.36 vs. .44 "Stopping Power"

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The OP offered a different title and that is what this should be, his alternative title.

As for the Grizzly Bear encounter, we do not know where the two shots penetrated the bear. But that is the goal of a shot, do disabling damage. If you blow a Grizzly bear shoulder out and all it can do is circles, unless you are in the circle, you can plink it at your leisure.

A popular shotgun load for surveyors or other bush crawlers (fish counters, geologists etc) was 4 double O Buck and a slug.

For a Grizzly odds are you will not get a shot off. If you do, then the O Buck shreds the face (or that is the idea). You have 3 more rounds. Assuming its blind now, the slug kills it, even if slowly as shot placement is difficult to say the least on a bear scrambling around.

The other school was Slugs, I never thought that was worth spit. I had seen said bears move and a big slug miss is a surveyor getting mauled.

Also situation specific. Curl up was better than shooting, pepper spray best of all but I know one case where the guy did not get it out of the holster. A Peperr Spray can in the hand is priceless.

One poster said shock of larger rounds. Well a 20mm yes, but bullets reality range .357 to 45.

Does the bullet transmit its energy? A amped up person si just like a bear, once going they shrug off anything but a central nervous system hit (yes a heart shot works but not as fast though it might be good enough)

I had a laugh about the guy who herded the Griz back to his party. I would have shot that guy. You idiot. A 45-70 at range, yes. Pistols at arm reach, you are stupid. If a bear runs away you just won the lottery.

Self defense ammo is not considered equal in 9mm up through 44. Its just luck of the draw.

I know of one encounter where a guy with a 44 magnum started shooting at a guy with a 45 ACP 1911 (Range war where a group of drug runners was taking over other peoples cabins)

The good guy with the 45 won, he had two more shots and number 7 or 8 hit something lethal. He in turn was hit 4 x by the 44, none of them was lethal. Best is SD ammo and lots of rounds.
But none of it does a lick of good sans shot placement.

This is a short version of Elmer Keith hunt out on the Alaska Peninsula (caribou and grizzly bears). 5 of his part are stopped atop a small hill (typical of that area) and one guy looks back and its, oh ****. Coming up the hill hell bent is a grizzly.. Ok, this is not a cub charge, we did not startle, all rifles on deck.

I don't remember who had what but they all had 30-06, 35 Whalen group. All were experienced big game and they shifted to a line and opened up as they got a clear shot.

The bear dies at their feet. Most of the shots hit. I read that account long ago, I don't remember if it was accumulated damage or someone finally got the trifecta. Stopping power? Yea right.

SD ammo is te4sted for penetration (ie duplicate human body) and you don't want it going through. Its tested for expansion and how much and reliable.

Law enforcement or security are still taught center of mass. Because you should hit something and some stuff that will drop someone is in that area.

Its not stopping power, its playing the odds. You stack them in your favor.

Can you even see someone through the smoke of the first shot (BP revolver getting back to that) or the 2nd? Its why Nelson climbed the mast, he needed to see! (well he had people up there to see for him).

So yea, change the title. As is knowing the reaction its just troll bait. Yea I am a bit at loose ends this afternoon and thought some tales from Alaska might liven up someones day.
 
I have no ambition to be somewhere where grizz is a problem. But if I had to, a bolt or lever gun chambered for a cartridge also considered suitable for elephant or rhino. Add a .454 revolver. Add a .22 mag derringer for suicide should the first choices fail.
Seriously, I am a bird hunter. Not following a dog carrying a16 GA through any grizz habitat.
If I absolutely had to prowl his habitat? I'd want grenades and an M79 with WP rounds.
 
There is a large difference in performance, as when loaded to normal capacity, the .44 is nearly twice as powerful as a .36. Both can achieve similar velocities, but the .44 ball (.454 or so) is twice as heavy. For shooting varmints and plinking .36 will suffice. My 1851 Navy in .36 is my favorite revolver. Lots of talk on a muzzleloading forum about modern ballistics, shockwaves, and statistics. I would like to share a statistic now. I have shot 11 large bodied bucks (200 lb. and well up from there) with a .44 cap and ball revolver. 100% were killed quickly with one shot from a range of 4 to perhaps 30 yards. A few fell immediately, a few ran a short distance, same as a modern rifle. Didn't get the deer's opinion on wound channels and such. For general shooting, I love the .36., for hunting and two legged varmints, a warmly loaded .44 is the way to go. Of course, if I'm expecting 2 legged trouble, I'm not carrying a cap and ball revolver anyways. So, discussions about concealed carry and stats seem a strange tangent for a muzzleloading forum that covers a time period from the Late Medieval world to 1865.
Except that concealed carry was fairly common in the latter portion of that time frame. Lincoln was assassinated by a concealed carry piece.
 
