Inside of 150 yds., when loaded with the right bullet, a 44 Mag. rifle will do anything a 30-06 will do. Those who doubt me have never hunted with one. Big, heavy, slow-moving bullets penetrate very well. Rifle Magazine's January print has a wonderful article on hunting with the 357, 44, and 45 Colt in rifles. All of these do really well on big game b/c they pick up about 400 fps from the longer barrels. For Black Bear, load your rifle with one of CorBon's or Buffalo Bore's expanding 44 Mag. Bullets. For grizzly, be sure to use either Buffalo Bore's or Garrett's heavy, FMJ loads. They discuss on their websites (
www.buffalobore.com and
www.garrettcartridges.com ) taking very large and dangerous game with their loads from handguns. Add the velocity from a rifle barrel to these bullets, and you have a real stopper.