Good to hear from you Oscar. Yes - we hear 'things' are very sad in Europe. Black bears are easily killed & what Rod is after is a 'light switch' effect. Instant kill from a body hit. This is a tall order as enough bullet weight is needed to get inside, but not so much as to cause lessened expansion. He needs massive tissue damage.

The 250gr. .338 and 300gr. .375 are really good big game bullets designed for slower expasion and deeper penetration. This is quite the reverse of what he needs or wants.

Black bears of the normal size in his are, are quite small boned and easily penetrated. They have lots of fat and muscle, so some penetration is needed, but they easily secume to nerve and tissue shock.

In the .338 mag., a soft 150gr. or 160gr. flatnose might be better and in the .375 Mag, a 200gr. FN Sierra flat nose might better fit his special needs. The higher the speed, the more variable the bullet's response.

If the speed is too high, there won't be enough penetration due to too-rapid expansion and bullet blowup and if too low, the dogs are in danger of an exiting bullet striking one of them.

The large bore, light weight rapidly expanding bullet seems to fit the needs of his particular need & game size, rather well. If those Idaho bears were like the bears back East in Ontario or the Northern States where 450 to 500 pound black bears are fairly plentiful and even much heavier ones are shot each year, his bullet of choice would have to be both heavier and capable of deeper penetration.

The quite excellent 350gr. Hornady or 405gr. Remington for the 1895 Marlin and the 265gr. or 300gr. Hornady for the .444 Marlin just might be more suited for the much larger bears, rather than the lightweights they currently find the best.