RE: Maxi-Balls
They are plenty deadly with proper shot placement. They don't seem to expand much, penetrate well though.
I've used them in .45 to harvest 4 whitetails, two mule deer, two hogs and a javelina. Recovered only two slugs, one from a cull-buck taken at around 150 yds (if he hadn't been a cull I wouldn't have tried the shot).
The other was on a feral hog boar where the bullet entered over the eye and ended up around the shoulders (full-frontal shot, he's the hog in my avatar-pic).
I like them in my .45 sidelocks as they are easy to load, accurate and punchier than a PRB. Cheap too when you cast them yourself.