Bob and JB,
Thanks, to both of you. The civility with which bullet threads have been "allowed" to happen lately is a breath of fresh air.
Bob, my disagreement with you stems solely from two things. First, likely my inexperience, as you note. Roughly 20 deer and 2 elk is my sum total- though I've been around another 4-5 elk killed. Perhaps, the very next animal I kill, will negate what I am about to type below. I can't deny that possibility- that a simple lack of experience accounts for the lack of penetration PROBLEMS that I've seen.
That said, the second, main, reason that I disagree is that I simply have not seen penetration to be the big issue that some seem to have seen. Everything I've shot at deer, exited, with the sole exception of last year's butt-shot buck, in which case the bullet smashed the hip joint and then went lengthwise through the whole deer.
What I HAVE seen as a problem, is animals go a lot farther than I'd like, in the rain... in the jungle... in the approaching dusk. This was, I believe, because my primary hunting rifle for 3-4 years was a Model 7 in 7mm-08, and the only damn thing it would shoot worth beans was the 150-gn Partition, at a MV in the high 2500's somewhere. Several times, I was rather unimpressed by the damage caused by this load, though they always exited. And a couple of my bucks were similarly unimpressed, nearly costing me my biggest-horned buck (double lung shot), who ran over 200 yards over hill and dale...
So, I'll choose a bullet that does the most damage to the vitals as possible, and the physics of the situation are quite simple. IF A BULLET IS GOING TO EXIT ANYWAY, the bullet that spins off some fragments and then exits will do more damage than the bullet that doesn't. And, doing more damage, creating a wider, more diverse wound channel, can ONLY be a good thing.
It also seems to me, that the extra damage in the early part of the wound channel, which more often than not will be a very good place to have it doing that damage. Butt-shot bucks being the exception.
This is just my thinking on the subject. It could be summed up thus: I've seen Core-Lokt, Partitions, Speer, Interlocks, Accubonds, Ballistic Tips, Silvertips, some generic Winchester bullet, and probably another one or two, do nothing but blow right through deer. Also, seen Accubonds blow right through 3/4 of the elk I've seen kilt by them, and the remaining 1 was my big cow at ~300 yards and the bullet made it to the offside hide after striking heavy bone before even entering the chest.
So having seen THAT, my search for the perfect bullet isn't so focused on penetration. Penetration is not a problem. I WANT penetration, but I won't sacrifice killin' power for it, since I HAVE seen that be a problem.
I reserve the right to modify my opinion as more data points are gathered... grin...
One final thought. A mixed-bag African safari isn't deer (or even elk) hunting. In America, we know what we are after when we take to the woods...
