ORIGINAL: coyote#68
I once read an article about this on an antilope hunt where the light bullet exploded on impact and they followed the goat for several miles and shot it again,man that would be hard to do on a whitetail in ky.thats why I like 100grainers as a minimun for deer,but thats just my opinion.I normally use 150's.but I have killed many deer with my 243 also,100 grain federal fusions.
FYI, bullets which explode are caused by misapplication of bullets to caliber, shot distance, hardness of target, etc. This really happens only when you try to shoot a light bullet meant to expand at slow (~2000fps) in a super mag at super (3300+fps) velocities. This can be an issue in calibers like .308 where there are bullets from 100 - 240gr matched to cases from 30 carbine to 30-378 Weatherby. Yes, usually it is light bullets which blow up, but I'm sure a 180 FP designed for 30-30 blows up in a 30-378.
Avoiding bullet blow up is as simple as a call to the bullet maker. Hey, I have a 30 WizBangBoom, what bullet should I load for deer at 1000 yards? Will it blow up if I shoot at a deer 50 yards away?
The new all copper bullets are supposed to handle a wider velocity rang without blowing up.