Add a .22 mag derringer for suicide should the first choices fail.

When people asked about my carry 41 magnum I told them it was to shoot myself if I encountered a grizzly (brown) bear!

I had zero expectations of it for bear SD. Noise maker yes, snipe a bear if I had to if I could get up in a tree (if it would not leave) yes.

As noted with the 357, eventually it would kill a bear.
 
I have been impressed with my .44 Sheriff and my .36 Navy. As far as "STOPPING POWER" I never have been a big believer in it, I have seen life snuffed with .22 short as well as .50 BMG. Grant it two different forms of life, both were taken with Shot Placement not Stopping Power
 
Last edited:
its ALL about shot placement. Charlie Beckwith survived a .50 cal hit to the abdomen that did not hit a vital. Gary flint took a bunch of .44mag to the stomach and lived. lots of other stories out there. .22lr in the right place beats.44 mag in the dirt every day. same thing with .36 over .44 rb. That being said if you have good accuracy with the larger caliber then go with that.
 
Those boys (going after grizzlies with a Navy pistol) sure had some hair on them… live large!
I've read the grizzly guns were almost always Walker's with max loads shot from horse back.
The Mexicans made great sport of gang lassoing them from horse back and finishing them off with hand guns.
I can imagine a pissed off grizzly winding up a single rider from his lariat rope if not attached by another from an adjacent angle.
 
Jay Massey used to do float trips down the Moose John River, was asked if a .357 Magnum would stop a Grizzly bear. “Oh heck yeah!” He said, “Eventually…”
I've lived and hunted AK every year but two for over five decades, all in brown/grizzly country, killed 6 black bear and was present when two brown bear were taken. They all carried on with lethal hits long enough to end me had they closed and gotten the chance.
The only one I ever saw drop from a single hit was the last one I killed nearly closing on my hunting pard with a 4 inch .44 Mag Keith bullet "God shot" through the spine that cut his wiring.
He weighed 400 lbs and was already mortally wounded with a shot through the heart/lungs from the front of the chest I had just made on him initiating the charge . This for those that think a black bear won't come after you !
Phil Shoemaker (noted AK brown/grizzly guide) recommends and regularly carries a .357 mag with hard cast or monolithic bullets.
Two comments always amuse me, that bear size has anything to do with their lethality and any person knowing what a bear will do when shot !
A 200 lbs black bear will kill you every bit as fast as a 1200 lb brown will if they have decided to.
I remember a very accurate and honest quote by a bear guide some years back when asked what a bear is going to do in a given situation,"hells bells, the bear doesn't even know what he's going to do until it happens" !
 
Last edited:
I've subscribed to Elmer Keith's theory, 'If it ain't big, it ain't sh*t!' for years. I think he knew a thing or two about 'big' calibers, having grown up with a 30-06 as his first rifle. Then going on to help develop both the .357 & .44 magnum. When concealability is an issue, I carry my NAA .22. When it isn't I carry my 1911 in ,45 ACP. Then if I am feeling particularly frivolous, I carry my New Army c&b in .44. At none of these times do I feel 'under armed' with even my NAA .22, Among other things, I believe that shot placement is important and often practice shot placement under stressful situations.
Big fan of old Elmer especially his preference of large caliber firearms and his differences of opinion with Jack O'Connor who was the biggest supporter of the 270 winchester.
36 navy is plenty for bear defense if you remember the cardinal rule to simply shoot your hunting partner in the foot which always allows for you to make your escape.
 
