I can tell you from close personal experience that 30yds would be a luxury for a bear encounter. My last one was five yards when I saw the bear. I was on my knees skinning an elk when we met up and my rifle was five yards in the opposite direction. My encounters on Afognak and Kodiak were way less than 30yds. No time to be scared as there is literally...no time.
Velocity is not much of an option for my 18" Model 94 in .450 Marlin. They all go slow. They all kick the crap out of the shooter in a light, handy package despite the integrated brake and this is my least favorite range gun. My suggestion is to consider a large and solid bullet for bear country. I had a particularly bad experience with Hornady 350gr interlock factory ammo--multiple shots with jacket separation from the lead core. I would have preferred a large, straight wound channel as shot placement was spot-on. Since then I switched to Kodiak Bonded bullets and hard cast lead. No great stories on bullet performance as I have yet to use them on game.
