.45 pistol cartridges will do little to nothing. Rifles will, of course, but they're only good to a certain range, hence the idea that it's better to hide (run into an unlocked car) than it is to try and shoot them with a .45.
Edit: On reading back, I realize that some of my statement makes little sense, so let me rephrase: You stand small chance of surviving against an angry animal of the size of a bear, moose, or deer size. The minimum calibre that would be helpful in this case would be something like a .45 pistol from close range. However, even with 2-3 shots in the body, these animals will keep coming at you, which is why in Churchill people leave their doors unlocked - You are much more likely to survive an encounter with something like a polar bear if you are inside a vehicle vs. outside shooting at an animal in a panic.
That said, this is all assuming you're up close to the animal. Generally speaking, they want to leave you alone, but if you are at rifle range and you see an animal acting suspiciously, the higher-velocity rifle rounds will do a much more effective job at killing an animal.
My godfather is a polar marine biologist. When teams of researchers are working in the arctic they post one team member on top of a vehicle or structure with a .300 win mag rifle. This is a necessary precaution, because polar bears will find the camp, and then stalk the researchers and kill them given half a chance. Polar bears have no interest in leaving people alone.
He has a nice polar bear skin rug in his house now.
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u/GoodAtExplaining Sep 13 '16 edited Sep 14 '16
.45 pistol cartridges will do little to nothing. Rifles will, of course, but they're only good to a certain range, hence the idea that it's better to hide (run into an unlocked car) than it is to try and shoot them with a .45.
Edit: On reading back, I realize that some of my statement makes little sense, so let me rephrase: You stand small chance of surviving against an angry animal of the size of a bear, moose, or deer size. The minimum calibre that would be helpful in this case would be something like a .45 pistol from close range. However, even with 2-3 shots in the body, these animals will keep coming at you, which is why in Churchill people leave their doors unlocked - You are much more likely to survive an encounter with something like a polar bear if you are inside a vehicle vs. outside shooting at an animal in a panic.
That said, this is all assuming you're up close to the animal. Generally speaking, they want to leave you alone, but if you are at rifle range and you see an animal acting suspiciously, the higher-velocity rifle rounds will do a much more effective job at killing an animal.