Just a quick note of my experiences. Lived in Alaska for several years. Hunting with a friend that shot a "Brownie" with Rem 700 in 338, he did not drop right away and he was just walking around, not charging us. FYI my friend had a bear tag. Until then my "take everywhere gun" was a 1911 with .45 Ball. Quickly sold it for a Ruger Redhawk in 44 mag. Worked an area with a very dense Brown Bear population and had the opportunity to see bear spray work but only as a deterrent and behavior mod and not to stop charging to kill. Fast forward several years and I found myself working with a wildlife biologist doing a bear study, live trapping black bears. I had lived in the lower 48 for many years now so I had long sold the Redhawk. This trapping gig came along quick so got a 22# recoil spring and some .45 Super hard cast from Buffalo Bore for my M&P45. One morning checking traps we ended up trapping a cub, I asked the wildlife biologist where she thought the mother was and she commented "keep your eyes open cause I guarantee she is watching us". That was enough for me to acquire a 41 mag and some 300gr hard cast loads. retrieved lots of pics of activity around those traps to include a big mama cat and her twins checking out the bait site a whole 15 mins after we left the site. Never, never too much gun! that being said when working in the back country it's not always feasible to carry a shotgun, carry the biggest handgun you can afford and handle, its better than rocks.