Depends on what bear you're talking about.For Black bear you can use pretty much any .44 load and get the job done but I'd go with the 300gr (not the hollow point) for brown bears. You need a very solidly built bullet to penetrate deep through tough muscle or even bone if need be. Stick with a truncated,core bondedor Keith style bullet to get the job done and make sure you're pushing it at least 1300fps