can anyone suggest a good bullet mold with a fairly wide metplat that would function good in the marlin and do a good job on game as large as black bear.

Lloyd....For the 35 Rem (and I'm assuming Marlin here),you're not going to beat the RCBS 35-200-FN. The Saeco 250 grainer also works well but due to the short max OAL required in the Marlin, the bullet has to be seated below the neck and accuracy suffers some. You should be able to get hunting accuracy but in mine, it opens up the groups a little with the heavier bullet for this reason./beagle