I switched to the 140xlc in my 7-08AI a few years ago after a #@!* BST blew up on contact and didnt penetrate. I used the xlc for both rib cage shots(meat animals) and center of the shoulder shots(trophy room decorations) with minimal meat loss. Have never had to track a single whitetail shot with that combination. Shots have varied on both accounts from real close to real far. The worst damage an xlc did to a deer was a silver dollar sized exit hole on the opposite shoulder. That shot was ~100yds with center shoulder impact. Most of the meat from both shoulders was still good and the lungs and heart were mush. I took my first buck this evening with my new 280AI loaded with a nosler AB. It tore up a shoulder but wasnt as explosive as a NBT would have been. Bullet did exit. Guess they will do for now till I get around to working up an X bullet load. I drive my bullets fast...3100+. So I stay with the premiums. As I stated earlier, Sierra makes a very accurate bullet. I just choose not to risk them on game animals.

Like vapodog says, they're about as good as any for deer-sized game. Generally speaking, a conventional (cup-and-core) boattail bullet tends to shed its jacket and loose its core a little more readily than a conventional flat base bullet, due to the interior reverse taper of the jacket near the base. Because of this, I would tend to use the flat based Sierra rather than the boattail, but you're not likely to notice much difference anyway.

Contrary to some, I have found either bullet about equal in accuracy potential. This is not to say that one style won't outdo the other in a particular rifle/load, but as far as I'm concerned, it's as likely to be the flat as the boattail that shoots best in a given rifle. The ballistic advantage of the boattail is so little as to be disregarded under hunting conditions.

The largest whitetail any of our hunting group has ever killed was with a 6mm/100 Sierra BTSP out of a .243 at about 3000 fps at 60 yards. One shot, straight on just above the brisket; deer dropped on the spot. Oh yeah, I loaded the round and my son (who was 12 at the time) made the shot after a half mile stalk.

280,

My brother killed a nice 8 point this season using a Barnes TSX out of his 300 Win Mag. It has a 26" barrel and velocity was near 3,300 fps. the shot was about 50 yds and he shot through both shoulders. The onside shoulder was completely ruined and we tossed the whole thing. The offside shoulder had a lot of damage and we lost quite a bit of meat on that shoulder as well. Point is that the Barnes can also ruin a shoulder.