I have no expertise with handgun bullet performance in big game hunting, so I hope you will not be offended if I comment but this thread and others like it are fascinating.

It may not be applicable by analogy, or relevant in any way at all, but these threads bring to mind things I have seen in another arena.

I suspect no one has more theoretical, laboratory testing, field testing and actual field performance experience, analysis and data than the military, particularly the Army, with bullet performance in living tissue. Ask any Army trauma surgeon and they will tell you that it is common to see bullets do very strange things in bodies; inexplicable things. Large city forensic pathologists who do autopsies on gun shot victims will say the same.

Maybe there will always be anomalies in this area. Maybe there are just too many and diverse factors that come into play. Maybe a reasonably consistent performance in a specific application is the best one can hope for.

Maybe these experiences with soft skinned humans bears no relevance to large wild game and I have just wasted your time.

Either way, it is a very interesting thread.