I have never hunted black bears. I live on Maine.
I stayed at a bed and breakfast east of Lincoln, ME 20 years ago when I used to call on various paper mills as a chemical supplier. My normal small hotel was booked, so I stayed at the b&b out of town from Lincoln Pulp &Paper. It was owned by a Maine registered guide. It was bear hunting season.
After dinner, I was chatting with a couple of his "sports" /clients. They were from Philadelphia. One was going to use a 338 Win mag, the other had a 300 Win mag. Scopes were 3-9x or 4-12/14x(?) Leupolds. I mostly just listened to the sports tell their hunting stories. Made for an interesting evening. To them, they were on a safari of a lifetime in the deep Maine woods. They retired to their rooms after a bit, when the stories ended
The guide/owner came into the living room where I was finishing some coffee. He sat down at one of the chairs where the "sports" were sitting , and he chucked, as he was listening to their stories in the other room. He said, "If I told them the truth about tomorrow's outing, they would be disappointed. I've been baiting those bears for a month with all the old donuts, bread and cooking oil I could find. All they have to do is sit in the tree stand, and wait for a bear to show up, at a distance of less than 40 yards. All they need for a rifle is an open-sighted 30-30, and they would get a bear."
Based on that comment, I would guess any of your mentioned firearms would work fine.
I get his point and yes I own and use several 30-30's. However, if one owns these magnums (and I do) if one doesn't use them for hunts such as these what do we have them for? I own numerous guns that the Bear guide in question would approve of. But if I'm booking a Bear hunt of any type I'm taking my 300 Win Mag. I own it because I like it and I look for reasons to use it. And if the Bears within 30-30 range a 300 mag is certainly no handicap
