There are a lot of different opinions on terminal ballistics. On camp thinks the bullet should expend all its energy in the animal and not exit. The other camp likes a nice exit wound with a well expanded bullet. I've had both happen and cannot say one or the other has a distinct advantage. It seems to depend entirely on what the bullet hits on its way through. In my case, the second shot was in the neck below the ear. This broke the neck but did not knock the moose down. This is the second time I have hit a moose in the same spot with little immediate results. The moose might have been dead at this point but I do not like waiting around. My third shot was more in the chest area behind the shoulder. I punched a small hole going in as it went between the ribs but blew a 2-3 inch chunk of ribs out on the far side. The most interesting part is after blowing this big hole in the far ribs, it hit the skin, made a large bruise on the hide but did not have enough energy to go through. Thankfully, it fell over at this point.
I should also point out to the experts that my first shot was aimed exactly at the shoulder to stop him from running into the trees never to be found till the next morning. There was only 15 minutes of legal shooting time left. It was hot with plenty of coyotes, bears, and wolves. So yes, I was willing to chance a shoulder shot in order not to loose the whole moose. I was not expecting that kind of devastation. Regardless of which camp a person is in regarding bullet performance, the proof is in live game results and not theory or ballistic gellatin. This is why I am so interested in hearing other hunters real life experience. Eventually a trend will appear.