I have to admit that I always chuckle a little when the subject of how much gun for black bear comes up. You w0uld actually think that everyone is talking about the same animal when in the real world you may as well say that you are not. This gentleman is not hunting where most blacks are 250lb HE is in Canada. My experience in Ontario has been usually 350++ My last largest was 625 but that was years ago. That bear was 6ft9in tall and 7ft front claw to front claw. If you think they ALWAYS go down like an elk you may be unpleasantly surprised. The guide that year told me he was a DARNED NICE BEAR but there were a couple he had seen that year that were slightly bigger. I remember my first BLACKIE when I was in my twenties in Ontario and it was just a 325lb female. I shot her with a 308 with Browning ammo 150 gn round nose while she went into a standing position to scent me better. She was on a large rock ledge only about 75 yd away and fell back out of sight. THERE was a 20ft drop behind her And a space of 30 yards to the woods line. There was now no bear in sight and I thought of what I heard the night before from an older Indian native in camp. MAN WHO GOES INTO THICK WOODS AFTER WOUNDED BEAR, HIM NOT BRAVE MAN HIM CRAZY MAN. Needless to say, I felt I had to do what I had to do. Slowly, trying to grow eyes in the back of my head I tip toed into that woods line. I was in about 20 yd when a Godawful noise scared the you know what out of me and from behind a dead tree stump only 10 ft away came this black streak with teeth just a poppin. I did not know that I could unload a browning lever that fast of 3 shots but i did. I have no doubt that if the bear had really wanted to continue all the way to me that she could have but she stopped to tear that stump to pieces. It snowed wood chips into the air like I was in a snowstorm. You would not believe the incredible display of raw power from that animal with 4 308 bullets in her before she finally gave up. My first shot had just missed the heart by inches. So if you want to go hunting black bear thinking that velocity is going to take care of all possibilities then go for it but I have carried a 338 win mag for bear ever since and on more than one occasion I am glad that I did. Remember, more people are killed or maimed by black bears than by Grizzlies. Could it be because they are sadly underestimated??