ORIGINAL: lemoyne
I have used them for years,taken a number of deer 7 to be exact and two boar several of these were with the 200gr 40 cal the rest were with the 250 gr one was taken at 220 yds according to my laser range finder the others were between 20 and 30 yds none of the ever penciled on me. The 200gr out preformed the the 250 by a good margin for penetration; after the first few deer I reduced the charge to to 90 gr of BH or a 100gr of 777 to get more penetration, heavy loads made the regular SW come apart to fast and to much to suit me. Now I use the bonded SW for elk size and up because I feel that they are designed for bigger game and while they don't exactly pencil it takes more than a deer to open them properly in my experience.
Between bad hits and people that don't check what a bullet was designed for, like what velocity and what size animal, I agree with
spaniel. There are not many "bad" bullets if they are used at the right velocity for the right target. I also believe there is no such thing as perfect quality control so I carefully inspect and weight every bullet I use for hunting. Lee
My experience matches yours. I always thought the 250gr to be a little "soft", I've seen more recovered come apart...but the animals didn't know the difference. I think the longer-for-caliber shank on the .40cal helps it hold together better. I posted pics of the only animal I ever shot with a 300gr bonded on here last year, a doe and the damage was not impressive though I didn't put the bullet through much tissue and no bone. Of course she was DRT anyways...
I'm going to give the FTX a try this year, see what happens.