We have some rural property in Montana. It's on the edge of grizzly country, but has a pretty high incidence of black bears.
My normal practice when backpacking in bear country has been to carry a 44, and do everything I can to avoid bears - for example, if I see bears, keep walking a few miles farther before camping, and not camping a long time in the same spot, lest food odors build up, etc. This is harder to do when you're going back to the same place time after time. I have taken the obvious passive steps - bearproofed the trash can, secure food storage, etc, but I'm thinking about what to do if we do encounter bears. Ideally, I'd like the bears to develop the notion that being around people is unpleasant. And I'd really like to avoid shooting any bears; it's their land too.
I knew a guy who worked as a fish counter for the Alaska fisheries folks, living by a major salmon river during the salmon run. Their practice was a 12 gauge with some kind of rubber slug in the chamber and regular slugs in the mag. The SOP was shoot an overly inquisitive bear with the rubber slug, and if that didn't work keep shooting. He had pretty good luck with that - he shot a few bears, one as close as the cabin porch, and never had to take the second shot.
I might look into that whenever you can buy 12 gauge shotguns again.
In the meantime, I went looking for other ideas. Speer makes primer powered plastic handgun bullets that are supposed to get 400FPS or so. I bet that would sting on bare skin, but I dunno about through a few inches of fur. The company below makes rubber bullets on 44 Mag, and also 30-30 (and I have a compact 30-30).
https://www.conceptsinammunition.com/
In either case, the idea would be to load so the first round was less lethal, followed by normal rounds.
I thought I'd see if anyone has any experience/advice.
Something in 44 Mag would be nice, even in addition to a long gun caliber. It's hard to carry a long gun when you're cutting wood or whatever.
We do have bear spray, but we're getting close to timberline and the wind is frequently a factor, as is the short range. And my 44 is a 329, which is kind of a two handed gun.
(and to be clear, I'll consult with the MT Fish & Game people to verify the legalities. I'm assuming they would rather have people use something less lethal rather than just kill the bear, but I'll make sure)
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