mirage243,
The other guys already made some excellent comments about bullets "blowing up" and not penetrating big game, but I'll provide another example. 30-some years ago I shot an eating size mule deer buck at around 200 yards with a .30-06 and a 150-grain Winchester Silvertip factory load. The buck was quartering toward me and the bullet hit the shoulder joint--a I found out later. At the shot the buck quickly hobbled over a low ridge right behind him. I started following the thin blood trail, and half a mile later found him standing broadside in the sagebrush, again at about 200 yards. Put another bullet behind the shoulder, and the buck went down. The first Silvertip had come apart on the buck's shoulder joint, and aside from a few fragments of lead, all that I found was the empty jack resting against the ribcage, where it hadn't even broken a rib.
Have also seen a 300-grain bonded 9.3mm bullet flatten out so much on the shoulder joint of a bull water buffalo that, again, the remains of the bullet (consisting of just about half the original weight) stopped on the outside of the ribcage. My hunting partner was doing the shooting, and a couple more of the 300s did basically the same thing, when shot into other parts of the bull's anatomy. There had to be some fault in the bonding process, as that particular brand of bullet is normally very reliable.
There have been several more instances over the decades, but the main point is that just because YOU have never seen it happen does not mean it cannot happen.
