JagMagMan

Thanks Paul, we seem to agree on this!
What the eyes see at the shot can be very deceptive. For instance, a few years back, I took a hurried shot at a nice buck the was about to step out of sight into a line of woods. At the shot, the buck flipped over forward. I knew for sure my buck was dead, just out of sight inside the woods. When I got there, i saw what caused him to look like he was hit hard! I had barely grazed him, not even drawing blood! The reason he flipped was that when he flexed at the shot, he was standing in some soft mud, he slipped and flipped while reacting to the shot! I had only scared him!
Shot placement is much more of a factor in what may appear to be "knock down" than anything else. Hitting heavy bone, or a high hit causes a loss of balance, rather than pure "knock down"!
Shooting an empty can is a good example of the "knock down" myth! Sometimes the can doesn't even fall over, you might even think that you missed, but you didn't. Fill it with water, and it will probably come apart, but its not actually knocked down!
Finally, if recoil knocked you down, you'd probably never shoot the gun again! If you did, you'd probably flinch so bad that the bullet would end up somewheres in the next county!