Yes - I agree - the .50 Alaskan in a modern lever gun 'should' work well. Again, it comes down to bullet and placement.

Harold Johnson was running 450gr. cup-pointed FMJ's at about 1,850fps to 1,900fps from his M86 in .50 Alaskan and could not keep one inside a brown bear, from any angle. The cup point created extensive cavitation in the tissues. The bullets were made by cutting off 705gr. .5 Browning steel core bullets at the ogive, then reversing them so the boat tailed cup pointed bullet base was loaded foreward.

He said it worked even better than the .450 Alaskan which was running 450gr. bullets at about the same speed. The larger diameter bullet in the .50 Alaskan made quite a difference - on the bears.

lacking experience with this stuff ourselves, we must use other's experience as a guide - that is, other's experience which we trust.

If the ballistics indicate it will work, it comes down to bullet and placement, as John said above.