It will break all sorts of stuff but it's not going to crack an engine block.

 

Really hard cast lead bullets. They can shoot threw an elk. A 350 pound black bear skull turned several bullets before making their way to brains. Maybe a work hardened pure copper bullet, the powdered meterlurgy Fusion bullets can become armor piercing if re heat treated so I hear.

Its a hand gun, you want to stop trucks get .458 or a 50 Cal BMG.

 

I've read the hard cast is the best option, but stat wise it is better to have
a can of bear oc you have a much better chance of survuval heard it on I
shouldn't be alive I think. You could always plug a few well placed rounds
while the bear can't think straight.

 

I hunt with 240 gr LSWC but in big bear country I think I would move up to 300 Gr LFN or JFN bullets. My gun shoots the 300 gr double tap accurately so I would think the Buffalo Bore ammo would do just as well.

 

I deer hunt with a winchester 94 trapper in 44 mag and love the performance of cor bon 240 grain jacketed hollow points I think the lighter the grain the harder hitting it is also have had good luck with black hills ammo too.

 

Well you are right in that it has more delivered energy because of the higher velocity but what works on a thin skinned 160 pound deer isn't necessarily good for a grizzly coming at you paws to the ground and moving in a hurry. You want penetration which is why I would choose the slower heavier solid bullet. Absolute last thing you want in your gun is a fast expanding bullet. You may get lucky but I prefer to hedge my bets and try for a bullet that will get deeper inside where the parts that make the bear work are. A 30-30 would do the job, a 12 gauge slug would be better and a 450 marlin better yet but it's hard to do camp chores when you have a shotgun or rifle in your hands.

 

I use 320 gr. GC Hard cast lead.
made by Alaska Backpacker. It's for killing really big bears.

 

For bear protection (I carry spray as a first line of defense, .44mag as 2nd line of defense but that is a whole other discussion)

I use a .300 grain hard cast projectile that I load myself. Can't remember the load data off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to go down to my mancave and dig up my reloading notebook.
Anyway I load them pretty close to max power.

 

.500 S&W. I think this may crack an engine block

 

For personal defense there is a 300 grain hollow point from Hornaday that is the best...the second best is a 275 grain Remington hollow point. For stopping large animals or for hunting them try 300 grain + solids. Buffalo bore I think even makes a 340 hardcast solid.

There are off-the-shelf 300 grain hardcasts as well.

For punching through engine blocks? As stated above a 50BMG will work...

I have heard of a .44mag destroying an engine block, but not with any factory load. You will need a 240 gr hollow point and you'll have to drill it out some and then put in some carbide tool steel dowl (for lack of a better word). For a poor man's version, take the same hollow point and put in the ends from self-tapping screws. An old friend of mine said he had incredible penetration with that setup. I've never done it myself, and I'm not advocating developing those hand loads. I'm just saying what I've heard. (Not even saying whether it is 100% accurate...just presenting it as a possibility)

 

http://www.garrettcartridges.com/44mag.html

 

With 240 gr hard cast semi wadcutter at 1100 fps you can take anything from rattlesnakes to elk. No hand gun is a good bear gun. On the other hand if he is close enough to bite you he is close enough to shoot between the eyes. When I lived in alaska I killed a moose with my Redhawk, 11 gr of unique behind a 240 gr Keith style wadcutter.

 

I have loaded some Hornady 300 gr xtp's to a max load using H110 through a super blackhawk 10 1/2" barrel. I don't know what the velocity is but behind the paper target where we were shooting it looked like someone was throwing a shovel full of dirt in the air where the bullet was inpacting the ground. They say buffalo bore makes some 44+P+ ammo that are for Ruger only guns. Supposed to be very hot but I have not shot any.