VANCE: I an curious as to why you would feel uncomfortable shooting plain base bullets 1600 to 1700. Do you know something about plain base bullet that I don't know? Let me know as I have been using both types for many many years and have never had a problem except with some Tri Test ammo I bought at a discount store back probaly aroung '70 or '71 that leaded like crazy. I shot 320 gr JDJ bullets in a 444 Marlin Contender barrel I had years ago and never had a problem Maybe I was just lucky.
Even if they do leave a trace of lead how much will you be shooting at that bear anyway? How much load developement will you be doing to say lower the boom on a bear too? Do you need to shoot hundreds of rounds to get a load that would be accurate enough to kill a bear at what maybe 50 yard max?
A Beartooth Bullets plain base 335 gr using H4198 would be a real thumper at 1600 and I feel sure that it may have enough accuracy to kill that demon fur ball at the ranges you will probably take one.
Again let me know the scoop on plain base bullets. I am surley interested to know.
Next If I had a brake I couldn't use GC bullets in I believe I would reconsider getting another brake that I could. Maybe throwing it away and just getting that thing Mag-Na-Ported at least.