I have actually found this attitude to be an obstacle as I recently started reloading..... I have been hunting with cup and cores for 24 years and have had great success..... I have lost minimal game and entrances / exits have been good..... I am all for upgrading and using the best, but it is very hard for me to know what "the best" is whn what I used works and there are so many conflicting reports.....
So far, I like accubonds, as I have had success at various ranges and am open to using varnegeddon type rounds on wolf and yote to save pelts as the logic and experience seems sound, but other than that I am utterly confused.....
If you believe the glossy ads then you MUST believe that not a single game animal was successfully harvested before the advent of mono or bonded bullets.
As you note, and most of us who have been hunting since the time when a Pointed Soft Point "was a premium round" also know, if you do your part pretty much any "valid" hunting bullet will do it's job on any game that you might choose to shoot at.
I do agree that some of the higher BC, boat tailed bonded bullets allow you to "stretch your shot" to ranges that would have been "beyond ethical shooting" say 30 years back, but the Mfg's have done a good job of convincing "everyone" that you NEED such a bullet for the 50 yard shot on a White Tail.
I know that an 80 grain soft point from my 243 will take down Bambi at the typical range I hunt, yet I still shoot an SST or Ballistic Tip "because I have been convinced they are better" and I am "more confident" when shooting them - and that is a great part of the equation.
I think most of us on this board are the kind that either push the envelope or walk on the leading edge types. We sell ammo at work and I can tell you that the "overwhelming majority" of white tail hunters don't know or care anything about SST's, Mono's, Partitions, Bonded boat tailed bullets et al.
Their "criteria" is best described as: approach the ammunition cabinets, scan the price tags, find the lowest price in the caliber they want - buy that - go out with the boys and pop a deer.
Then there is the more "selective crowd". They come and want a box of 180 grain CoreLokt for their 308 because Dad shot them, Grand-dad shot them and everybody they hunt with "shoots them". And if we don't have them in stock, unless it's the night before the opener they will walk out and try to find those somewhere else.
The premium bullet market (in the pre-rolled stuff) is somewhat less than 10% of the market, at least in my piece of the country.
And you know, I have never had anyone come in and say - hey, those (blue/green box) things don't work worth a crap - five of us lost deer that we shot last season, give me something better.
Now it might sound like I dislike or don't use premiums - not the case - I could be the poster boy for Swift Bullets. Even though I "know" I don't need to shoot "that premium" the way I hunt, I also know that while I might have many doubts or worries when I get to the second stage of my trigger, "trust in the bullet" is not one of those worries - and for that piece of mind the price of shooting them is well worth it "for me".