Grizzly Bears and Handguns, Number of Shots Fired

 

 

 

In the ongoing study of how effective handguns are when used as a defense against bears, this correspondent posted an article on AmmoLand showing the distribution of the number of shots fired vs the number of cases. The most common case was one shot fired, with the least common cases having the most shots fired. On examining the data, there is a significant difference noted among bears species.

In cases involving brown bears, grizzly bears, Kodiak bears, (ursus arctos) more shots are fired per case.  

There are 109 total handgun only cases involving ursus arctos, of which 93 cases had known shot numbers. One case had an indeterminant outcome. There was 1 failure. 1 case was indeterminant because both handgun and bear spray were used and it could not be determined which weapon was decisive.

As in the previous article, the largest number of cases were with one shot fired, but the percentages were different for brown bears. As with the previous article, unavoidable selection bias will tend to exclude successful warning shots, because many will not think it necessary to report incidents where no bear or human was injured. Of the 93 cases where the number of shots fired is known or reasonably inferred, the distribution is as follows:

1 shot - 18 cases  or 19.4% of the cases where the number of shots is known.  5 cases involved a warning shot(s).  4 of the warning shot cases were successful. In one case where one handgun shot was fired, killing the bear, two warning
shots were fired with a .22 rimfire rifle. Those shots were unsuccessful. It was decided to include the case because the .22 rifle shots were not effective and not aimed at the bear.

2 shots -11 or 11.8% of cases where the number of shots is known.   8 cases involved warnings shots. There were 5 cases where the warning shots were successful, in 2 of those cases, the success was temporary. There were 4 cases where  warning shots 4 were unsuccessful, in one case the effect of warning shot(s) was unknown, 1 case had an indeterminate outcome.

3 shots - 10 or 10.8%  of cases where the number of shots is known. In 1 case warning shots were successful. In one case the defensive firing of shots failed, involving a .357 magnum in Alaska.

4 shots - 12 or 12.9% of cases where the number of shots is known.   Two cases involved warning shots. 1 was temporarily  successful and 2 were unsuccessful. In two cases, two handguns were involved.

5 shots - 11 or 11.8% of cases where the number of shots is known. 3  cases involved warning shots, 2 were successful, 1 temporarily,  2 unsuccessful.

6 shots - 9  or 9.7% of cases where the number of shots is known. 3 warning shots cases were successful, 1 temporarily,  1 unsuccessful.

69 cases of six shots or less, or 76.3% of the total for Grizzly bears, where the number of shots is known.

7 shots -  6 cases or 6.5% of cases where the number of shots is known.   1 case involved a  warning shot case, which was temporarily successful and then unsuccessful.

8 shots - 5 cases or 5.4% of cases where the number of shots is known.   No warning shot cases

9 shots - 2 cases or  2.2% of cases where the number of shots is known. No warning shot cases

10 shots  4 cases or 4.3% of cases where the number of shots is known. 1 warning shot case, unsuccessful.

12 shots 1 case or 1.1% of cases where the number of shots is known. No warning shots

15 shots 1 case or 1.1% of cases where the number of shots is known. No warning shots

16 shots 1 case or 1.1% of cases where the number of shots is known. No warning shots,  2 handguns were involved.

19 shots 1 case or 1.1% of cases where the number of shots is known. No warning shots,  3 handguns were involved.

31 shots 1 case or 1.1% of cases where the number of shots is known. No warning shots,  2 handguns were involved.

There were no cases where 11, 13, 14, 17, 18 or 20-30 shots were fired in the cases documented at the time of this writing.

There were 16 cases where the number of shots was not known.  There were  3 warning shot cases, 1 successful, 1 unsuccessful, 1 unknown. In two of the cases more than one handgun was involved.

It is not surprising that brown, grizzly and Kodiak (ursus arctos) bears take more shots per case. The difference is not tremendously large compared to the total. But ursus arctos makes up the majority of cases, which skews the results toward the ursus arctos numbers. In the future we will look at the numbers for black bears and polar bears. In both cases, the number of shots per case are significantly lower than for ursus arctos.

If you wish to read about each case individually, they are available from the following links:

Last full list, published on June 2021, 104 incidents.

First update, April 11, 2022;  Eleven additional cases, March 16, 2022; Second update November 21, 2023; Third update May 8, 2024; Fourth update October 22, 2025.

©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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