This will consistently shoot length ways and exit on mule deer and antelope at 100 yards.
This is my point, and sincerely not trying to argue this. I do occasioanlly carry LHC and do see merits in it. My concern is that we are missing the bigger picture on this topic, and that is stopping the threat. If something is gnawing on me...and I mean literally, whether or not the bullet exits is irrelevant. What is relevant is the gnawing stops as soon as I pull the trigger. That only happens if a CNS/vital is hit. Period. That's what stops it, nothing else. A bullet coming out the back end of a bear and ripping through intestines isn't relevant. And a bear can't be gwaning on me if his ass is facing me, so shooting lengthwise ass-to-head isn't necessary.
If possible, I'd prefer a bullet that entered and exploded; all energy used to turn the insides into mush. Guaranteed CNS/vital hit. Like a grenade, close enough would count. Obviously this doesn't exist in civilian handguns. I want something to penetrate about 18 inches and do as much damage as possible along the way. (We are talking black bear, that was the OP's threat.) If it goes through the animal, great, if not, great. It should penetrate 18" regardless of bone, grizzle, and hair. And it should be as wide a wound channel as possible, as wide as possible to increase chances of hitting a vital.
I agree FMJ's are not designed for this situation, they may work, but lead hardness varies, jacket thickness varies, etc. I will say, they generally penetrate very well in my limited testing - they will shoot through trees more reliably than LHC or XTP's. A tree is not an animal, I get that. LHC also penetrates well, but as to terminal damage, it's open for (my personal) debate. It's never been legal to hunt with where I've hunted the last 35 years. I've shot deer with 200gr. 10mm XTP's at 1200fps and the bullet went through every time and made a substantial wound channel. Often hitting ribs on entrance and exit. It performed perfectly, hence my thinking on black bear. I've never shot a bear or elk or moose with one. I think few, if any, of us have. DanInAlaska's anecdotal evidence is compelling about how well they work on big game, or not work as he points out.
While I've never had an XTP fail, fail in terms of penetration on big deer sized game. I've never found them after a kill as they penetrated fully, so can't say they opened up or not. I do know the exit wound was typically a pleasant 1 to 1-1/2" hole. (talking 10mm).
