Having a gun that will kill a bear, and having one that will stop one charging in it's tracks are two hugely differently things!! Nothing that will do that is a gun you will want to plink with or shoot deer or smaller game. The recoil will be too severe and the shells will be too costly. And on smaller stuff the damage will be greater than you want.

Not to mention it might not matter what you get, you could end up dead any way if the bear really wants it that way. I bet one could take a full tube of 12 gauge loads and still take your head off in one swipe if it really wanted to. And after shooting it the first time I bet it will want to more so then it did to begin with.

I agree with the others, get some bear spray and learn how to conduct yourself properly in areas where large bear are present. It is a pretty rare occurance actually from what I understand. Sort of like taking a gun with you in the ocean incase you get attacked by a shark. It happens, but the odds of getting struck by lighting or accidently shooting yourself are better ( I would say much better in your case).

Now if you want to hunt them, I think a 30-06 would probably work. Better yet get a 300 win mag or something simular. Of course, like I said you will not want to go plinking with a weapon like that. However if there is a bear 30 or 40 yards away from you and it charges, I don't think it will stop it. You will probably only get one shot off any way, and you better hit it in the head. Bear move AMAZINGLY fast for thier size when they want to. I bet by the time you racked the second shell in the chamber you would be getting slapped in the head by a bear claw. And don't forget bear are smart enough to hunt us, incase you injure one and it runs away. They don't call them dangerous game for nothing.

If you really wanted to take something with you I agree with the others, a remington or mossberg pump with slugs and buckshot. But I would not rely on it, I would still try to be as cautious as possible. And I also agree with the one guy, the words "cheap" and "stop charging grizzly" should never be used in the same sentence. You don't see many people walk into the gun store and say "I'm going to hunt dangerous game up north, give me the cheapest POS rifle you've got!".

After reading all your posts on here I am very unclear on what it is you actually want, or what you intend on doing with it? If you want to screw off, shoot deer and the ocasional varmint I suggest getting a .243, 25-06, or a .270. Those are pretty versatile flat shooting calibers. And most can be very accurate.

I would suggest the AR, but I don't now what the laws are in canada for deer hunting. Some places don't allow .223, and I personally feel it's a bit small for deer, but would work with proper shot placement and the proper bullet.

I wouldn't worry about the bear, I think you are making a bigger issue out of it then it needs to be. I would worry more about poachers or something like that. And again, the 12 gauge would work well in that situation.

Paul