The world is full of therories some correct and some maybe not. Still others are unproven one way or the other. Many wonder why when two animals are hit and one goes down in its tracks and the other runs off a ways before it goes down. One Idea that I read a long report on suggests that many times, it depends on the position of the heart valve when the bullet hits. If the valve is open, the bullet and resulting shock may spur large quanities of blood through the system causing extensive brain damage. Part of thei test was performed on a large number of Cape buffalo during a culling project. The animals were studied after being killed and they found that this theory holds water pretty well.

Still another theory that might explain why lower velocity sometimes kills quicker, is something called bullet hang time. That is, the time that the bullet actually spends on or inside the target. I have read several articles on this subject as well. Out in the field, I have found that a well placed bullet from a 308 or 6.5x55 and others, will put game down every bit as quick as the bigger magnums. I have shot quite a number of animals with the 300 Win Mag as well as the 308, 30-06 and 30-40 krag. with simular hits, I have seen no difference in the terminal performance of simular weight and SD bullets based on increased velocity alone. I think that bullet placement, bullet constuction and then velocity in that order is what brings home the meat. Put a good bullet in the right place and velocity difference is not much of a factor. Bullet speed can make hitting a target a bit easier at long range but once that bullet gets there, its all placement and construction. This given that a caliber of sufficient size and power are used to start with. For deel elk and moose size critters, this would include a wide range of options.