Second hand account of a .30 WCF vs. a large boar brown bear, from a little over a month ago. I did not witness the attack because I bugged out and returned to the land of plumbing a few years ago, but I believe it to be trustworthy:
My former .30-30 Win 94 went to my friend who lives out in the sticks of rural AK. There's been a ton of bear activity in south central this year and she got charged by a brownie boar en route from the outhouse:
> I was charged by a bear behind the outhouse,
> large grizzly, blonde male about 600 to 800 lbs. I had time to only raise
> the 30-30 and pull the trigger. I hit it, it ambled off
>
> it was 15 ft away when I shot it. it was after my puppy. I am
> pretty sure I gut shot it...that was the only available shot I had in the
> 1/2 second I had to shoot
>
> i need a better bear gun, or several, that is for sure
The bear later turned up on a neighbor's property badly injured and was then killed. Now what can we tell from this? She wished she had a larger firearm. But it's unlikely she would have had a big rifle as close as that handy carbine. She does in fact have a number of more powerful firearms including a Mosin and a Mossberg slugster I outfitted expressly for her to use. But these are nowhere near as easy to tote and were yards away in the cabin when the charge took place. That might as well be a light year, so I'm very glad she had that Winnie with her. I'm also not sure anyone would be as fast with a Mosin or a clunky slug gun as with a .30-30 levergun.
Furthermore, I'm not convinced the same gut shot would have killed it instantly from a larger firearm. Brown bears gut shot with a .375 H&H or .338 WM have run off in the same manner and required repeated hits to drop. A larger caliber would have made it die sooner, I suspect. But still not for hours or days unless a killing shot can be delivered before the bear vanishes.
IMHO, the weapon did exactly what it was supposed to. She was OK, the puppy was OK and the bear ran off. Most importantly, the .30 WCF was the gun she HAD. That portability, speed and ease of natural aiming even when getting charged by death incarnate all recommend it as a general purpose woods rifle. That's why our forebears (pun) loved them so much.
Would I recommend it against brown bear? Not particularly, but you could do much worse. The magnum left far away or back home would be a vastly worse choice. Given a choice between a Casull or X-frame, I would go with the Win 94 any day. A Partition 170 is bigger medicine than the ft. lbs. would suggest. And you can't beat the short levergun for speed, balance and natural aiming. Portablity is also a factor. The small size and ease of packing make it a favorite for rough country.
Would I recommend it against BLACK bear? YES. If it can ward off and seriously injure an 800 lb. monster from up here it would be more than enough against the largest black bear.