I wouldn't say I've had any failures, so I didn't vote. I have chosen the wrong bullet for the use before though. I should correct that, the non-optimal bullet. It's all about matching bullet characteristics with expected or needed terminal performance.
I really wish there was more information on bullet terminal performance from manufacturers, with some form of standardized testing. Like even just a basic ballistic gel wound channel test at various velocities. Nosler does on some of theirs and that's about it. Essentially I feel like there's just not enough information out there to evaluate bullet selection outside of people's stories. Which will be inherently negative biased, because that's just how people share information.
That said, if you think about things logically, you can probably predict performance and potential issues.
Monos - stay together with deep narrow wound channels.
Probably the most affected by manufacturing defects as machining dictates expansion characteristics, as well as alloy consistency. Smaller bullets will have more issues due to being more sensitive to tolerances. If anything happens to the hollow point and it closes (damaged tip, hit bone before expanding, etc.), it won't expand correctly. These also have the lowest sectional density and need the most velocity due to being so hard relative to lead.
A-frame/partition - deeper moderately wide wound channels. The A-frame is very well constructed and would stay together when hitting bone. Unlikely this bullet will come unglued for any reason on an animal. Partitions I've heard failure stories on, but that I think was just completely losing the tip and having the base act like a solid. Which, logically, it should do.
Cup and core - shallow, wide wound channels. These are probably the best expanding of the offerings. But it requires matching the bullet to velocities as every manufacturer and bullet type performs differently. Jacket thickness and hardness, as well as lead alloy used, all affect terminal performance. So a hot cor hitting at 1600fps probably won't expand well, but a game king would. Conversely, a game king at 2800fps impact would probably explode and a hot cor would perform well. And a Speer boat tail is softer than a hot core for the same weight and caliber. But not in a way that's easily quantifiable.
Berger- explosive but conditional to having enough material to cause structural failure. Meaning, it needs a certain amount of meat to pass through to initiate bullet structural failure(velocity dependant, higher velocity, less needed). Too thin and it'll pencil. The down side is if it hits bone or thick areas(eg. Shoulder), it'll probably explode and not penetrate well.
Bonded - moderate depth and moderate wound channels. Generally these would be a tougher bullet than cup and core, as by nature they designed these to not come apart. But once again, matching velocities to use is important. For example Nosler accubonds and Accubond LR have very different expansion/velocity curves. So expected performance should be altered based on this kind of information. An Accubond LR at close range(<50m) out of a 300win, probably won't hold together that well punching through a moose shoulder blade relative to a normal Accubond.
