Everyone has their idea of what a suitable bear defense long gun is, and it’s usually something like a .45/70, 12 gauge slug gun, or a .375 H&H. All of those are proven, viable options, and you’ll typically get laughed out of camp if you suggested an AR-15 might be suitable too. It’s an idea that I didn’t take very seriously, or even spend much thought on. That is, until I saw a viral video last year of a man stopping a black bear that had gotten into his house, gunning it down from a few feet away with what appears to be an AR-15. As the bear approached and he saw it, he fired three quick shots, dropping the bear, followed by another four. This prompted me to wonder, is the AR-15 a more reasonable option than we think?
What Most People Get Wrong About Bear Defense
Bear defense is always an entertaining topic. That’s largely because most opinions are driven by dogma, conjecture, and fantasy rather than experience. The very nature of speculation about stopping a big, toothy predator indulges bravado and a lust for cartridges with “knockdown power” or “authority” — and mostly ignores the factors that matter most. A salty bear guide might tell stories about stopping a charge with his trusty .375 or .458, but all the audience hears is the big cartridge, not the skill and savvy. Then they imagine themselves as properly equipped if they simply pick a cannon.
Most people, who daydream about their ideal bear defense long gun, also picture themselves in a scenario where it comes down to one shot for all the marbles. They place the shot perfectly, dropping the bruin, which then skids to a stop at their feet. The problem is, if you have to shoot a bear in self defense, it’s not going to happen like you think it will. I’ve killed many bears, and crawled through the brush looking for quite a few grizzlies and brown bears. So far the only bear I had no choice but to shoot was a black bear that I was trying to keep out of my boat — after he’d already stolen my chainsaw.
This “one shot” mentality is usually used to argue for the most powerful cartridge one can field. While there are some valid aspects to it, that perspective is also shortsighted. If charged, indeed, you might only get one shot. Hell, you might not even see it coming in time to shoot. However, if you want the best chance at stopping an aggressive bear, you’d better be prepared and capable of shooting it multiple times. Even the biggest cartridges usually won’t stop a bear in their tracks unless you hit them in the brain or central nervous system. A hit will often give you the chance to shoot again though.
Why The AR-15 Is Appealing
The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America for a reason. In many trims it’s light, handy, modular, and easy to shoot. It has excellent ergonomics and, over the past 60 years, the reliability kinks have been worked out of the system. AR-15 rifles are available everywhere, many rifles are pretty affordable, and cheap practice ammo is everywhere.
All of these attributes line up with what matters when choosing a bear defense rifle — except the cartridge. Most would consider the .223 or 5.56 NATO beneath the threshold of an appropriate bear defense round. But how accurate is that assumption?
When picking a gun for any task, you’ve got to make trade-offs. When I pick a larger rifle like my .375, I’m trading off some ergonomics and the speed of a follow-up shot for a cartridge that will penetrate a bear end-to-end and do a lot of damage — with the right projectile. When I pick a .45/70, I’m gaining some speed in handling, but sacrificing damage-inflicting velocity. Again, with the right bullet the trade-off can be worth it.
If one were to pick an AR-15 they would, in theory, be trading off a smaller, less potent cartridge for improved handling and shooting characteristics. How does all that pencil out? That’s exactly what we investigated in the video.
The AR Is More Reasonable Than You Might Think
To compare handling and speed of shooting, I tested an AR-15 in .223 and an AR-10 in .308 against my trusty .375 Ruger and .45/70 in a series of three drills. The first tested the speed at which I could get one shot off on a small target from a slung position. I slung all three as I carried them in the field. The AR had an advantage here since it can be brought into action quickly and carried in various easily-accessible positions.
The second and third drills tested speed and precision on a series of four staggered targets from far to near. First, testing with the State of Alaska charging grizzly target, then with clay pigeons. In both tests, the ARs beat the proven guns by several seconds and achieved equal or better accuracy. Ironically, if I had time for only one shot, my best bet for making an instantly lethal shot on the bear would be with one of the ARs.
Gel Testing
After the shooting and handling tests, we took a look at how several .223 bullets compare to proven bear loads. Many bullets that you’ll find for the .223 likely will not give you satisfactory penetration or wound channel for a bear defense application, but not all bullets are created equal. After all, I recently saw first hand that a 71-grain McGuire Ballistics Copper Rose will shatter a big grizzly’s shoulder knuckle and keep penetrating.
For my control, I fired hard-cast bear loads into a gel block from a 10mm Auto, .44 Magnum, and .45/70. I don’t believe these to be the best options for bear defense, but they have longstanding reputations for being effective in this capacity and are generally accepted. All three bullets provide excellent penetration, with pretty minimal permanent wound cavities.
From the AR-15, I fired three copper bullets — a 54-grain G9 Defense Barrier Blind, 62-grain Lehigh Defense Controlled Chaos, and a 50-grain Barnes TTSX. Both the G9 and Lehigh Defense bullets expand violently, shedding their petals, which radiate outward, while the base continues penetrating to about 22 inches. The Barnes produced an excellent permanent cavity for the first 10 inches or so but because it did not shed its petals it didn’t have as large of a total wound diameter and the slug halted at about 15 inches of penetration.
I also tested two lead-core bullets — a 55-grain Speer Gold Dot and a 77-grain Sierra TMK. The bonded 55-grain Gold Dot expanded well, but did not penetrate as deeply as any of the copper bullets. The 77-grain TMK, a match bullet, penetrated farther than the 55-grain and left a larger permanent wound cavity than any of the other bullets.
All the copper slugs, and the 77-grain TMK, delivered more dramatic wound cavities than any of the larger hard cast bullets, but will not penetrate as deeply.
Additionally, we took a look at other AR-15 chamberings in gel, and options like the 300 HAM’R (which penetrated more than 32 inches) and 350 Legend. Both are very viable.
Read Next: I’ve Killed Dozens of Bears. Here’s What Actually Makes a Great Bear Gun
Final Thoughts
Coming away from this, I’m not going to switch to using an AR-15 as my primary bear defense rifle. Lately, I’ve moved to a Ruger Guide Gun in .30/06, loaded with 175-grain Lehigh Defense Extreme Chaos bullets — a larger version of the 62-grain bullet tested here. However, I’m convinced that the AR-15 is a lot more realistic as a bear defense tool than I gave it credit for. If you’ve already got a heavy bear gun that you shoot well and practice with, I don’t see a compelling reason to change. But if you’ve already got a handy AR-15, and need a general purpose gun for around camp you probably don’t need to go buy something bigger — especially if you’re just dealing with black bears.
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