I tried the 270g Deep curl, out of a 5 shot group with 3 different charge weights and 2 different powders, total of 6 groups, I could 3 or 4 in 1 1/2 then the fliers would leave you thinking Ray Charles was doing the shooting. I did not have enough bullets to do further testing and they appear to be unobtanium at the moment.
I bought a 1000 count box for .44 Special loads so I had them on hand. Research showed several people having great success with the 200g. They stack in one ragged hole out of my rifle and aren't bad out of my revolvers. I am considering in going up on bullet weight. I shoot the 300g XTP out of my muzzle loader, I just don't have many on hand.
I didn't have a chronograph when I loaded these and wonder if I was driving them too fast. Then I got to worrying that if I didn't drive them fast enough, I wouldn't get good penetration. I'm using W296 and max charge is 28.7, starting is 25.8. I'm dropping 28 grains so I have some room to back it down.
Yes the bullet on game preformed as expected. Both deer didn't go very far and had good blood trails. I rib shot both of them because I hate to ruin meat and always expect a trailing job.
The bullet I recovered came from a 7 point that weighed 170ish pounds, shot just behind the shoulder at 55 yards. It shattered ribs on both sides. The bullet was found just barely sticking out of the skin.
Actual bullet performance was good if not great. Comparing to gel test bullets (the chopping block does a 200xtp into real gel), expansion is average. Penetration was good and it only lost 6.65% of its weight so its not that splodey.
I feel that any bullet that is designed to expand has to use lead soft enough to do so and in turn it is soft enough to lose fragments when it hit bone and dense tissue. Even the 300 grain bullets at muzzle loader velocities that I have recovered (2) did not retain 100 precent of their weight.