I've gotten into a debate about this and would like your opinions. My cast lead bullets have so far, never remained within any animal I've ever shot with cast bullets... well except a large pig where the bullet wasn't able to exit the hide, but did penetrate completely the body cavity. My obersvations are and opinions are that a complete pass through especially with a wide flat meplate, imparts a maximum of damage and energy transfer all the way through the animal, imparting the most damage possible to the animal. With my 58 caliber muzzleloader, I had one bullet enter the front chest at an angle, broke ribs just behind the offside shoulder, and then being trapped by the hide, traveled the length of the deer and exited just in front of the rear leg, taking out the lungs and possibly other organs... she was awash in blood.
But there seems to be an argument for "energy dump" to reign supreme, yet we've harvested two animals that had been previously shot with bullets that didn't penetrate the animals well, one left with an infected shoulder that was putrified, and another that was hit with a bad shot that left the animal quite incapable of doing much but waiting to die when my hunting partner came across her and put her to rest.
So I'm looking for opinions, and science, if there is any.
Thank you...
Much Aloha...
Tom