While I have a .375 with express sights that I prefer, either a shotgun or rifle matched with competence in its use is a better bear deterrent than any handgun. One needs to be pretty darn competent with a rifle, slightly less so with a shotgun, and incredibly competent with a handgun to deter a bear with bad intentions.
IMNSHO, unless one has put in the requisite practice (up to 5x that required with a long gun) to get a high degree of competence with a handgun, there's no real point in taking one. Unless one can (in my view in a second or less) take the handgun from leather and get 4 shots in a pieplate at 25 yards, one should not rely on that handgun for bear protection. Things have a way of just going wrong with bears involved (if the bear has a bad attitude) that simply can't be duplicated on the shooting range.
....however, as mentioned, its really not that hard to avoid bears if one tries to do so.
