fact of the matter is... personal defense in a CCW situation and that of a wild animal are two completely different things with different aspects and outcomes... size your round accordingly...

in bear or big cat country? like big brown things with big claws and nasty attitudes that sometimes hunt you... forget about weight.... forget about concealability... go for raw power, penetration and KO from a hand cannon... to me that means nothing less than 44 mag or 45 Colt (on a Ruger platform) preferrably maybe even a 460 or 500 if it is purely for self defense from a big critter trying to eat me...

as for CCW... well you shoot until the the threat is no longer a threat... whether that imeans the perp is wounded on the ground, dead or fleeing... when the threat is no longer a threat... you no longer shoot... people (cept maybe that crack head in a drug induced superman state of existence) are much easier to "stop" than 6 or 700 lbs of bear... plus in all honesty you want to avoid full penetration fo the target... so that the neighbor doesn't get a hole in their wall too... for me... i prefer the wheel gun... and yes i've owned a few brass flingers... my preference honestly for carry... S&W 637... i've put a couple of cylinders through an S&W 360 PD Scandium / Titanium... with all out 357 loads... it'll quickly seperate the men from the boys and maybe your thumb from your hand at the same time if you don't know what you're doing... even 38 +p isn't the most pleasant thing in the world from the uberlightweight revolver...