Biggest problem with shooting a bear with a “light” (I know 308 isn’t light, but it also ain’t heavy) caliber is not getting a pass through. Hair and fat clog up an entry wound real easy, but the exit wound is typically big enough to get get sealed up. Doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t kill the bear, but you may have trouble tracking it.
In my humble opinion, I’d put a premium on a pass through over a heavier bullet.
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i agree in theory, but bear are very easy to shoot through, even a very large black bear is like shooting through a deer, i think they are even softer than deer. by design, you don't need to play near any heavy bone with bear, if you are hugging heavy bone on a bear, you are either shooting at a funky angle or aiming in the wrong spot imo... i don't shoot middle of middle like many suggest, but i'm not hugging the pocket either like i do with deer or elk.... a 130gr mono at sub 50yds is way enough to shoot through the largest of black bear.
the most impressive passthrough i have had with my bow was on a really big bear (just shy of a 20" boar) and at the time back in the day i shot a light arrow (380gr) didn't know what tuning was, and that arrow blew through him and went about 30yds beyond the bear (due to the angle) and literally buried half of the arrow in the mud.... bear are not good at stopping projectiles.
the only bear i can recall not having 2 holes was one i shot at 12 steps with my 270 and a 130gr sst, that bullet completely grenaded on the on side of that bear, the off side lung was all blood shot, but i couldn't find any holes in it, and couldn't find a little scrape of any kind on the off side of the rib cage, that soft bullet with very high impact velocity disintegrated on impact... he was also a giant, and went running by me within an arm's reach full tilt as i was trying to work the bolt, haha... glad he wasn't actually coming at me, because it wouldn't have worked in my favor.... he only went another 20yds down the hill and moaned out.
the bigger issue with bear is they don't always create enough resistance to really disrupt a bullet, i have seen quite a few small exits on bear.... if shot through the lungs, it never matters, they die very easy when shot well.
a 130gr barnes from a .308 at 50yds is like shooting one with a 270 at 150yds with a larger diameter bullet, it's not even close to marginal