ORIGINAL: lemoyne
cayugad
Dave, back in the early 1970's National Muzzle Loading had a group testing a number of ballistic items that were going to be put in there manuel, one of those was the minimum energy that would efficiently take whitetail deer.
What they came up with is 800ft pounds. I personally believe that there are other things that enter into it as I have stretched my 54 beyond that point and still drop them on the spot. hitting the right spot is in my opinion the most critical thing. Lee
A .22 and a recurveare intended to kill in very different ways, so it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. A broadhead simply needs enough energy to cut a satifactory wound path and bleed the animal out or deflate the lungs. A bullet is SUPPOSED to cause trauma through energy transfer although itCAN function like a broadhead and just rely on the actual wound channel -- but it is not designed for than and therefore relatively inefficient at that.
I too have taken several deer with shots below the 800 fl-lb mark and dropped them on the spot. Honestly I think that number is high if you do your part with shot placement. In fact I've seen evidence that a 200SW still expands below 800 ft-lb.
I've finisheda coupledeer with a.40 SW Glock and an 1858 Remington replical cap and ball revolver. Both have muzzle energy "too low" to take deer.WhatI saw was full penetration but almost no trauma -- and dead deer.
Shot placement is #1. Extra kinetic energy is really going to help you if you screw up the shot though. I am currently working on the 325gr FTX as a way tokeepa similar trajectory to what the 200SW already provides while doubling kinetic energy and extended ranges and reducing wind drift (ie improved shot placement).