That would depend on the angle of the shot or how much mass is needed to get through. Two diff schools of thought. The highly frangible bullet will create a very large initial wound channel that gets small quickly. Compare that to a bullet that does not expand at all, like and fmj, and there would be a much smaller wound channel from the fmj even though it penetrated further. Then compare that to a bullet like ours that rapidly sheds the nose on impact, creating a large cavity, then retaining enough weight to straight line penetrate the rest of the way through. Also the shape of the retained is important as to how it displaces the soft tissue to create a permanent wound channel. We want a flat frontal area like a flat base bullet shot backwards. This shape displaces perpendicular to the direction of travel better than a rounded mushroom, even though it may be bigger. The shed weight on our bullet is in a few pieces that retain enough weight each that they too usually pass through as well. The shock of the bullet rapidly opening and shedding a big part of animals not traveling after the shot. If the animal recovers from the initial shock and the wound channel is not enough to bleed them out rapidly is when you have animals traveling long distances before they die. The velocity that the bullet is passing through the vital tissue is relative to how large the permanent wound channel is. The more that bullet slows down the less tissue it tears to cause the needed bleeding. The larger the frontal area is in relation to the amount of retained weight causes the rapid slowing of the bullet. If I could make a magic bullet it would deform on impact and then never loose a single fps as it passes through, creating the largest wound channel possible all the way through.
So the actual sq in of destroyed tissue by a bullet that comes all undone and doesn't make it through vs the bullet that properly deforms and does get all the way through could go either way depending on the circumstance of the shot. For me I cover more bases with a bullet designed like ours. I like my chances better on a bad hit or a hit that must cover more distance to get to vitals.
I'll leave the toxic topic alone other than to say there is no good reason to eat lead.
