I will be shooting carbons for the first time this year at bears, but from what I've seen there is no reason to switch either way. Each will do fine on large black bears. My pro shop owner has told me that his wife has been shooting bears with carbons for sometime now and gets complete pass thrus each time. You can't penetrate any better than that. He also indicated she is shooting a low poundage compound. Something in the low 50s range I believe.