thinking of buying a handgun? any ideas?

You need a .44 Magnum. Which makes a very poor first hangun.

And don't buy a Desert Eagle. Unless they are lubricated regularly, they will not function well. If you lube it, and then try to shoot it say, 3 months later, it may not work. You have to lubricate a Desert Eagle right before you use it. My brother has one. He took it out and it didn't work. And he had just used and cleaned it 3 months prior. He had to spray it with lube before it would function.

You need to buy a .22 or .38 or 9mm, and practice, and then work up to .44 Magnum.

Honestly, if you are new to hanguns, you would be better off with a rifle. It takes a while to learn to shoot a high powered handgun.

And what kind of bear are you taking about? Black Bear or Grizzley? For Grizzley you need a .45-70 or something. For Mountain Lion or Black Bear, a short, handy .30-30 or .35 Remington carbine would work quite well.

Based on your question and the way it's worded, I take it you want this handgun for personal defense. If this is the case, this leaves a lot that haven't been addressed in your question. I hope that you visit back and update, as there's a lot left to be determined. If you want the handgun for personal defense in the home, i.e. the one to keep in your nightstand next to your bed, you probably want a revolver or some monstrosity like the Taurus Judge, as it can hold 28 gauge shotgun shells as well! The pellet spread could be advantageous in the dark, confined quarters of a nighttime break in scenario. The advantage of a revolver is if you have a dud round in the chamber, you only need to pull the trigger again. However, revolvers are not the best when it comes to a pocket gun for carry. This is when you need to look at an autoloader. In my opinion, and based on time-tested historical truths, the best concealed-carry handgun you can have is the Walther PPK. It uses 9mm Kurz (short) ammunition (known as .380 Auto or 380 acp to Americans) and definitely packs all the punch needed to fell an adversary should your worst nightmare come true and you found yourself forced to use it to defend yourself. It's as simple as possible (less to go wrong), lightweight (22 oz.), and made of ultra-high quality stainless steel. And it's small, less than an inch wide and disappears in most pockets. It is a piece of German-engineered handgun perfection and it WILL go bang if you need it to. One final note on the PPK. They're currently made by Smith & Wesson under license and easily discernible from the originals because they're known as PPK/s and the design has been bastardized by adding a long handguard dovetail to the rear tang, as well as modifying the magazine to hold an extra round. The only original German PPK's (which I would HIGHLY recommend) which can be found are those assembled from imported parts by a company called Interarms. They're getting harder to find as each day goes by. The reason I suggest the German version (aside from the flawless quality) is the fact that the original PPK design incorporates a "backup" defensive feature in the rear tang, which has been removed in the American copies of it. The rear tang was designed as a bludgeoning weapon should the gun fail to fire. One whack on the skull from that thing will drop anything, no matter how drugged up they may be. Just my 2 cents worth. I know this is a very personal subject and one dear to many hearts. I'm sharing with you the piece that I would trust my life to. -Pilotsteve

you need bigger then a 44mag. my buddies uncle was backpacking and was charged by a mother bear protecting her cubs. the 44mag took 3 hits to get her down. now he carries a 454 casull. either that or carry the bigger 500 S.W. round.

here's a link to the Ruger Alaskan Backpacker that comes in a 44mag or 454 casull. don't go by that price though. They are much cheaper in any gun shop.

http://www.ruger.com/products/superRedhawkAlaskan/...

normally when hunting a bear and taking the time to aim perfectly and the bear isn't angry and charging at you, the 44mag would be more then enough. but in real world scenarios that is not the case. good luck on your choice.

Well small and strong enough for a bear for a first gun does not really give you much options. Usually you want to take baby steps with smaller calibers before going up to a .460 or 500sw.

That is what would do the job though. At least what I would carry (along with a good back up gun) to stop a possible bear attack.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/serv...

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/serv...

I have seen smaller barrel revolvers in these calibers but a snubby 500 would not be fun to shoot.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Ite...

Bear kit

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.ph...

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.ph...

Black bears or grizzly bears? If it's for black bears, you might be able to get away with a 10mm (and that's a BIG might), otherwise, you're going to want AT LEAST a .44 mag.

smith an wesson mtn gun in 357 cal it is a 7 shot and made for mtn guides model number eludes me

44 Magnum revolver. Would make a terrible first gun though.

9mm with a bulit in laser

why would you want to kill a bear or a mountain lion?

Desert Eagle - Yeah it's a bit expensive but after you use that gun, no other gun will feel as good...

It's my first and the only one I ever needed ;)