I'd have to agree that small caliber V-max's are very fragile and if any bullet was going to completely blow up and cause a surface wound I'd be bettin' on those. I've shot them from my 17 HMR into 2 liter soda bottles filled with water and had them completely disintegtate inside with absolutely nothing penetrating the back side of the bottle. What gets me is when I hear this or that 100 gr .243, 130 gr .270 or 150 gr .308 bullet "blew up completely" on a rib and never entered the pleural cavity. I simply don't buy that and think it has to be deflection.