Interesting, as the large bison bull that I shot at 200 yards with my 376 Steyr and the 260 gr AccuBond (2632 fps out of my 21" barrel) died quickly after moving off 5 yards laying down, raised his head once, and was done. Bullet fully penetrated so as not recovered. Good tissue/bone/vitals damage and minimal bloodshot meat. The bull was shot after my hunting partner shot a cow at 100 yards with his 358 Win and 225 gr TSX bullet (IIRC). I made the finishing shot on the cow from my position, as she ran 100 yards and lay down, and he did not have a follow up shot with the herd surrounding her. His broadside shot hit above the lungs and below the spine. She was laying quartering to when I shot her with the 376. The 260 gr AB penetrated over 30" and was recovered in the right rear hip. Expansion was over double and weight retention was 95%. The bull bison gave the shot opportunity after ensuring that the cow had been dispatched to end its suffering.
The reduced velocity with this bullet from the Steyr may have had its part in the bullet performance, compared to one fired from a 375 H&H and a higher velocity. This is why the Steyr was developed, as many PH's in Africa have reported using softs downloaded for better penetration and limited expansion when compared to full velocity loads on dangerous game, for their first shots, then following up with full velocity solids.
I can say that my first bison was taken in '92 with a 300 Win Mag using 180 gr Nosler Partitions. The first shot was at 120 yards from a steep uphill position that broke the front shoulder and put him down in the front end on his nose. The bullet actually split in two and continued to penetrate in different directions; one going back into the vitals and the other kept on through to the off shoulder. That bull then ran down the mountain, and I followed taking shots when given the proper opportunity. In the end, I used all 9 rounds I had with me on the stalk, with many of the bullets recovered, with good penetration and expansion in the vitals, and a couple of broadside lung shots that fully penetrated. My hunting partner finished him off with 2 shots behind the ear, finally hitting the spine at the base of the skull and finishing him. That bull was huge and was easily more than 2500 pounds on the hoof. He definitely had a will to live! Another bull I harvested with the 338 Win MAg a number of years later laid down after the first broadside hit in the vitals with the 210 gr Partition, and a spine shot below the ear finished him. Interestingly, that bullet centered the spine, turned up through the skull, coming out the forehead slightly above and centered from the left eye.
Goes to show that every animal has its own personality and tenacity of life...and that a one-of experience should not be used to judge a bullet's overall performance. Too many variable for accurate comparisons. Judgements should be reserved for after multiple harvests of multitudes of animals, of various species, genders, and body sizes before making final or absolute judgements.
In the end, bullet placement is a very important consideration.
