The game that I've shot or witnessed being shot that shed the jacket or "come apart" are dead on the spot or stumble a few steps. I believe this to be because all the energy of the bullet is expended inside the animal and not in some distant tree.
This was my thinking for a long time.....until I discovered that the energy in most bullets is sufficient to kill many deer...not just the one fired at.
What caused me to rethink this philosophy was a deer squarely hit with a ballistic tip.....I darn near lost the deer as I had no blood trail to follow. Since then I like bonded bullets as I find they greatly increase the likelihood of an exit hole that gives me a much greater chance of following a blood trail. Further they seem to penetrate deeper if they don't exit.
I now prefer the monometal bullets and, yes, they too don't always exit but the record is for five elk and four mule deer.....all bangflops….there is no jacket to shed and they penetrate superbly and often exit.
Steve Hornady is fond of saying "at what point in the death of the animal did the bullet fail?" He makes a good point....but my answer is at the point that I took several hours looking for it after the deer was dead.
I once subscribed to the hydrostatic shock theory......I no longer do.....I want penetration and I've had accubonds fail to exit as well....A-Frames too!!!! So go with the best probability available.....for me it's spelled TTSX
