nanney1 wrote:
If you can't always count on expansion in a self defense situation, shouldn't there be a consideration of using a larger bullet?
In my opinion, No.
It seems to me that too many shooters suffer from a certain distemper that causes them to believe that they must carry a gun firing a round so devastatingly powerful that if it hits the target on their pinky finger, the impact will snap their neck. I don't believe that such powerful cartridges are reasonable or prudent choices for the vast majority of amateur shooters.
A big, powerful round you can't hit anything with is effectively useless.
A big, powerful round that goes through the target and wounds of kills someone in the house across the street may, in the long run, turn out to have been a worse choice than a smaller round - or not shooting at all.
Power, penetration, energy transfer, recoil, controllability, wound ballistics, comfort are all factors that a shooter must bring into balance in choosing a weapon for self defense. Choosing an extreme of any factor will seldom result in an optimal outcome.