Not necessarily bogus.

Any time the question is asked, the answer MUST explain the medium and bullet speed.

Many handgun bullets penetrate very deeply in various media, though they start slow and may not be very effective or at least certainly not as effective as big bore rifles on game.

Steel plate penetration is another issue. Many high speed bullets are steel cutters but might be very poor choices for use on big game. And within the category of steel plate, the alloy and heat treatment of the steel causes variability of test results as well! The ballistics experts have a term for this that I forget.

That is why I use the media that I do for my tests. Though the media I use does not "duplicate" an animal, it does seem to effect bullets similarly to what game tissue and bone does. Thus, in my experience my media allows comparisons to be made between bullets. Those comparisons seem to run true to what the bullets will do in game, NOT the depth necessarily of penetration, but the comparison between bullets seems valid.

And yes, paper wadding, dry phone books, etc, can have VERY different results on bullets than game tissue.