Interesting and informative reading.

Never having faced a bear and not likely to. I would, however think that what ever handgun you carry as back up would need to function reliable with hardcast or similar blunt nosed rounds in all conditions.

I am a big believer in a massive flat metplate for slow heavy bullets-fast ones to- as I believe they stop animals quicker than pointed bullets. If it was me I would go with the bigest caliber I could shoot, recover, shoot, with one hand.

Just my lay opinion.