Last bear was my furthest - 55 yards back in August. I didn't feel practiced enough with it to take that shot, so the .338 Federal dispatched that bruin. The gun itself is more than capable, but it was zeroed using hollow points, which shoot a bit lower than the Buffalo Bores I bring for bear protection.

Given a choice between using an open sight handgun and a rifle, the vast majority of people who are not very confident in using their handgun of choice.
will, almost always revert to a rifle if the range exceeds about 50 yards simply due to the fact most people are far more effective in using a rifle.
use of a handgun requires a good deal of practice and ,shooting from a sitting position or over a good rest
,like with your back against a solid tree,
and your elbows between your knees certainly helps consistency or shooting over a large log or other rest,helps accuracy.
for most of us it takes several years of practice to become even somewhat consistent at hitting targets past 50 yards
using a hand gun,
thus finding a prime location to wait for game to pass with a good field of fire increases your odds of success,
or still hunting where your shots tend to be at under about 50 yards aids in increasing your odds.

Well, no one says it has to be iron sights, but I sure don't have a problem with anyone who uses irons exclusively.
I just never (very rarely) have a rifle with me.
I hunt with revolvers and single-shot specialty pistols.
The specialty pistols, depending on their set-up have the same distance capability as a rifle, just more challenging to use it in field rests

Don't know if you were talking to me, hardcast, but I'm very confident shooting my .44 magnum revolver well past 50 yards, if sighted in. Problem is, I typically don't sight it in for those distances. Also, the hollowpoints I normally use have a much lower trajectory than the Buffalo Bores I carry for bear backup. My worry is that I would miss a bear at 50 yards due to this lack of sighting.

In contrast, I typically put about 100-200 rounds through each of my hunting rifles every spring/summer in preparation for bear season. Not that it will ever happen here, but I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bear past 300 yards with any of my hunting rifles.

I did hunt with a handgun for many years.

I use pistols to cover more territory in the hills.
They are large, tho, and require a bandelero holster to carry
6x45mm in the contender
I kick the legs off for field use

I don't use a holster but I use center-grip and rear-grip specialty pistols in cartridges that even some riflemen consider large.