Thanks a lot Reloader28, if you are the only one who buys them, they will quit making them. Of course there would be lots of leftovers on the clearance/shelf, OK you win.
I have helped track quite a few deer that were "shot broadside", by and large a broadside shot at the shoulder with any decent caliber will kill it, however when the bullet goes low and only strikes leg bone you will get a decent blood trail for 50-75 yards I mean one that makes you think its a done deal, then it begins to thin out quickly and disappears completely and you never see the deer again. They are worse than gutshots, at least if you stick with it you can often find them dead, but leg shots clot up quickly. Without a "body" to look at you don't know for sure what happened. I've seen several deer that were shot with a .243 and bullets I pesonally wouldn't use, specifically lighter weight HP varmit bullets but they were still dead, no exit wound but dead just the same, usually not far from where they were shot.
I do know that Ballistic Tips shot from a 7mm Rem Mag at short range (less than 50 yards) will put a deer down, stone cold dead, a little messy but very very dead. Any guessing at what happened on a shot that resulted in no dead deer is just that a guess. What Barnes XBT's I have shot are phenomenal penetrators, I used to shoot them out of my 7-08 Rem, 120 grain XBT's from several different angles , none of the bullets cared, hit (and from the looks of the insides) expand, and go right on, tremendous blood trails right to a dead deer. Rather than worry about exactly which "normal" bullet is the best, worry about which one the rifle likes, because if you put a 100 grain Hornady, Sierra, Speer, Cor-lokt whatever though the vitals of a deer you're gonna have to skin a deer.
Reloading is where it gets fun, so many choices that will work great, like being a kid in a candy store, nearly everthing is delicious you just have to pick what you like.