Just my experience... I have shot several deer and a few hogs with my .280. All with the exception of one were shot with Winchester Supreme 140 grain Ballistic Silvertips with a published speed of 3050fps. I have never chronied my rifle, but I suspect my muzzle velocity is a bit less since my rifle has a Boss on the tip which shortens the barrel length a bit. All were one shot kills. Interestingly, the one that ran the furthest was a fat doe that I shot with factory, regular ole' green box Remington 140 grain Core-loct. She was quartering away and the bullet entered a bit high right behind the last rib and lodged in her offside front shoulder blade. Some would say this is close to perfect bullet performance with all of the bullet's energy being expended inside the deer's vitals, but all the same, she ran close to 200 yards. The rest that were shot with the BT's dropped within 30 yards of where I shot them, with all bullets exiting, with a couple of shots approaching 300 yards. So technically, I have not had a bullet failure either way, but, this experience tells me that in my case, the ballistic tips are much more effective at bringing a deer down quickly. Quite devastating. The bottom line though, the end results in both bullets have been dead deer. Think about it this way though... If you had the choice of being shot by a well placed shot through the vitals by a regular plain Jane bullet or a premium bullet, which would you choose? I think I would choose quick death over the alternative, even if it did mean just a few seconds difference. Shoot me with the Ballistic Tip. :-D