If you can control them. Most people can’t shoot those well enough to hit a bear when he’s still far enough away from them. Especially if they have a short bbl.
The biggest hand cannon that most people can shoot is probably the 44 magnum with at least a 6” barrel, for some weight out front and a longer sight radius. And even for that, you need to practice.
Probably better to have a nice 18.5” bbl 12ga pump loaded with slugs. Or maybe alternating slug and 00 buck.
The standard issue round for rangers in grizz country is a Brenneke slug in a 12 ga.
You need mass to counter mass, and Brenneke offers a slug with as much as 600gr of mass in a slug.
Until you get into the punishing African rifles, you’re hard pressed to find a 600gr pill in a rifle, and such things simply don’t exist in handgun rounds.
Shotguns are wonderful tools in these situations. So versatile, so affordable, and so much firepower in such a cheap package it is hard to dispute. You can be hunting deer, elk, moose or upland game here in Wyoming with a shotgun and be fully ready for bear by just racking in a slug round. Hard to do with just about any other hunting weapon other than a drilling, which are ferociously expensive.
“Probably better to have a nice 18.5” bbl 12ga pump loaded with slugs. Or maybe alternating slug and 00 buck.”
Look up Saiga 12.
Buy.
Carry 8, or 10 round stick magazines.
The 20 round drum is just too bulky for regular carry, IMHO, and can’t the drum can’t use 3” mag loads.
He had just returned from a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana.
. Since he was an avid jogger I ask about hiking in the park. He said the scenery and views from the trails was almost beyond words.
Being a hunter I ask about grizzlies. He said the only bears he saw were at a great distance.
Being a inquisitive man he had ask a ranger how they dealt with problem bears, namely grizzlies. In the case of self defense the ranger said they used 12 gauge pump guns with extension magazine tubes with a birdshot shell in the chamber followed by a slug, then birdshot followed by a slug and alternating the two until the tube was full.
Since he and I had never discussed firearms before I assumed he meant buckshot not birdshot. When I ask him about this his reply was "no it was birdshot for the first shot aimed at the bears face with the intent to blind the bear. Followed by a slug aimed for a vital organ. The 3rd shot was birdshot aimed at the face and eyes, followed by a slug to the vitals. As told to him by the ranger."
Over the 30+ years he was my doctor I never knew him to joke or yank my chain with a story like this.
I have never heard or read about birdshot followed by a slug used to dispatch a problem grizzly.
Perhaps someone else has heard of this "method".