I love these type of threads also. Sometimes it is impossible to know why a bullet works so well one time and performs terribly the next. Examining the wound channel does however give a clue. If the bullet doesn't make it to the vitals, that is in my opinion a failure, but if it does massive amounts of damage to the vitals and the animal doesn't go right down, then what would you say then? There is a fine line on what bullet design is best. I have shot bull elk with 250 gr partitions that did ample damage to the shoulder on the entrance, but the frontal portion of the bullet came apart in the shoulder only leaving the shank to penetrate to the vitals. Not my preference, but the bull died. Another example was with a 225 gr Barnes X that hit a big mule deer through both lungs at 550 yards. The deer ran off. I finally found it the next day and when I gutted the deer I found that the bullet penciled through without causing any tissue damage at all. With the Berger, I believe that heaviest possible bullet for caliber works well to make sure you have a good chance at good penetration on the close shots and also drives deep on the longer shots. I have a very hard time deciding what bullet to have in my gun when hunting in Grizzly country, because a bullet failure could be very painful or worse.
