Actually, I live in black bear country right now, in the Southern Appalachian bear management area of north Georgia, east Tennessee and west North Carolina. There is a bear season here annually. I have personally seen black bear even in my residential subdivision here, and in western Arkansas when I lived there.

This isn't theory Jeb. It's practical experience with bears.

"..But the guys I know speak from experience living and hunting in Alaska, and the body of evidence does not support your theory..."

Look, you're a tech writer for a governmental agency, and you live in Alexandria, VA., right? Just off the Beltway? When you tell me what hunting experience you have, or what weapons experience, then we'll talk. But you are just plain wrong about the 'body of evidence' thing. You don't know shit, except second hand. So admit it.

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Maybe Al Gore can tell you some more bedtime stories to comfort you.

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Gary Larson is a personal deity of mine.

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Plenty of handguns exist that would kill the bear or at least wound it so badly that it would take the hint and leave. A 10MM or .45ACP chambered gun would be sufficient if the proper ammunition is used, but for sure a S&W .460 magnum would drop it.Actually, a S&W wheelgun in .460 mag or .500 would be ideal for polar bear duty.

Whatever you chose to carry, believe me, you can carry a handgun that will deal with bears and IMO you are foolish to venture into bear territory unarmed...unless you brought a truck to run around.

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My wife was as young as 11 at the time. Wild dogs and the occasional bear and very very rarely, mountain lions. Got your gun? Oh yeah.

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As an aside Jeb, you a hunter?

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[www.biggamehunt.net]

One of the things to remember about calibre, is that you will get off more shots with a smaller round than with the larger, so you have a marginally improved chance of stopping charging prey with it. But .357 magnum should be good enough as long as you don't waste rounds shooting at the huge frontal skull bossing you talked about.

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This is from my ex-AF loadmaster buddy who lives in Anchorage:

"A 357 would be a lot on the light side. A polar bear can run for a mile with its heart shot out. A head shot will do nothing but piss it off. By time he reloads he would become lunch."

This is from a buddy who lives in Kenai:

"Technically, people have killed grizzlies- and large ones- with a bow and arrow.

Then again, one of the more famous ones- a record for "archery"- was "finished off" with a .444 Marlin as it was trying to run away.

Now, a young or small bear, or one in the spring when it's low on body fat, could conceivably be killed with a .357. Then again, people have killed moose with a .22 long rifle, but that tends to be- obviously- more the exception than the rule.

A large late-season grizzly will have a massive amount of fat. It's not unheard of for a bear to have a foot or eighteen inches of fat between the skin and the muscle. Given this and a side shot, you need a heavy African-game cartridge with a monolithic to have any hopes of a decent kill.

A head shot isn't much easier. A big grizzly has a truly massive skull, but a relatively small brain. Your target is tiny, and keep in mind that even a thousand-pound griz can run as fast as a racehorse for short distances- meaning he can eat up that 100 yards between you and him in mere seconds.

Head shots with insufficient calibers tend to "bounce" off the bear's skull due to the angle of incidence- like skipping a rock off a pond. You'd have to be higher than the bear (like in a tree) or the bear would have to be looking at the ground, in order to give you a high angle shot.

Close range (say less than 20 feet) perfect aim and a good angle on the bear's head? Yeah, a .357 could kill the bear. Bear's 50 yards out facing you and closing fast? If all you have is a .357, you're about to become the next Tim Treadwell.

In the latter case even a .44 mag is pretty light- there's a reason they started making .450s and .500s.

I've heard all the stories- with the smaller gun, shoot him in the eye, or shoot down his open mouth, or aim for the shoulder to break it, etc, etc. Yes, some of those things have happened, but usually the underarmed doofus pays the price and the bear lives long enough for Fish & Game to swing by and pop him with a real gun.

So to answer the question, yes, it's entirely possible, under certain conditions, to kill a grizzly or polar bear with a .357 mag. Then again, it's entirely possible to kill a human being with a 2.7mm Kolibri.

But if you're intending to save your life in the event of a bear attack, or going out actually intending to hunt a bear, you need to start with a .454 Casull and work up from there.

Spring bear and black bear are a different story."

And this is another Alaskan pal:

"My family has a sport fishing lodge in Alaska that was recently named one of the top 5 places to see a Brown/Grizzly Bear.

We keep a 45-70, .338, and a couple of shotguns around for protection. Plus some various other rifles kept around.

The 45-70 and the .338 have both been used to drop a bear. The 45-70 shot a sub 300lb black bear that didn't respond to pepper spray a second time. It was treed, and shot in the side. The entrance wound was about 1" in dia, the exit wound was about 12" in dia, and along with it came a good amount (nearly half) of the gut chamber.

The .338 shot two, a smaller black bear that again was troubling us. The shot was through the brain and down through the chest. The .338 did shatter the skull and kill the bear. The other was a very large brown bear that was called "Troubles" because he had tore up 3 other residences including ours. After a few attmepts from the neighbors, after he tore the door off of our mudroom, he was shot with the .338, through the chest. He went 300 yards before we found his body. At over 800lbs estimated he was one very large bear.

Those are both large caliber hunting rifles.

Yes a .357 will kill a bear. If you have enough rounds. And time. And it will deter a bear to some extent.

But, a polar bear is both larger, and tougher, then either a black or brown. And, if the bear is wet, as in just out of the water, they are effectively bullet proof till they dry out, due to the wet fibers.

So, yeah, at a zoo, you can kill a polar bear. But if you are on the frozen tundra, have a choice between a .357 and something bigger...Like they say in the rules of a gun fight, #6 and #24:

[www.sightm1911.com]

6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

24. Do not attend a gun fight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than "4".

Why would an encounter with a bear be any less?"

You can tell them they're full of shit here, if you want.

[www.network54.com]

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