Well, I just have to comment again.
I've now seen around 200 animals killed with various non-fragmenting expanding bullets, of various types from the discontinued Fail Safe to most of the various monolithics. (Can't say all, since new monos are introduced just about every minute.)
No, they don't kill deer as quickly as traditional cup and cores UNLESS they're put exactly through the top of the heart and both lungs, or the shoulder/spine.
I recognize that some people on the Campfire always do that, but with any imperfect shot (such as, say, through the lungs a hand-width behind the heart) fragmenting bullets kill quicker. I know this from my hunting notes on hundreds of animals, from deer-sized game on up.
Yeah, non-fragmenting monos almost always exit, but in smaller calibers this doesn't always mean an immediate or decent blood trail, especially if the shot is above the mid-line on the chest.
If you can always place the bullet in the perfect place, they kill about as quickly as fragmenting bullets. If you can't (and a 2-3 inches can make a difference) then they don't.
I'm also always astounded at the number of big game hunters who never shoot beyond 300-400 yards who choose a bullet because it groups into 3/4" instead of 1-1/4" at 100 yards. That doesn't make any difference out to 400 on big game--unless of course the same bullet's groups open up to a foot or more at 400, which might be the shooter's fault. (Or the wind's, or scope parallax. Dunno many average hunters who put out wind flags when testing at 400, or know how to test for parallax.)
This doesn't mean I don't use lot of TSX's--or these days, TTSX's, E-Tips or GMX's. But it does mean I don't think they're necessary for shooting deer, even those deer of a lifetime at bad angles.
Believe me, I've shot several deer that would qualify as a deer of a lifetime for most hunters. One was even taken with with a TSX, and it may have helped. But the rest were taken with a variety of bullets, including trhe Hornady Interlock--and that buck (a mule deer that field dressed 250 pounds) was a frontal shot at 75 yards with a 150-grain .270 that exited the spine at the rear of the rib-cage. None of them "failed," in any way.
