RNs had a reputation as surer killers back when bullet technology was in its infancy and spitzers could not be counted on to expand reliably every time and high velocity played heck with all jacketed bullets.
The early 20th century reliable killers all had common characteristics....long high SD round nose bullets and velocities around 2400-2500. The list is long...175 7mm, 220s in the Krag and '06, 215s in the 303, 160s in 6.5, 300 grain .375s....and the results were pretty much the same whether the game was here, in Europe, India or Africa.
Those early failures with pointed bullets were what put Elmer off of smaller calibers when he tried them in the 20s and 30s, and the attitude made sense given what they had to work with.
But with modern high performance bonded or monolithic bullets, the SD doesn't matter nearly as much for penetration, and both RNs and spitzers expand reliably, and so the issue is pretty much moot IMHO. The trajectory difference is really insignificant at the ranges where the vast majority of game is shot, so just shoot whatever runs your motor.
I still shoot 175 RNs sometimes in my 7 x57 just because they look cool and always shoot through a deer. But I know a 140 partition will do just as well, and usually use it if a longer shot might present itself.
Well put Steve
