eldeguello

Generally speaking if you have two bullets of different diameters but of identical construction, identical sectional density and ballistic coefficient, if you launch them at the same MV, they will both penetrate the same amount in a given target medium, whether it is a piece of steel armor or an animal. This is true regardless of the actual weight of the two bullets. However, a larger bullet may be tougher, and tend to be distorted to a lesser degree than a lighter projectile just because there is more material in the bigger bullet. Under these circumstances, the bigger bullet will go deeper. However, I suppose one could argue that in this case, the bullets are not of identical construction.

If the two bullets mentioned are travelling fast enough, there will be little difference in the wound channels they produce in a game animal, so if they both penerate the same amount, the effectiveness of one vs the other on a game animal will not be too different either. Now all this is altered significantly if the bullets are of expanding type, in which case the design and construction of the bullet has a major impact on how deep it goes, regardless of velocity and sectional density!

Back in 1968, I had the opportunity to discuss wound ballistics with a couple of surgeons at a treatment facitlity in Vietnam.They told me that it was NOT POSSIBLE to tell what kind ofHV rifle bullet made a given wound based on the appearance of the wound-that a 5.56mm, a 7.62X39mm, a 7.62X51 NATO, a 7.62X54R, and the .30/'06 all made wound channels in people which were pretty much the same. And these guys saw a lot of such wounds. ALL made small entrance wounds, and the diameter of the wound channel increased on the inside, but the size of this channel was more dependent on how much velocity the bullet still had after hitting-in other words, the greater the range, the smaller the wound channel. BTW, a full-jacket bullet can make one horrible wound channel at close range, even if it does not keyhole!