I have carried several different chopped 870s, a Win. 97 that I cut off in my dad's plumbing shop and three different 12 ga. combo guns, all loaded with slugs. I never really felt that good about these as Grizzly defence guns and thus went to purpose-built bigbore lever and bolt rifles as "hiking"guns.
For the probable "best" bear defence rifle, I would get a good Patt. 98 Mauser action re-barreled with a Heym sts. bbl. by Barry of BitsofPieces and use a laminate or synthtic stock and solid iron sights. The chambering would be 9.3x62 and I would load 286 NPs to 2500 fps. or a bit less, the bbl. would be 20"-22" long. I have one like this, my buddy is just finishing the stock now and this is about as good as it gets for a defence piece in Grizzly country.
Each to his own, but, after some testing, I would never bother again with Foster type slugs, use only Brennekes and buckshot is not going to penetrate and thus stop an animal, it will flatten on the watersoaked hide of a big coastal Grizzly and just annoy one of those East Slopes redneck ones.
Shotguns are, IMO, vastly over-rated as a defence tool for most people and a reasonable rifle is a better choice; a good .30-06 using 200 NPs is an excellent option that anyone can learn to handle quite quickly. Actually, I have used an 06 in "my former work in G-bear country and always felt quite well armed. However, if you want to use a shotty, go with Brennekes, at least.
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