I would use and recommend nothing but a heavy hard cast solid if you are talking about bears, either brown or black. You HAVE to have penetration to break bones, penetrate the skull and reach the vitals, especially with a handgun. Some heavy Buffalo Bore solids would get the job done as a HP or JSP might not reach them due to expansion, especially when the fall bears are full of salmon and have 4 inches of fat on them.

Them 240's might not penetrate the skull or bust a shoulder on a charging brownie and them bears run at 30 mph. I never relied on a handgun as my primary weapon for bear protection while outdoors when I lived on Kodiak and Baranof Islands in Alaska for 7 years. Neither did my Fish and Game friends. Always had my .338 Winchester or Remington 870 with me and my .41 loaded with hard cast solids as a last ditch effort revolver to protect myself from them big guys. Saw a 8' Kodiak take 3 .300 Win Mags to bring it down. First shot was a double lunger as it missed the left shoulder, second a gut and the thing ran 80 measure paces before it dropped and it was still breathing when we carefully approached it from uphill. My bud finished it off with a head shot.

JMO

__________________
V/R
Roger / SG