How effective is a .45 acp against a bear?

Question

I walk in the woods a lot and I am planning to buy me a full size Springfield XD .45 acp handgun with the high capacity 17 round magazine. I am also planning to buy 230 grain .45 acp ammo for my new .45 handgun. The 230 grain ammo is heavier FMJ ammo for maximum impact and penetration.

If a black bear tried to attack me and I fired my .45 acp Springfield XD at it with 230 grain bullets, would they be effective against the attacking bear?

Further Details: Everytime I buy a new gun, I practice with it at the range until I gain very good proficiency in my aim. I already own a Bushmaster AR-15, a .38 special Rossi revolver, and a Mosin Nagant 91/30, and this will be possibly become my 4th gun. I just want to know how effective a .45 acp 230 grain bullet will do against a 400 lb. bear?

More Details: The gun comes with 3 additional magazines, and each magazine can carry 17 bullets. I don't mind emptying a magazine against an attacking bear.

Answer 1

Look in a Bear attack you will be under a huge amount of stress, and you Adrenaline will jump and all this will take away from being accurate. Black Bears have been killed will all sorts of calibers but if you want something that will stop a Grizzly and Black Bears Then no less than a .44 magnum. Bears hides are thick so you do want extra penetration, More time then not, you will be facing a bear head to head if he's coming after you. So this eliminates a across the body shot on the bear. So you see where this is going? No Hydra Shocks or any other Hollow points. You need hardened cast lead bullets that will penetrate the skull of the animal coming after you. .45 ACP will not be very affective in this sort of attack you probably will only get 1 maybe 2 shots make sure they are big enough to do the job.