Let's face it the 30-30 is not a hot rod. Hand loading is the way to go. I suspect you are hunting Black Bear mostly so as long as you do not plan on stopping a head on charge they go down fairly easy with some very underwhelming cartridges. I would not try to re-invent the wheel here since a heavy jacket with soft lead core with bonded core or partition get's the job down rather easily. I use a 45-70 but as a kid the 30-30 was super popular and pawn shops and used gun stores are always full of used lever actions in 30-30. In fact I have consideed getting another 30-30 Lever Action just for nostalgia's sake! It does not matter if it is a 30-30 or a 30-06 if I need penetration I like heavy solidly constructed round nose flat base bullets.
