Okay, I hate to bring physics into this, but all of the contributing factors add up to one thing - how much kinetic energy that the bullet is carrying ends up dumped in the animal is THE determining factor on meat loss. Before you object, just consider that a light, fast, cup and core that does not exit expends ALL of its energy in the animal. A heavy-for-caliber premium bullet will generally penetrate through and through, expending enough energy to obviously kill the animal, but much of the remaining energy is expended after the exit wound is made. Same concept with big, "slow" bullets, like hard cast from a .454 or .45-70 or .357 Maximum - they penetrate through and through, impact at a much lower velocity, don't generally break apart, and the remaining energy is expended after complete penetration. I have yet to recover a bullet from any deer I've shot with a .454 Casull and 320 gr. bullets or my .357 Max with 215 gr. bullet, even on long (over 150 yds) shots with either weapon, and I can eat right up to the hole. My .308 on the other hand, when loaded with 165 gr. Nosler Ballistic tips frequently doesn't exit the deer, and meat damage is often more than I'd like, but that's the trade off for increased ballistic advantage over the slow, heavy cast bullets. How much energy is transferred to the animal is at the core of the meat damage issue, Barnes TSX bullets generally pass through, doing enough to kill well, but not burning all of their energy in the animal. And Ringworm, I'm waving the BS flag on you .270 Wby comment, I hope you were joking. The speed at which a bullet passes through an animal has NOTHING to do with how little or how much damage occurs, I guarantee my pistol cast loads spend MUCH more time in the animal than the .270 Wby bullet, but I know which animal I'd rather butcher.
