I want stuff to work when everything is wrong.
I do, too. But, IME, I'm not sure there's significant difference between the killing power of a 150 NP and a 150 CL when it comes to deer, especially Whitetails. Two examples: 2005, north Idaho, I shot a 6x8 Whitetail. Only shot I had was through the pelvis at 30 yards (very thick woods). I shot him, which anchored him and then shot him again to kill him. 150NP out of .308Win. Bullet shed front core and did not exit. 2006, north Idaho, 4x4 Whitetail, moving straight away at 80 yards following a doe, soon to go out of sight in the draw he was in. Texas heart shot to base of tail, anchored him, followed up with second shot to kill him. 140CL out of .280Rem. Bullet broke backbone above tail and followed backbone forward for 14" and stopped in backstrap. Couldn't find the bullet when I skinned him. Had it commercially processed (don't usually do that, prefer to do it myself, but couldn't help it that year)and found the bullet when grilling backstraps six months later. Perfect mushroom.
Neither one of those shots were Saturday morning TV broadsides and both bullets performed equally well.
Now, don't anyone assume I'm just defending CLs here. I'm not. If you feel more comfortable using a premium bullet, by all means, do so. I've shot a bunch of NPs. All the hunting I did my first time living in AK were with 140 NPs in a 7x57. They performed very well, taking sheep, caribou and moose. I also shot a Brown Bear with a .350RemMag and 250CL factory loads. They made full penetration on the smallish bear twice.
