Almost all the recovered ones i have seen have been missing the petals
How many have you seen recovered? I recovered my first Barnes X-Bullet 25 years ago, not long before the TSX appeared, and have a pretty good collection of TSXs and TTSXs recovered since then--not just from animals Eileen and I have taken, but several other people who were on hunts with me, including a month-long South African cull-hunt in 2007.
In my experience how many petals they lose depends on what they hit, at what point in their penetration--and may not be consistent even then. Those that hit relatively heavy bone on impact tends to lose more petals, but have also seen that not happen.
As examples, Eileen killed two animals in a row with the 100 TTSX at 3150 fps from her NULA .257 Roberts one fall. The first was an average cow elk at 120 yards that was quartering away, which dropped right there. The bullet cracked about an inch off the lower edge of the spinal column, and ended up in the far shoulder, losing ONE petal, probably due to that one ticking the spine.
The next animal was pronghorn buck at around 275 yards, facing her. The bullet entered the front of the chest, and was found under the hide of the rump, retaining all its weight except the plastic tip.
The other bullets were in calibers from .270 up to .375. One was a 168 TSX from the Sisk .300 Winchester Magnum I used to take a big mule deer in Sonora. The buck was running almost directly away at around 150 yards, and the bullet broke the left hip, and was found under the hide on the front of the chest, weighing 167.8 grains, retaining all four petals.
The only variation I haven't seen is an X-Bullet, of whatever variation, retaining two petals.
