10-4 D,
I've been hunting since I was a kid , but I've only been deer hunting since 2012 and never really thought about the science of ballistics , I just bought ammo and went hunting .
During this short time and my experiences , I've come to wise up quick.
This year I want to get the equipment to begin reloading , because quality control with ammo is horrible ! ( that's another story )
A 270 130gr power point went into the vitals behind the shoulder of an 8 pt. and never hit bone , going in or going out , tiny hole in, tiny hole out , hardly no expansion.
So now I take them in the shoulder with bonded bullets , my thought is to force the bullet to expand before it reaches bone so it will hit bone and tear some stuff up and drive on through.
The 150 gr 3006 scirocco bonded shows more energy down range than a typical soft point 150 gr with the same velocity.
With solid copper , they say the sectional density doesn't matter because it doesn't fragment and it retains more energy , so you can drop down in grain weight instead of using 165 to 200 gr.
Solid is longer than cup and core bullets.
I'm like you , I want a trail to follow for insurance.
I'll never know what angle I'll be presented with so for me I want something that's going to fragment a little , retain over half it's weight with a large mushroom and keep on pushing .
I bought some Barnes 7mm08 for my son and all the bullets can spin by hand inside the casing. (Two boxes )
Bullets seated at different depths with other brands, so yeah ! I want to learn how to roll my own !
Keep me posted with your research !