Some very good points in all of this.
Here are a few samples of my own: Case 1 - groundhog hunting with my .223 Rem. Had been using HP's all along of 53gr with great success to around 300 yds. Was getting low on them, so decided (?) to switch to the Nos. 53gr SBBT. Shot an 8 lb in the chest as it faced me at about 50 yds. It dropped so fast in the 1-foot tall grass that I temporarily lost sight of it. Walking in the directing of where I'd aimed, it was found stone-cold-dead still facing in the same direction as when shot. No blood, no apparent entrance (at first glance) and no exit. The bullet entrance was discovered, after a prolonged search, and not a single drop of blood anywhere. NO EXIT! When I picked up the little beastie, it was as though it was filled with water! That discouraged me from ever using that bullet on anything larger.
As a complete contrast to the above, I, at one time previously, had shot many groundhogs with a .22WM at up to 150 yds. The HP 40s would blow a hole through 'em that you could just about see daylight on the far side. In fact, the first one shot with my .22 WM was in a hedgerow at about 10 yards, and I literally was able to stick the toe of my boot into the cavity!
Case 2 - I shot a good medium-class bl. bear frontally in the chest from 70 yds in a treestand using a single-shot NEF .45-70. The result was similar to the groundhog episode. The load was a 465gr semi-hardcast at 1900 fps (MOA and chronographed). The rifle weighed less than 8 lbs with scope and ammo attached, so recoil was "up there" and when the rifle came down out of recoil the bear had "disappeared". Well, actually the grass was 30-inches tall and he was simply "flattened" without a wiggle in the tall grass. I got down on the ground, walked over to where he should be -- he was flat on his chest as though sleeping and not a drop of blood anywhere. I found the bullet entrance where it should be and, later, in dressing him out found the exit at the bottom of his sternum. His chest was filled with blood and not a drop on the ground. A neighbor, digging a water hole for his cattle, heard the "Waaack" of the bullet and said out loud to himself, "Either he hit a large tree or the bear".
Case 3, 4, 5 etc. I'll reserve those for another time.
If you do much hunting over time (In my case that's 60+ years) you're bound to have some anomalies. But I will say this about the unnamed bullet made reference to by MD -- my experience exactly!
Bob
www.bigbores.ca
