I live in Montana, right near glacier national park along the rocky mountain front. Let me tell you, when you' re going into bear country probably the best sidearm you could bring is bear spray. Some macho bad asses may say that bear spray won' t do anything, but I know plenty of people who have avoided attacks by this. If you read any newspapers in montana, you' ll read about a guy in missoula who was hunting over here when he stumbled across a sow grizzly with 3 cubs. He too, had a .270 rifle, and the bear charged him from only 50 feet away. It took the bear less time than he could react to bring up his gun before it was at 10 feet. He shot it in the head as he fell back with his gun at his hip. Now, remember HE SHOT IT IN THE HEAD AT 10 FEET!!! The bear just stopped, then turned around and walked away. The bear is still alive, and has been radio collared and tracked covering over 200 miles since then. I literally hunt within a mile of where this incident took place, and there are A LOT of bears up there. I' m talking 10 to 20 along one river bottom...no kidding. When hunting, I carry my normal rifle a 7mm Rem MAG with nothing less than 150 grs, and a canister of bear spray on my side. For $30 you can get a can of that and if you feel in danger at all, just squeeze the trigger and aim in the general direction. It is accurate up to 30 feet, which doesn' t seem like a lot, but you shouldn' t be doing anything to a bear if its farther than 30 feet away. Maybe the bears around here are a little more agressive because they are used to people, and some have been relocated here as problem bears, but I' d go with the .350 and a can of pepper spray. Don' t listen to these people saying " Oh, a a .270 will be fine" unless you plan on shooting a bear in the eye as it charges you. They can run in bursts up to 40 MPH, and will be tearing you apart quicker than you can wet yourself. They are nothing to take lightly, so be prepared...