You reminded me (again) that I should see if my neighbor still has the bullet we recovered from the "other side" of a whale. I should get a digital picture. That will say a lot more than my wordieness.
A couple of years ago I lost my gill net which was supposed to be catching salmon for my family. I found it over half a mile away twisted into uselessness with a seemingly dead beluga whale in it. Belugas are small whales but, even so, the good size specimens are substantial animals. This one was close to 16 feet long. After tying to whole mess, net and whale, to the gunwhale of the 19 foot skiff we proceeded to steer toward shore. The "dead' whale wasn't and so began a rodeo which resulted on the 90 HP motor being rendered ineffective in moving the boat in the desired direction. A quick call on the radio summoned a friend who brought along his 450 Marlin Guide Gun loaded with factory rounds. A one shot deal it wasn't. Our whale was plenty uncooperative in effecting its own execution and made itself about as easy to shoot as a wolverine in a tornado. Suffice it to say that we put three rounds into it from a distance of about one yard, the third finally into the head. The last bullet was recovered in fragments inside the very ruptured skull. I had expected more of a chunk to be honest. Several months later, in cutting off a portion of the muntaq, the skin, which we had frozen I came across a lump against the outer layer. In cutting into it I realized it was one of the bullets. It was completely intact and spread into a very nice solid mushroom. That one hadn't hit any substantial bones but it had cut through better than two feet of solid flesh and blubber as well as lung tissue and at relatively (for the design) high velocity. This is only a test of limited sample size but it gives me confidence in the projectile. It is neither dead soft nor too resistant to expansion. I will use it in my 45-70.
