots.  I have also mounted an older Thompson/Center Long Eye Relief 2.5-7×28 scope on it. Using that combination, I can hit the 500-yard gong 4 out of 5 shots.  Great fun!  But nothing I would do shooting at an animal.  But being able to do so creates confidence.

I recently removed the scope and replaced once again with a red-dot sight, a Trijicon.  I learned the hard way, trying to see a scope’s black crosshairs against a black’s bear’s hide under less than ideal light conditions is not easy.  This too, is one of the many reasons I decided to mount a Stealth Vision 3-18×44 SVT, with operational lighted reticle (www.stealthvision.com) on my R95 .45-70.

Shots at baited black bear tend to be relatively close, within 50-yards or less.  My Raging Hunter revolver allows for a quick follow shot, if required or if there is time, just as with a lever-action Rossi .45-70.

Is the .454 Casull powerful enough?  I killed a sizeable brown bear as well as elk with one in the past.  At the muzzle Hornady’s 240-grain XTP Mag ammo produces around 1,925-foot pounds of energy and retains 1,500-foot pounds of energy at 50-yards.  This compares to Hornady’s 325-grain FTX LEVERevolution .45-70 Gov which produces about 2,900-foot pounds of energy at the muzzle and retains at least 2,050-foot pounds of energy at 100-yards.  Obviously either is fully capable of bringing down the largest black bear in North America, and, even animals considerably bigger.

I plan on having both my lever-action rifle and double-action revolver with me in my bear stand while hunting with Randy, who is a huge lever-action fan.  Unfortunately, the bag limit is one-bear per year, otherwise I would try to shoot a bear with each firearm.

I love my R95 lever-action .45-70, but I have a strong feeling when that Maine black bear of my dreams steps out of the dark shadows of the North Woods, my Raging Hunter Hunter .454 Casull will be pointed at his vitals. I’ll let you know after the hunt!