... stouter construction helps on bigger animals while hurting nothing in the slightest on smaller stuff.
Stouter construction may help on the bigger stuff, but I wouldn't agree that there is no trade-off for smaller stuff. By way of example I shot a number of water buffalo with the Woodleigh 286 gn PP in my 9.3x74R, and they worked well, but the same bullet on several large pigs worked quite poorly really, penciling through with minimal expansion. It didn't kill nearly as well as the 220gn CorLokt I used in a borrowed .30/06 on the same trip, on much the same shots. Side-by-side comparison with Woodleigh's 286gn RN in the same calibre suggested that it would have been a better choice too, working well on both a couple of dozen buffalo and about that many big pigs - perhaps better matched to the velocity.
FWIW for the general run of deer and pigs and goats I hunt I happily use fairly soft bullets, simply because of how well they work for me. For my .30/06 for example I generally use Winchester's 150 gn Power Point, which not only shoots very accurately in my rifle but kills well on this sort of game. I remember one day for example when I took 21 pigs with 22 rounds - the extra one probably not needed but used to finish the only pig still moving after being hit. This load has also dropped quite a number of deer in their tracks. I use a similar bullet in other calibres, with similar results.
oz: This may be a cultural thing, unique to Oz and Africa.
Making a jump from water buffalo to pigs was not exactly what I was talking about. I was thinking more along the lines of the guy who takes his 270 or 280,or 30/06 after everything from pronghorn to bull elk or moose in the same season, for which leaving the Barnes TTSX at home because it may not be theoretically "perfect" for the deer sized stuff(the deer MIGHT take a step or two more with lung shots), but very good for the bull elk,is not how I'd role. I'd rather shoot the deer with the elk bullet than shoot the elk with the deer bullet.
Never having shot a water buffalo, I can intuitively imagine that a tough bullet,driven at modest 9.3x74 velocities,and intended to deal with buffalo weighing (what?) 1500-1700 pounds,might not be your best bet for the cross canyon elk, or 200# pigs at any distance,and i can see the pigs being drilled with lung shots and going a distance.
Me, I'd shoot them on the shoulder with a 375H&H.....Rhetorical question,.but why people judge the worth of BG bullets based on lung shots only, is beyond me,since animals have bones.
So, that being said, I will stand by what I stated before...and to put it in context,I'd reach for the Partition or TTSX for the uses I stated.I've seen far more consistent and reliable results on deer to elk sized game from Partitions (and other "controlled expanding bullets")than from anything else I've seen used or used myself.
I have seen that 150 PP used on deer and bull elk. It did a good job on both but certainly no better than stouter stuff I've used.
Personally I never understood the fuss over C&C bullets vs those of more robust construction,which are demonized by some as being "unnecessary", or too expensive, or over penetrate,or whatever other imaginary characteristics they might have. The job of any BG bullet is to penetrate and expand....day in and day out penetration is more important,and in the better designs expansion is more controlled over a wider velocity spectrum and more types of mediums than most C&C's can muster.
That skinny jacket is really old technology.
