I'm starting to think this whole field of ammo/bullet effectiveness is just one big collection of guess work -- with no information that even approaches the level of fact.

Every single piece of analysis has been debunked multiple times, and then the "debunkers" are themselves debunked.

From now on, I think I'll just rely on common sense:

Bigger holes are more effective than smaller holes.

A hole that goes deeper is more effective than one that is shallower.

Once a bullet passes clear through a target, any energy/velocity it has has no more effect on that target and it just becomes a danger to bystanders.

My field is computer engineering and if we understood computing and computer design as poorly as ballistics is understood, then we would still be using abacuses.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everyone's efforts to answer my questions.