Touché Rocky!!
Very wise, as I said, yours and the other's advise were sound choices.
I guess I like to live on the "daring side", if you will.
I try to find the best shooting bullet, for the purpose I plan to use it for. You, yourself know that means shooting at distances beyond the
normal hunter. It would make only sense that match bullets would be my bullet of choice to acheive the accuracy I would need.
There are cases that I choose more of a "game" bullet when wanting to take shots under 100 yards. Here in PA, it's almost like a free-for-all, and on the first day of season (if you're not hunting on private land) you'll see Blaze orange every hundred yards. In that instance you need a bullet that will do the job, and do it quick! If your deer gets to the next guy, well it's more than likely over at that point.
Over the many big game animals I've shot, however I've found only three bullets to "Fail", by my standards. Fail meaning the deer or other animal ran more than I wanted it too (be it 50,75, 100 yards)
1. Handloaded -150 gr Speer Grand Slam out of a .308.
2. Factory - 250 gr Rem Core Lock from .338
3. Factory - 230 Gr Fed. "Fail Safe" or "Black Talons" from .338 for you history buffs
Number's 1 & 2 both took whitetails and I believe were too beefy of a bullet for the animals I shot. Both bullets acted more like a FMJ than a game bullet. Wrong bullet/animal combination there.
Number 3, I'm assuming the same scenario. I shot a nice 4x4 Mulie in Eastern Montana around 350 yards. This buck had to be close to 250-300#'s on the hoof, but it still ran 100 yards. I didn't recover the bullet and I'm thinking the "Black Talon" was more like shooting a FMJ and didn't open up enough.
In the end, all 3 were dead. They ran further than expected b/c of poor bullet/animal combination choice. SO what did that test prove?? Nothing, just that I didn't like the fact that the animals ran so far when using those bullets. Not that they didn't kill a deer,b/c each one did but not to MY standards. If anything, I see the match bullet about tear a deer in half verses not performing.
Some people may like to keep a little meat, so I'd say if that was the case then stay away from match bullets. They seem to be highly explosive. But come on, something that punches a fist size hole in a deer won't kill it?? I think not!! ha ha.
By the way, just for the record... I shoot 165 gr Nosler Balistic Tips out of my .308 which are considered "Game Bullets". Other than Harnady A-Max's having a higher BC, I would consider the A-max and the Nosler BT to be one in the same bullet. One company calls it a match, the other calls it a game bullet. BOTH rip a fist size hole in a deer.
It probably all comes down to one word.... "Marketing"