Ben, for some reason it seems I remember that you HP'ed your 315. If so did you ever hunt with it?
Yes, my friend killed an 8 pt with the bullet at 80 yards.
The HP pin was far too long. Here is a photo of the # 315 and the " Long " hp pin. Buckshot did the work on this one. In his defense, he made the HP pin the length that I requested. This was back when I thought " more is better ".
Actual field testing on white tail deer proved to me that this concept of long deep HP pins is a recipe for a ruined hunt.
After nearly loosing 2 deer because of bullet blow up, I shoterned the pin.
This is a poor illustration of the HP pin length now. Works much better now and I always get a good exit hole on deer.
When my friend shot his 8 point , the bullet exploded inside the deer ( no exit hole ) , 1/2 mile later with a lot of good tracking skills, he found the deer. At this point in time, I knew then that the HP pin was far too long , making the bullet basically a " flying bomb ".
I shortened the pin and the bullet has worked much better.
The nose dia. ( meplat ) of the # 315 is fairly small anyway.
If the HP pin is large in dia. and fairly deep ( more than 20% the length of the bullet ) , you've got a good recipe for a bullet blow up.
My HP pin length is now about optimum, in my opinion.
Everything works better with the bullet now.
Ben