I don't agree with a lot that rost has to say, and in fact I am skeptical of Texas people in general, but he may well be right.
Ask him how many elk he's killed, this is the elk forum right? Then compare that answer to saddlesore's tally and get back with us on who's "right."
Yep,I will be working on number 51 in three weeks. At least 20 of them have been with pure lead or copper coated lead, muzzle loader bullets. Others were with Sierra Game Kings, Sierra 220 gr RN, a few Rem bronze points and a few Nosler partitions . Double lung shots ruin very little meat if any. I don't shoulder shoot or butt shoot elk. I have lost one elk in all those years. A long tracking job on another elk was due to my inadequate shooting, but it was recovered. I can't remember many that required a second shot. Again those that did was because of poor bullet placement,not the bullet.
Three scenarios of bullet failure occur.One is the elk was never recovered , so no proof of bullet failure. Another is elk recovered ,but poor bullet placement was the reason the elk did not die immediately.The third is selecting a bullet not designed for the job. This usually occurs when a hunter pushes bullet at magnum speeds that is designed for less than 2800-290o fps max or they take questionable angled shots .The hunters that experience these then goes out looking for the holy grail of bullet design rather than fix his/her own inadequacies.
