I'd happily use monos if they could give the performance I like which is:-
1. Same bullet for sporting rifle/LR practice and stalking for repeatable practice with the equipment I use in the field ie economical price and allowed (monos not allowed at Bisley)
2. Very good BC
3. Reliable expansion at longer range
4. Very good expansion at normal range
5. Penetration sufficient to exit on behind shoulder perfect broadside but not on quartering/shoulder shots ie sufficient but not excessive.
These attributes have served me very well over time. I really don't care what material gives me that performance, it just so happens monos don't (yet).
I reckoned that non-toxics likely wouldn't necessarily replicate the same combination of performance characteristics of a particular lead bullet, but that they had a different mix of advantages, and it was a rethink of my preferences rather than a matching of abilities and disadvantages which I went for.
Interestingly given your first point, I found that 110gr V_MAX POI is less than 1/4" higher on average to 110gr TTSX with the same load of N135. Certainly the groups overlap and both bullets average around 0.8" for 5 shot groups with me shooting my rifle. So inexpensive practice was quite easy to achieve.
I am surprised that you can achieve your number 5 requirement consistently at different ranges on different species with the same lead core bullet. I would have thought that a bullet that would meet those conditions on a red at 200m would just go straight through a roe at 40m.
Have you explored the RWS twin tin core fragmenting bullet to see how that would measure up to your specifications?
Alan
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