Burnston - I have never had to shoot a steer, but after reading your account, I don't think it was so much a cartridge / bullet failure as it was a bullet placement failure.

To expect to drop any worked up 1000 lbs plus animal in its tracks with a handgun and a body shot is unrealistic. I am going to guess, the same as the mythical "best bear load" discussions we see here all the time, that bullet placement in the brain / spine is key for fast stop on an animal for which handgun levels of foot pounds of energy on target means little or nothing.

Larry