Years ago I opted to go exclusively with 45 Colt for most all my Revolver adventures, large and small......... In the early days I carried a 4 inch Stainless S&W Mt. Revolver that served me very well. I dispatched a couple of Mt. Lions and a black bear with it using various 250 gr bullets at 1150-1200 fps. I have Anacondas, Ruger Redhawks, Custom Dan Wesson, other S&Ws, had a couple of 454s, and several small 5 shot Taurus guns, all in 45 Colt......
The two guns I have carried the most in the field, both in Alaska, various US, and even Africa has been a 2 inch Taurus 45 Colt and a Kimber Ultra in 45 ACP. The last time I spent in Alaska I remember asking myself "Which sidearm will I take"......... I conducted a test over a few days by strapping on various Handguns, walking around with them all day..... then some shooting, with the bigger guns some heavy loads........ In the end, I did not like the bigger guns, they pulled at me all day, wore me out, just too big, too heavy. Then shooting some of them with heavy loads was just not any damn fun at all..... I ended up wearing the little 2 inch Taurus, almost never knew it was on me, shooting 250 gr Cast bullets 750-800 fps. Figured if I needed a handgun it was going to be damn close, within feet and not yards, and a face full of these would get a bears attention........
I also opted many times for the little Kimber Ultra in 45 ACP. Same story, easy to carry, plenty of firepower, using good bullets, if I needed it, it would be close.
Now, what you do need to keep in mind, is I was always in a hunting scenario and carrying a rifle, and the vast majority of the time a big bore rifle at that. There would be very little chance I would need a handgun at all.
Regardless of that, I would almost assuredly make the same decisions today, rifle or no rifle. I think going into Alaska today I would use one of my 4 inch Kimbers, and a CEB 200 gr FN Copper Solid. A magazine full of those will without doubt get somethings attention if required.
