I live in NW Montana where we are blessed with black and grizzly bears. I carry three handgun calibers: .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and 10mm auto depending on where I will be working, what I will be doing, and how close I will be to my Marlin 1895 in .45/70. I have no doubt that handguns can be effective protection against bears but I’ll take a rifle every time if I can. A 12 bore shotgun loaded with Brenneke slugs is also acceptable. Proper handgun bullet selection is paramount with heavy for caliber hard cast lead bullets best.
One of the prime reason handguns seem to be effective is one can have them on your person all the time.
Whereas long guns tend to get set down or left behind.