I haven't hunted in decades, but I have a buddy who is a government trapper. As part of his job, he occasionally has to shoot bears, a number of them every season. He uses a lever action 30-30 Winchester. He says the 170gr factory ammo works very well on them.
I've been tinkering with a load for my 30-30, Lee C309-170F, powder coated. I cast them from mostly range scrap, with a couple pounds of linotype mixed in a 20lb pot, and a little tin. I don't get terribly scientific. The load that works well in my rifle is using LVR powder at a level that approximates 170gr factory ballistics, and shoots to the same POA.
I was going to give him a couple boxes to try out, but wanted to see what you all thought first, especially those who hunt with cast bullets. How effective do you think this load would be on black bear, compared to factory 170gr jacketed ammo?
This guy is a very good friend. We've been friends since we were very young, a long time ago. I don't want him to get tore up or one of his dogs mauled because he shot a bear with the wrong ammo that didn't do the job. He's already told me a harrowing story of a close call, where his rifle ran dry and he had to pull out the old .44 revolver and finish one off at close range.