"That is why we advocate for quartering shots being highly lethal because "our bullets" will penetrate in an expanded state to make that possible."For me, one of those not too much in the know, whose bullets are you writing about in this sentence? I am trying to figure out who "our bullets" are. I have had great success and total performance with the Barnes bullets, in the larger calibers for black bear hunting. I recently purchased some Hammer bullets to try, however the opportunity has not presented itself to comment on them. I am still leery on their performance, maybe this coming season with provide some input. I've read where some have written where black bears are easy to kill. Not so much in my experience!! I've been hunting black bear over bait for a decade now. I have hunted in outfitter camps where there were 30 or more hunters in a week. I have seen the good, the bad and the uglier for shots made. Anyone who has done any amount of hunting knows there is no such thing as a sterile hunting environment where the perfect shot is always been available and made. What I have found is that it is one thing to kill a black bear, but... another to track and recover that black bear in thick dense cover. From my experience a heart shot where it looks like a hand grenade when off in that bear's heart, doesn't mean a "bang flop" experience and a 30-40 yard plus or more trek through hellish territory is not uncommon. Without a good blood trail, even with the use of a recovery dog, it can be difficult to recover that bear. My opinion on hunting black bear is that you want a "large" through-and-through shot that will leave a good blood trail to track. Without a large entry and exit hole the hair and the fat on a black bear will make a blood trail less likely to happen as the hair will act like a paint brush and trap the blood and the fat can fill the entry and exit holes in.