RE: knockdown power... fact or myth?
Great point mello. I agree with all you say.
As a kid that was a little creative I decided to create a new load for my 12 ga. I poured wax in a 3 ¾ dram birdshot. When fired it knocked me down literally. I will bet that if you had been walking parallel to me and I had hit you unsuspectingly in your shoulder with that full load of birdshot it would knock you off of your feet. Not just the power of the shot, but the balance of hitting you high on your body, and the rate at which energy was transferred into your body.
In this thread I don’t read anything about the curve of how quickly or slowly the energy of the bullet is dissipated into the target. Powder burn rate and the acceleration of a bullet do affect felt recoil, if you can expend total energy over a longer time it acts like a push more than a punch.
Stand straight up put a shotgun or rifle of power without a recoil pad on the outside of your ribs, or on the side of your head. Pull the trigger, if this does not knock you down or stumble you I will be quite surprised.My point is that the recoil of the gunIS an indication of what I would call knockdown power. If the recoil of a gun stockwere directed on an animal atcertain angles or in certain situationsit would knock it over, then assume that the bullet decelerates faster than it accelerated the felt effect would be even greater.
[ol][/ol]
Though getting tired of this thread, I will do a test I think should prove something gonna ask someone who has been shot what the experience was like. I got a buddy that is a very large man, he was shot in the shoulder with a 357, see what his idea of knockdown power is.