Talked to Powerbelt, and they told me the HP's have more rapid expansion than the aerotips. And I certainly don't want more rapid expansion.
That's good info on the Hp vs Areotip. It's odd that every other bullet maker uses a tip to promote expansion but CVA is the opposite.
I've never figured out your hang up on expansion, but to each their own. If a bullet stays together and expands you have larger blood trails, which is why I shoot good bullets. I much prefer that to a non expanding hole in and hole out bullet.
The worst blood trails I've ever had were from the old .50 maxi ball bullets that were going slow enough to not expanded. The nose of a bullet plays a bigger role on the damage than the diameter of the bullet, which is why a wide flat nose bullet carves a hole and a round nose bullet doesn't do much damage.
Marshall Stanton had a great article on nose profile and wound channels from handguns.
Set up some 1 gallon jugs of water and shoot each with a HP and an aerotip. At muzzleloader velocities I'd be surprised if there was any difference because they're going so slow.
I kill most of my deer from 0-50yds in thickets, give me an expanding .44 or .45 cal bullet that retains weight over a non expanding .50 cal bullet 100% of the time.
The difference in diameter from a .45 cal to a .50 cal is about the thickness of your thumbnail, if that's the determining factor in having a good blood trail or not there are bigger issues at play.
There is the entrance on a deer this year from a .429" 270gr Speer Gold Dot over 65grs by weight of BH209. The exit doesn't look much different. For the 20yds she made it the blood trail was heavy. A .50 cal bullet wouldn't have made a lick of difference.
By using a lighter and stronger bullet I get extra velocity and extra velocity creates more tissue damage Which makes more blood to leak.
Im going to the .429" 225gr Barnes next year I think.