Bob,
Partitions normally blow a big crater for several inches beyond the entrance hole, where the front half of the bullet has expanded violently, and then cut a narrow channel after that, where the bullet continues penetrating with its relatively narrow mushroom.
This "expansion" crater tends to be bigger with higher velocity, the reason lighter Partitions tend to kill deer-sized game quicker. Over the years I've noticed, for instance, that the 100-grain Partition tends to kill quicker than heavier bullets in .25 caliber rifles, though the 115 is no slouch either in the bigger .25's. Same deal with the 130's and 150's in the .270, 140's and 160's in the 7mm's, and 165's versus 180's and 200's in the .30's.
The same thing applies to the TSX and E-Tips, except more so. Monolithics kill much quicker when they have some zip to 'em.
These days, however, I tend to use more violently expanding bullets for deer-sized game, simply because they kill quicker, especially the Berger VLD and Nosler Ballistic Tip. The Ballistic Tip is a great deer bullet, and many are also good on bigger games, as Flinch noted.
I'm also using more bonded bullets on bigger game, for the same reason. So far my two favorites are the AccuBond and Norma Oryx.
I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the AccuBond may be even better than the Partition, since it produces the same big initial crater, but typically retains a larger mushroom, so the rest of the wound channel is wider. It also works very well at a wide variety of velocities, unlike the monolithics. The 250-grain 9.3 AB, for instance, works great at around 2650 fps, whether on big stuff close up or deer-sized game at 300+ yards.
The Oryx, as I've mentioned before, works a lot like the Bitterroot Bonded Core, opening up widely while retaining most of its weight. It makes a big hole, and while it may not penetrate as deeply as a monolithic or Partition, it penetrates plenty.
