I’ve hunted leverguns for a long time, grew up on 44mags and thought I was upgrading by flattening my trajectory and getting more penetration when I bought a 30-30… and then I realized the former is scantly true, and the latter simply not. 44mag penetrates much better - it’s harder to slow down bullets which weigh almost twice as much running at almost the same speed, even despite 94% greater cross-sectional area. I punched through way more meat with 44mag than with 30-30.
Impact momentum for a 265grn bullet leaving a 44mag at 1700fps has 20% more impact momentum than a 170grn bullet leaving a 30-30 at 2200. Taylor KO Factor is 68% increased for 44mag over 30-30. Sectional Density * Momentum is a wash (.206 for 265grn 44mag vs. .256SD for 170grn 30cal).
As a penetrator AND a stopper, 44mag tops .30-30, hands down… but either will do the job we’re discussing here - more is just more, so again, it’s a horse apiece.
I no longer carry a rifle in bear country, and certainly wouldn’t in Bruin country. I carry a 9mm or 40mm pistol around bruins.