A handgun is OK to fire warning shots....357 for grizzly defense is border line stupid....a Remington 760 in 30-06 and 220 gr bullets is smart having the barrel cut down to 16" would be better....
.357mag now is not bad with the loads available. 1970's .357 ammunition though is indeed pretty stupid. I'm not aware of heavy hardcast loads being widely commercially available back then.