I've lived and hunted AK every year but two for over five decades, all in brown/grizzly country, killed 6 black bear and was present when two brown bear were taken. They all carried on with lethal hits long enough to end me had they closed and gotten the chance.
The only one I ever saw drop from a single hit was the last one I killed nearly closing on my hunting pard with a 4 inch .44 Mag Keith bullet "God shot" through the spine that cut his wiring.
He weighed 400 lbs and was already mortally wounded with a shot through the heart/lungs from the front of the chest I had just made on him initiating the charge . This for those that think a black bear won't come after you !
Phil Shoemaker (noted AK brown/grizzly guide) recommends and regularly carries a .357 mag with hard cast or monolithic bullets.
Two comments always amuse me, that bear size has anything to do with their lethality and any person knowing what a bear will do when shot !
A 200 lbs black bear will kill you every bit as fast as a 1200 lb brown will if they have decided to.
I remember a very accurate and honest quote by a bear guide some years back when asked what a bear is going to do in a given situation,"hells bells, the bear doesn't even know what he's going to do until it happens" !
AND You might recall that, during fishing season, he (Phil) successfully defended two fishermen under his guidance using a compact 9mm loaded with non-expanding bullets.

this thread is a hoot!
 
I just loaded up my 1858 with 220g lee conicals today. shot 48 of them. Absolutly nasty power compared to RB with the same 25g T7 total pain in the butt to load and shoot way high.
 
Good post, and an interesting test, @PastorB !

I thought you might be interested in some real-world experiences from the old frontier, regarding the effectiveness of the Navy (.36) versus Army (.44) revolvers against dangerous game. This is from Captain Randolph B. Marcy's Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border, first published in 1866:

View attachment 301652

View attachment 301653

Theodore Davis, who was a correspondent and illustrator for Harper's Weekly in the late 1860's, had even more to say regarding revolvers on the buffalo plains: "Of the revolvers in use the old style dragoon pistol of the Colt pattern seems to be the favorite, though the bullet that it shoots is no heavier than that used in the present style known as Colt's army revolver. The pistol itself is heavier and more steady to shoot, and the cylinder is chambered for more powder. I am not aware that this arm is any longer manufactured. The Plains men who possess a pair hold them in great esteem. Their caliber is 44-110ths of an inch. I have found it best in loading my pistols not to rely upon the fixed ammunition supplied for them, preferring to use loose ammunition, or cartridges made by myself. Then there is some certainty of the quantity of powder, and a charge as heavy as the weapon will contain."

That was from an article Davis wrote in (I believe) 1867, entitled "The Buffalo Range." I'm sorry I don't have a more complete citation at this time, as the quote was taken from a compilation of Davis' articles, and specific issues of Harpers were not listed. However, while Davis was a professional journalist, he was a seasoned plainsman in his own right by that time, and he knew what he was talking about. Here is a self portrait from August, 1867:

View attachment 301655

So, if we are to believe the people who were actually there, the .44 was by far the more effective caliber for stopping power, and the larger chamber capacity of the old-style dragoon revolvers made them even more effective on big game than the lighter Army models. Not very scientific, but written from practical experience in the field.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
Since this anecdote was from 1858 the 44 must've been a Colt's Dragoon, which carried twice the powder capacity of the Navy. I wouldn't consider a Remington NMA or Colt 1860 equal to that.
 
I have no ambition to be somewhere where grizz is a problem. But if I had to, a bolt or lever gun chambered for a cartridge also considered suitable for elephant or rhino. Add a .454 revolver. Add a .22 mag derringer for suicide should the first choices fail.
Seriously, I am a bird hunter. Not following a dog carrying a16 GA through any grizz habitat.
If I absolutely had to prowl his habitat? I'd want grenades and an M79 with WP rounds.
Meh, a 12 gauge with slugs is a preferred carry in big bear country. I wouldn't think you'd be giving that much away with a 16-gauge slug. ;)
 
Since this anecdote was from 1858 the 44 must've been a Colt's Dragoon, which carried twice the powder capacity of the Navy. I wouldn't consider a Remington NMA or Colt 1860 equal to that.
Did/do the Dragoons have the same chamber capacity of the Walkers? I had perhaps mistakenly thought the Walker chamber capacity was larger not having a Dragoon to compare.
 
Did/do the Dragoons have the same chamber capacity of the Walkers? I had perhaps mistakenly thought the Walker chamber capacity was larger not having a Dragoon to compare.
Wasn't the Walker 50 grain Max load and Dragoons 40 grains? I'm assuming because he called the .44 and "Army" he meant Dragoon but who knows? It was 1858 so I'm not sure of the terminology
 
Wasn't the Walker 50 grain Max load and Dragoons 40 grains? I'm assuming because he called the .44 and "Army" he meant Dragoon but who knows? It was 1858 so I'm not sure of the terminology
One can get nearly 60 grains of 3F in a Walker with a ball but with a 210 grain ACP bullet I've found about 45-48 grains of 3F about right.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top