I have done a lot of shooting and hunting tests with bullets, including the "new" bonded bullets. Bottom line is that the bondeds will outperform non-bonded in a few situations, are not needed for most situations. They are great at close range and in high performance cartridges which can create high impact velocities. They are un-needed for deer-sized game, at the distances most deer are shot - under two hundred yards. The standard bullets open up much quicker, deliver energy faster and that is what we need on smaller critters like deer. Unless the shot is very close where impact velocity is max, then they will hold together where the standard bullet may fragment or shed core and jacket.
I prefer to classify bullets by % retained weight after they have been recovered from game or from my clay tests. The highest retention bullets at 90%-95%+ are the Swift A-Frame, Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, Barnes X family and WInchester Fail Safe. There are some others in this category from Norma and Lapua and probably the North Fork, have not shot them yet. Next are the 80% bullets, which include the Interbond, CoreLokt Ultra and Scirocco. Next are the 65%+ bullets which include the Nosler Accubond and Partition, Grand Slam, Federal Fussion and occasionally standard bullets if they do not hit big bone or have high impact velocity. Then the +-50% which are the latter bullets from Hornady, Speer, Win., Rem, Fed, etc.etc. I have some +-50% bullets recovered that went 75%, things vary a lot when you play with bullet retained weight.
Where do Matchkings, Competition Supremes and A-MAX fit in - all over the map. I have some close-range fragmentations and some perfect mushrooms from longer shots. We have killed a bunch of deer with match bullets, no reason not to keep doing that.
I would test Interbond, Scirocco and Accubond if you really want to shoot a plastic-tipped, boat-tailed bonded bullet. Interbond might surprise you and they are cheaper and in 100 count boxes. As suggested, let your rifle make the decision.
I shot the accuracy and expansion tests on the original Sciroccos for Lee Reed, shot the earliest production bullets from Nosler and Hornady for one of the very first articles published on bondeds (NRA Am. Hunter), so have some experience with bonded bullets.
