[Myrddin]

If I was headed out to bear country for the purpose of hunting them, I would prefer to have a 450 Marlin lever action rifle with 405 gr or better ammo on hand. The S&W 500ES would be carried as a "backup". I have a T/C Encore with the 500 S&W barrel. I'm pretty confident that it would have sufficient knock down capacity, but the prospect of having to reload a single shot rifle with a wounded bear headed your direction isn't particularly pleasant.

[Bear_Slayer]

I'm thinking Rem 870 with staggered loads, ie 00 buck, slug, 00 buck, &etc.

In my thigh holster would be the Ruger Alaskan in .44 mag loaded with 300 gr JHP.

Lastly, a single shot .357 to put me out of my misery if the above two did not work.

[xsrdx]

If I was headed out to bear country for the purpose of hunting them,

Nothing wrong with big bore lever guns for protection, but 338WM or 375HH in a decent bolt gun would be a superior choice for hunting as both shoot flatter and retain a lot more energy past 100yd if you need to shoot that far..

I do like that stainless Marlin GG in 45-70 though.