I have killed two elk and one nice muley with the innerbonds now, and am fairly happy with them. They are very accurate for me, cost much less than the nosler accubonds - at least in my area. As far as damaging meat, I have found them to be far harder than ballistic tips or standard bullets. I have shot the 130 out of a .270 and the 154 out of a .280. My elk this year was killed with the 280 at about 80 yards, I recovered one bullet that went through rear ribs up through lung(s?) far shoulder and stopped in the hide. That bullet was mushroomed fairly decently and weighed 144 grains. This is the only bullet I have recovered. I said fairly happy because I feel they could expand faster, but I am using standard velocity cartridges also.
I have to say the bonding business isn't total marketing BS though. In developing loads for the 280 this summer I was shooting through my target into a gravel pile. Out of curiousity I dug some of the bullets out and they were severely mushroomed but jacket and cores were intact. I was very amazed as standard bullets always blow up in gravel (for me at least).
For me, I have had all good experiences with standard bullets, most commonly speer hot cores, but found a good deal on the innerbonds and was impressed with their accuracy, so tried them hunting. In my standard velocity cartridges i feel that they are actually a little too hard but then they have always killed when put in the right place. In your higher velocity short mag they would likely cause a little more damage. For deer hunting I would stick with the 130 and would be confident it would hold together, while giving a little less recoil and a slightly flatter trajectory.
Good luck and keep us posted with updates.
