One of these days I'll make it to Dixon's Gun Fair. Been threatening to for many years....
Yeah, if you throw bears into the mix a .50-.62 makes sense, unless you're a really picky shooter who can thread a smaller ball precisely where it needs to go. Not beyond the capabilities of a lot of guys, but bears, even in PA are not a really common commodity and it would be a shame to pass one up because you couldn't slip that little ball perfectly into its brain pan or spinal column.
Don Hamilton, of Pumpkin Mountain Gun Shop in the Adirondacks, had a bullseye tacked on the wall with a single bullet hole perfectly smack dead center. When I asked about the significance of it he chuckled and fetched out a pretty .50 flint long rifle and said it was the first shot out the tube of the gun, administered at midnight after finally getting the gun together (still in an unfinished state), over the hood of the Chevy pickup, by the lights of his wife's car illuminating the target 50 yards away. He said "good enough", cleaned the gun and went in to grab a couple hours sleep before the bear season opener in the morning. He then turned and pointed to a dandy black bear head mount on the opposite wall, which succumbed to the second shot ever out of that barrel, one hour into the season. Hit it high in the neck right behind the skull. He was a helluva guy.
