I'd consider a 130gr bullet rather petite. Had this been a 150gr+ 308 going 2800fps, basically overall more robust, I'd have a few concerns but a bitty 130gr going 3200fps at close range... na. Had that been broadside you would have a quarter sized exit hole and no bullet to gripe about.
Were the vitals jello?
A 130 gr 270 Barnes bullet at 3200 fps is EXACTLY how your supposed to use them, I can guarantee that a 150+ Barnes in a 308 at 2800 fps will lead to disaster at some point having shot a metric ton of 165's from a 300 WBY at WBY speeds.
If a Barnes looses it's petals prior to exit it's FAILED because the frontal diameter going through vitals at speed is all you'll have to cause a larger than bullet permanent wound channel other wise you have a solid shank creating a very small wound channel and unless shot placement is perfect a fairly long death. An elk will take about 45 minutes to fall over if you blow the petals of on the on side and have the shank pencil.
I shot Barnes exclusively for a lot of years until I was in position to shoot a number of elk on open hay fields where they don't just vanish over the ridge or into the timber but stand out in the open where you can see every effect of your shot. I found that I most likely wounded and lost a lot of elk due to blindly thinking Barnes or Monos for that mater are any better than anything else so if they didn't drop I must have missed or if there was no blood trail I must have missed.
I had a 165 Barnes stop dead on an elk shoulder and turn out the front and hit her neck, looked like a perfect DRT kill but a half hour later I was kneeling in the middle of her cutting her throat because it just knocked her out but the impact of the bullet hitting her neck just her jugular just enough that she bleed good.
Half hour later my buddy shot a cow with a 30-06 with a 165 and it stopped cold on her shoulder only breaking it, fortunately I saw the hit and called for a different hold and the second round hit her heart.
This all made me evaluate just what the heck was going on, and it was the last time I used Barnes for heavy game, I still shoot them but only on light game where they work as they should and work very well. The problem is if they don't blow the petals of it takes a lot to push that frontal area through heavy game so you need mass which a copper bullet just does not have, or you need the petals to shear of and allow penetration but then you get small wound channels.
I have a picture of a steel plate that we were shooting at 600 yards with a 140 Cutting edge bullet stuck mid way through the plate, cup and core bullets blow through like a drill bit.
I still shoot a lot of Barnes or Cutting edge bullets but sometimes the ONLY reason they work is because of shot placement not bullet function. Kinda like any other bullet made!!
Don't take the tough crowd comments to heart. I think if the petals peal back, then even if some or all of them depart the shank after a solid hit, the bullet still performs acceptably well.
