What were charging bears shot with and stopped prior to 1985, the year the TSX was invented?
Partitions have always been highly regarded by many/most around big bears. Obviously, Core-lokts and a whole lot of other "less superior" options have been used with varying degrees of success.
I guess I've always figured bear defense might mean a lot more than a freight-train charge. There could easily be two or more people in a bear defense situation, and, while I certainly don't hope to ever have to shoot a bear that is heading toward or chewing on another person, I prefer to know that a bullet has a decent chance of working reasonably well from any angle on the animal. That's a whole lot different than hunting bears, though even there, it's still not a bad policy. There are better bullets than even larger caliber and weight Interlocks, Matchkings, and Core-lokts for big bear hunting. It's not that they can't; but even a 10 round mag of 55 grainers out of a Mini-14 "can", and have. There are plenty of better options that don't help you screw the pooch, "help" that most folks aren't very eager to wager with.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
