ORIGINAL: harter66
So here goes I do alot of reading and alot of reflecting on that reading .
The question of "degrees of dead" . Do I or You "need "a bullet load that will shoot through at double dia.with 100% retintion ,or is the game just as dead by a 125% dia. 50% retintion lodged in the cavity bullet . IG. A .50cal patchball is going to stay inside deer elk whathave you at 75% of nominal range (80 yds in muley's) and be egg shaped .
A .30 cal can be 2x keep 96% and pass through (Have seen 350yds on muleys) .
Lets say 1000 ft lbs at entry impact and disregard dia cartrige and range.
Lets also rember millions of deer were killed with less than 200 ft lbs buffalo too.
Is muley "A" any deader than "B" ?
Do you need to shoot through?
Not only do you not "need" to shoot through, it's often detrimental.
Anyone with any shred of common sense or high school physics will realize that the entire concept of bullet (or any other projectile) design is based on delivering lethal energy to a target.
In order for a bullet to transfer all of it's energy into a target, it must remain in the target.
Hence the striving for a bullet that expands and holds together yet doesn't over penetrate.
Larger surface area (expansion)+retention of mass= more efficient transfer of energy to target = bullet expends energy inside target faster and more completely = more lethal bullet with the added benefit of the largest wound profile possible.
A bullet that passes through is not doing it's job and is in fact wasting energy that would be much better served being expended within the animal rather thanbeing used to propel the bullet through the air.
It's the equivalent of punching a kniting needle through an egg, or smashing it on the counter.
We want lethal energy to "anchor" the animal whenever possible. This becomes exceedingly difficult to do when our bullets are passing through punching pencil sized holes and expending their energy into the ground on the other side.
A suprising number of people will argue against this. They'd also have you believe the Earth is flat.......