A well sharpened broadhead at 400 fps had little energy but is an effective killer.
ORIGINAL: Semisane
Of course that's only part of the equation. A 200 grain solid steel 30 caliber spitzer at 1900 fps has tons of energy but would not be an effective deer killer. A well sharpened broadhead at 400 fps had little energy but is an effective killer.
400FPS? I don't think any bows are shooting this fast. Hunting bows shooting 300 fps are incredible. I know my bow set up for target shooting will sling them around 325-330 FPS. My heavier hunting arrows shoot 281 FPS with right around 80 ft.lbs. of K.E. 80 K.E. on a bow is very good for this day and age. I'm sure recurves and long bows are much lower than my high end bow and they kill deer too.
I'm not sure where the 800 ft.lbs. came from but I'm sure they were referring to a bullet size or grain weight. Obviously a 450 grain(im guessing) .54 cal. round ball hits pretty hard. Compared to a rifle projectile. If you shoot a 130 grain .270 bullet with 600 ft.lbs. of K.E. it probably won't be a killer like the .54 cal. PRB.