The jacket metal composition also intrigues me...
With the swift making use of said copper (guessing almost pure) jacket does this in turn mean the bullet will open up any faster or at slower impact velocities?
With the nosler using gilding metal jackets of a copper mixture does that mean the jacket has more of a tendency to splinter and form sharp petals?
D2D: Just my read on it,but from what I have seen and understand, the gilding metal will be more brittle,more likely to fragment,shear,etc under high impact velocity,which is why Partitions,in general tend to shed the front cores and peel back to the Partition.(I guess this varies a bit with bullet weight and caliber,as gilding metal can be annealed to softenit and make it less likely to behave this way.IIRC Woodleighs are gilding metal,but annealed to keep them soft.)
In this regard they are very consistent,and behave much the same way at both short and long distance,but are less likely to form that classic mushrom shape we see with the Aframe.
Other than to shoot them, I have no experience with Aframes;but have used the old BBC a good deal;the Aframe was designed with some BBC characteristics(heavy copper jacket and pure lead cores),and they are in some ways similar.The BBC used pure lead for cores,bonded to a very heavy copper jackest.The more maleable(sp?)heavy jackets, bonded to the core,provide support for one another during high velocity expansion,and form a broader frontal area and IME are less likely to fracture or shed the expanded wings,maintaining a broad frontal area all the way through.It is not unusual for them to retain 95% of their weight even after a heavy collision.I have one 7mm here,recovered from an elk,that is expanded to app 60 caliber and still weighs over 155 grains IIRC.
Sometimes very high velocity will cause the wings to collapse back along the shank of the bullet,somewhat reducing frontal area;but the ductile jacket and core holds everything together.
I have been told that the quality of the copper and lead is very important,and can't be too hard or too soft;sorta just right to maintain proper expansion characteristics and still hold together under high velocity impact.
I do know the BBC(like the Aframe)is very tough and can withstand as much velocity as one can give them.This is why the maker recommended "minimum" velocity levels for them,to insure expansion and best characteristics of the bullet.
As to penetration, it is true that smaller frontal areas will generally result in somewhat less penetration,but equally true, I think, that this must be taken in context.And in my use of bonded bullets I have not had any problems getting more than enough of it in any BG animal,including some pass throughs and large exit holes. A lot depends on what gets hit,and the impact velocity.