Hey y?all, haven?t posted here in a while, life has been crazy the last few years.

So I am booking a black bear hunt in Idaho for next year for my dad and I.

I have a few questions for anyone who has experience handgun hunting black bear.

Handguns: I bought my dad a S&W 6? 629 for his 60th birthday so he will be using that. I have 2 44 mag SBH with 7.5? barrels, one is scoped with a old 2X. One SBH 44 mag with 4 5/8? barrel and a Redhawk in 45 Colt (not the 45 ACP combo). I really need to pin down which one I want to use!

Hunting black bear from a tree stand over a bait station, what is the pro/cons to using a scoped handgun vs iron sights? I was told that most shots will be within 50 yards and averaging around 30 yards.

Ammo: I reload 99% of everything that I shoot, my go to whitetail load for 44 mag is a Sierra 240 grain JHP (#8610) over 20.5 grains of Hercules (yes I have a lot of old powder that is still good) with a Winchester large pistol primer. This load is very accurate in all of my 44s and my dads 44, would this be a good black bear round too or should I step it up for bears?

45 Colt, I use a medium hardness GT bullets 225 grain SWCHP with 9.5 grains of W231 and it works well for deer and is very accurate in my Redhawk. I would imagine that if I decide to use the redhawk I should make a hotter load then this, opinions??

Any other general suggestions for hunting black bear with revolvers?

Thanks
Sam