I did look at it and felt what the guides recommended was also important. Chances are the information in a government agency was written by a paper pusher who has never been in the field. I am sure lots of game has been killed with the .30-30. Here guys used to hunt elk with it. Not because it is what was best, but what they had. One of my older friends told me he hunted deer a couple years with a .25-20 because that was all he had at the time. Later he used the .243 through the 7mm Wea. Several of my friends in S.D. shot bison with .22-250s. Hit them in the ear. It will do the job, but like the Indian woman who killed a grizzly with a.22 short. That is what she had. Doesn't make it the best. I realize you are in a different situation than the sport coming to Alaska for brown bear. It doesn't cost you 30-40,000 dollars for a big bear hunt. If I were going, I would probably take a .340 or .375. But I can shoot them and shoot them well. Doesn't mean everyone can. What works under one set of conditions doesn't mean it is ideal.
You wouldnt get any arguments from me on your choices. Both are great cartridges. Back in the day when I was a young fella I filled two mule deer buck tags in one day with a 25-20. I believe the "Jordan" buck was killed with that cartridge as well.
