I've only read page 1 but I've got to reply to this one and give some personal experiences. Rifle hunting hasn't ever been a problem for me. If the shot is good, I've been lucky enough to recover the deer in a short distance. I've shot deer with my 7mm and with a friends 30-30. Any bullets that I've found have expanded extremely well and I feel have done sufficient damage to kill the animal quickly and humanely. Now, from personal experience, muzzleloading is where my problems began. For those that have heard the story, I apologize for repeating but feel its necessary. When i began muzzleloading I shot 90 grains pyrodex RS and a 300 grain Hornady XTP bullet. Incredible accuracy. But, I shot 3 deer and never found any of them. I could find blood for maybe 50 feet and then it was GONE. I was to the point of giving up muzzleloading until I changed to an all lead bullet upon the advice of those here. So, I don't think a pass through is always the solution. Unless there is adequate bullet expansion (also referred to as energy transfer) it doesn't do much good to have complete pass throughs. With the bullets I'm shooting through my muzzleloader now I've recovered 2 of them and the other passed through. They did so much damage that the animal either dropped dead or went a maximum of 50 yards. So, I lean towards the thought of the bullet expanding and transferring its energy inside the animal. With the Hornady XTP's, the bullets penetrated completely I'm sure. However, they never expanded so didn't do much damage. I'm sure the deer ran forever before dying. I currently shoot a 220 grain dead center ML bullet and only 80 grains of 777 powder. I live in eastern Oklahoma so my shots are generally much less than 100 yards. Just my experience, but for me, bullet expansion inside the animal is what is important. See ya, Greg