I've been going through the same thing with my .222 Remington, which is much more forgiving than the .22-250. I have given up completely on ballistic tips. They are great with a shot that is square to the animal, but make it the slightest "graze" upon entry, and it explodes. This season I have gone with soft points, in 55 grain. I have exit wounds, but they're not that bad, which tells me that it is a little more penetration than I need. My next step is to try a 50 soft point that is tough enough to get past the surface, but might expend it's energy in the animal.
Some bullets are harder than others. Last season, I tried Winchester factories in 55 grain, and got NO penetration. Surface bombs! The worst. This tells me that you can't generalize. Even though the two types of ammo were both 55 gr. soft points, the difference was extreme. Incidentally, the comparison is a factory Remington cartridge. So the Rem. goes all the way through, the Win. goes nowhere.
I'm trying for a bullet/load that will keep holes at an inch or less, the majority of the time.
Hope this helps. I'm sure there are members on here who have more experience with this issue than I. Good luck with it.
