BWalker,
My experience with "petal" type bullets is that losing or retaining them doesn't make any noticeable difference in "killing power." Have been shooting them since the 1990's on BUNCH of game.
One thing that often happens is the front end of any "petal-free" bullet is usually well above bore diameter when recovered, and the front end is flat.
Of course, the percentage of bullets that shed various numbers of petals is only approximate, since the number recovered is pretty small. I'd guess the recovered percentage of Barnes X's (whether the first, the blue-coated version, or the TSX, TTSX, etc.), Fail Safes, Hornady GMX's, Nosler E-Tips or whatever is less than 20%. But I do have a substantial number in my collection, going back to around 1990.
As I said my expiereance was limited. Just grasping for a reason to explain the pretty inconsistent results I have gotten from monos at times.
