As a rule of thumb, how much energy do you want, to adaquately kill whitetails. I've heard this talked about before, but I can't remember the figures. I know that bullet design plays a big part also. Well thanks for any help.

Hi voz,

I'm not certain that I trust my memory....but I believe I remember reading (mostly in the past) that energy between 900-1200 ft lbs. was considered a "minimum rule of thumb"....on target. You hear this much less than you use to. And I would venture a guess that an increase in "handgun hunting" had something to do with that. Why? Because many of the handguns that have proven their effectiveness on whitetails.....do NOT meet the "earlier accepted minimum figures". Which of course leads one to induce that kinetic energy as measured by ft lbs. does not adequately "answer the question".

What I find to be increasingly ironic about the entire issue is this. While today it is commonly accepted that handguns such as the .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .45 Colt (with proper loads), and even by some.....the .357 Magnum are adequate for the task of cleanly harvasting whitetails. (And a handful of others....some more powerful, and one or two.....not as powerful.) There seems to be a trend towards more, and more, powerful rifle cartridges in the same woods......after those same whitetails! Instead of the .30-30's, .32 Specials, and .35 Remington's ruling the roost......more and more hunters are turning to "magnums"....as in "mega-magnums".

So now we have as commonly acceptable that the .45 Colt is an adequate deer round.....but somehow the .30-30 isn't. (And the same person that has no qualms about using that .45 Colt, or .41 Magnum, also retired their .30-30's and are now touting .300 Remington Ultra Magnums.

Go figure?!?

Most folks will tell you that for whitetails you need a minimum of 1000 foot pounds at impact. This is simply not true. A whitetail deer is not very dificult to kill. It has light skin and small bones. IMHO whitetail deer only require about four or five hundred foot pounds at impact with a bullet of proper weight and construction.

You could have all of the KE you would ever want but all of that energy is wasted with the wrong bullet. Proper bullet selection for the intended purpose is far more important that the KE figures.

Yep sometimes its hard too i agree I think you&BB are right i remember 1000 ft lbs of energy too i think.As a recomendation - seems high.

By the game& fish standards Here of 500 ft lbs at 100 yards too - is kinda low?
I think its all the same forALL big game too, from lill pronghorngoats, whitetails, mulies , elk , bears, moose , buffalo? 500kn? a 100 yards.

at 500/ at only100yds there wont be much left 200+yrds. Depends how /what yer hunting etc tho-

I could use a 30/30 barrel to for a contender& a nef single shot rifle too.
I need to get out& shoot more the ones i have lol

Winters suppose to be makin ammo time- suppose to be[&o] global warming too.

I believe our state laws call for 1000lb for a rifle and 500 lbs for a pistol. However pistol cartridges legal on thier own are legal in rifles as well. All of the rifles that I use for deer have well over 1500 lbs ME and I would only use a 357 Mag as a back-up or finshing touch gun. AK is correct though when you paste Magnum on the end of a gun, then it now has magical powers.

Perhaps this website might answer your question.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/game_range_caliber.htm

I'm a firm believer that 500ft.lbs. is the minimum theoretical energy that one should have upon impact-although I've seen a 9mm pistol (usually around 350ft.lbs. at the muzzle) take a deer at 45yrds-knocked it in the mud with one shot. Another thing that I'm also a firm believer in is bullet diameter and weight, with a .243, the biggest factor of energy is the speed, not the bullet weight, with a .45colt, the bullet does the work, because obviously it's not going that fast... kind of like getting whipped really hard with a hickory sprig-stings like hell but goes away after a bit-lightweight moving very fast, but if you barely get thumped with a 2x4, it's gonna leave a mark-heavy not moving too fast...With a .243, I'd certainly like at least 750ft.lbs. upon impact, if not 1000, whereas with a .45colt, 500ft.lbs. I KNOW will get'er done. That's the whole reason there aren't as many small bore hunting pistol cartridges around, compare the .30carbine to the .45acp, the .30carbine is considerably longer, and much faster than the .45acp, but I guarantee if you wanted a defensive pistol, you'd want a .45acp because of the big ol'bullets that carry a load of stopping power.

One other thing about comparing rifle cartridges to pistol cartridges, as far as ranges go, rifles usually carry way too much energy for their own good-what I mean by this is a .30-06 or a .300win mag can easily kill a deer at 1000yrds, but there are about 6 guys (non-military) in the world that could make that shot under hunting conditions...it's more powerful than you could ever shoot it accurately, rifle ranges are typically determined by accuracy, NOT energy...Pistol cartridges, on the other hand, get limited two fold, past a certain range, say 100yrds with a .44mag, it's getting VERY hard to hit the boiler room even with a glass, so that's a limiting factor, additionally, most pistol cartridges are getting pretty weak by this point, the .44mag is dipping to about 650-700ft.lbs. (in my loadings) at this point, so it's energy is also limiting it to that range...most .45colts I've shot lose accuracy AND energy at about 100yrds as well, .357's are about 25-45yrds shorter.

It was Townsend Whelan, the gun expert and writer, who first suggested the 1000 ft/lbs of energy to effectively kill deer.