John, where I found a bad problem was with the 45-70 BFR with a harder boolit of around 22 BHN. 1632 fps with a WLN and WFN. Deer were lost with no blood trails and those recovered went 200 yards or more with no blood found for 100 yards. Lungs were intact with just a hole through them.
It was so bad I went to the 300 gr Hornady one season and the next I used a 50-50 WW and pure HP. Both worked wonderful.
Now I am sure the hard boolit would have worked in a larger animal or a deer shot at a longer distance.
It gets sticky and hard to understand because the .44 works just fine at a little over 1300 as does the .475 and .500. The .45 Colt does well even though it is slower.
How do you explain it other then the boolit goes through so fast it leaves no energy?
I don't believe in muzzle energy at all for affect on an animal yet energy is really needed inside.
You see, the faster a boolit goes, the higher the muzzle energy goes but where is it applied? Inside or on the other side of a little deer? Is a deer like a paper target?
The punch is a great bullet but you can't convince me it is better on a deer at 1800 fps then it is at 1300 fps.
ONLY IF THE NOSE EXPANDS.