Again, you missed my point. A 30 cal. ball round that overpenetrates is not delivering it's full punch.. the energy is going THROUGH the target and out to whatever it hits beyond the target. The wound channel on a .40 S&W hollowpoint is devastating and while the .40 S&W has less muzzle velocity and less mass, it is the wound channel and delivering ALL of the potential energy (that energy that is LOST when a round exits) that is key here.

I know many people cannot wrap their minds around the physics of real-world wound ballistics, particularly hunters that tend to think "bigger is always better." The fact is, if you have never seen the results of a .40 S&W on a flesh target, you don't really know what it will do. It is easy to jump to conclusions and fall back on "common knowledge" but basic physics will trump you every time.

The fact is, the .308 is a great round. One I would not hesitate to use at long distances. But, a .40 is truly designed to kill and is more than adequate for hogs at under 80 yards. Granted, most of my kills have been within 20 or 30 yards, but that is because of the terrain I am hunting in. At that range, a .308 tends to overpenetrate and (in my experience) maims large game unless the shot is accurately places in a vital area, partially because it is not delivering it's full potential punch and partially because the wound channel does not have time to develop due to bullet speed. The much larger wound channel created by the slower .40 hollowpoint makes more "close" shots lethal and reduces tracking or maiming.

If you can't understand that, you can continue killing mosquitoes with a nail gun and write me off as the crackpot.