Bob, I will have to disgree. I've been pacing off the distances animals have traveled after being hit solidly in the chest with various bullets for many years now, and bullets that partially fragment kill quicker.
They do create more damage, because that's what I have seen inside animals. The most "fragmenting" bullet I've seen used on big game is the Berger VLD, which essentially totally comes apart (but only after getting inside, since it's the only bullet that doesn't start to expand immediately upon striking an animal). It is also the quickest killer that I've ever seen--which was the same conclusion that some veteran New Zealand guides came to after watching a bunch of game shot with it, expecially feral goats, considered among the toughest-to-drop animals by everybody who's ever shot them.
Yes, non-fragmenting bullets can make a big hole in animals. I have seen such holes a lot, including many similar to that in the infamous "zebra heart" photo that keeps popping up on the Campfire. But I have also seen a VLD turn the heart of a 400-pound animal INSIDE OUT. It did not have a large hole in it. Instead it was converted to a foot-long flap of muscle tissue no more than an inch thick. That is a LOT more damage than any sort of hole.
My experience includes a bunch of animals in Africa too--and not just the several dozen I've shot but a whole pile of meat animals on three cull shoots, where I got to watch a lot animals shot by other hunters as well. On the biggest such shoot (two years ago in South Africa) almost 200 animals were taken, of all sizes up to 1500 pounds or so. The vast majority of the hunters used the latest In Bullets, which were Nosler AccuBonds and Barnes TSX's. Some even used both, shooting AB's in one rifle and TSX's in another. On average the AB's killed quicker.
This is also the same basic conclusion that one major European ammunition company came to, after VERY extensive culling on a variety of animals--and the reason they produce different bullets for different purposes, that fragment to different degrees.
This isn't to say that the extreme penetration of something like a TSX (or Nosler E-Tip, Hornady GMX, North Fork, Trophy Bonded, etc.) isn't often a good thing. I have used such bullets a lot and really like them when really deep penetration is needed. But extreme penetration isn't needed nearly as much as many people evidently think it is.
The average distance that chest-shot animals have run after being hit in the chest with various non-fragmenting bullets has been a little over 50 yards, according to my "pacing" notes. That includes all "big game" animals, not just deer-sized game. The average distance from fragmenting bullets has been shorter, averaging around 20 yards with VLD's (which also have the highest percentage of drop-on-impact lung shots of any bullet I've ever seen used) to 30-35 yards with various semi-fragmenting bullets, whether Hornady Interlocks or Nosler Partitions.
Now, it is often nice to have an exit hole, especially when hunting in what is variously called woods or bush, and even more so when there are a LOT of animals around, whether whitetails or African antelope. This is where the non-fragmenting bullets (and especially the petal-type bullets) have an advantage. But after a number of years of using such bullets I will also note that you'll be usually following a blood trail further when using them than when using bullets that partially fragment.
This doesn't mean I won't be using non-fragmenting big game bullets anymore. I will, because they are indeed best for certain purposes. But I quit believing they are best for ALL hunting a number of years ago, the reason that most of my hunting now takes places with bullets that at least partially fragment--even my elk hunting, because even those supposedly super-tough animals die quicker when hit with an AccuBond rather than an E-Tip.
