Years ago I originally had the same thought as the op...not for bears, but pig hunting. Planned to carry hot 45 colt (equals 44mag and sometimes better in shorter barrels) along with 45 colt shot shell loads. Sorry, not a fan of snakes. Figured I'd carry 5 hots and 1 shot....I'd have time to rotate the cylinder to the shot load. Turns out the recoil from the heavy loads caused the "cap" (don't know what else to call the shot holder) to dislocate (extend) and lock up the cylinder. Made it a one shot gun pretty quick. Another thing to remember is that 99.99% of those giving advice on what to shoot a bear with...never have (self included!)