I've shot two Idaho black bears with a .243 using the Barnes 85 gr. X bullet. Both were one shot kills, both bullets passed through the front shoulders on relatively close shots. Neither bear traveled very far but the one rolled a fair number of feet down a steep grade.
One bear was fairly young, I'm not very good at judging bears. The second was aged as a 13 year old dry sow.
I believe a .243 is too light for bear hunting. I was carrying the .243 while hunting varmints and stumbled upon the blackies, waited for a perfect broadside and too the shot from a rest.
