No, I don't believe incomplete penetration equates with bullet failure. Non-expansion can, as you noted elsewhere, be disasterous.
I really do believe that good old fashion cup and core bullets have their place. It depends upon impact velocity and game. I do some custom loading for bean field deer hunters here in western KY and most have had great success with (gasp!) Nosler ballistic tips. Most of these deer are shot well in excess of 200 yards. And most drop dead immediately regardless of the existence of exit wounds.
I started using X bullets because when I lived in WV because it was not unusual to kill deer off the end of a gun barrel at the end of a deer drive. I learned pretty quickly that your common Core-Lokt would distentegrate on impact.
As you can see, my experience is mostly on the smaller North American stuff (no moose or brown bear yet). Since I am on my way to my first Eland hunt (Namibia in July), I would be interested to what you would think about a 250gr TSX in my Sako Mannlicher (20" barrel) .375. I figure I will get around 2600 fps or so out of it. The only other thing I used this rilfe on was bear where I used a 300 gr Hornady RN at 2400 fps. This worked pretty well too, but I would like to be able to potentially take a 300 yard shot without the attendant holdover required by a 300 gr bullet. Anyway, the comments and suggestions of the Campfire crowd would be most welcome.
