[ranger45]

It used to thought that lighter bullet would expand better/more reliably especially when fired out of a short barreled gun. Heavier bullets often would not open up because they were not moving fast enough. But with newer more modern bullet designs, it seems that bullet conctruction may be at least as if not more important whan weight when it it comes to expansion/ and penetration. This test has some pretty cool pics, etc.

Do a test like this...

Water Jug Tests

He tests everything from 100gr to the 147gr Federal HST, I would assume the water jugs are substitutes for gelatin and 2 of them match the density of going through a body (I have nothing to back this up).

Here's one of the images

Look at #7 - it's that 147gr and it's purdy, but there are a few that flower out nice and big that aren't 147gr (like 3,5,6,11). But read the test it's pretty interesting.