Here’s a story about a black bear that broke into a home in Boulder, Colorado. Apparently it took 10 rounds to take him down. Why so many? Let’s look at the rounds fired:
- First 2 rounds were 12 gauge bird shot.
- 3rd round was 12 gauge rubber bullet.
- Then 5 .45 ACP rounds
- And finally 2 rounds of .223 from the policeman’s rifle.
He shot the .45 rounds into the bear’s head. Seems to disorient the bear a bit, but didn’t have enough oomph to stop the bear. The .223 finally ended it.
Some other things to note:
- Birdshot is for birds and nothing more. It is not effective at stopping anything more than Tweety. This was a juvenile bear and the birdshot merely disoriented him. It’s evident the homeowner kept the shotgun for self defense, putting birdshot and rubber bullets in there. Folks, less lethal isn’t the way to go. If you’re going to use a shotgun you want buckshot, and probably some slugs in the side-saddle.
- I’ll continue to keep my AR for home defense, over a shotgun, over a handgun. More power, more versatility, more effective.
- Sounds like the homeowner did the right thing tho. Got their gun, collected the wife and kids, man of the house put himself between his family and the bear, called the police for backup. Didn’t go looking for trouble, tried to let the bear get out; it’s always good to give a predator an escape route, else they will fight worse because they feel cornered. But when trouble came to him he dealt with it.
- Cops did eventually show up, but like all things with the cops they are never around when you need them and it takes time for them to show up. It’s good things worked out as well as they did here, but it does show you cannot necessarily count on the police if time is critical.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Eh, I firmly believe in options. My PPS and 870 (with buckshot loaded and slugs in the saddle) live in my bedroom, my AR-15 (with frangible rounds – I have the misfortune of living in an apartment) lives in my office. I am never more than about 15 feet away from either of them.
A .223 definitely seems like underkill for a bear, though… definitely a problem of a narrow-assed round moving way too fast. Now, a carbine in .45 caliber and slow, heavy hollowpoints? I could feel that. .45-70 would be even better, but I am not so sure about that as a “home-defense” round… 😉
Well, one thing I’ve always said is that what one settles upon is personal. Not just due to preference, but also due to situation. For instance, folks that live in an apartment (such as you), have a different set of parameters than someone in a suburban house vs. someone living in the country on 50 acres. Then there are other factors, e.g. cost… a used pump shotgun is a lot less expensive and accessible than an AR, or maybe you live in California or New Jersey or Chicago. Everyone has a different set of parameters to work within, and you have to choose what’s going to satisfy the parameters best.
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