OK so I admit I am easily entertained, but tonight I was going to pose a question to everyone about why do we always talk accuracy before Terminal Performance. In my tiny world I think I am doing the opposite... I know, well I think I know, that from any of my given ML's the SST's, SW, FTX (and especially the FTX) may the most accurate hunting bullet I can shoot. But me being me I go the other direction first - I am looking for the bullet with the best Terminal Performance then look for accuracy. As I have said many times I am not shooting the most accurate, I am shooting the deadliest accurate bullet I can.

With all that said i was doing some internet searching and some how got track on something called the 'Taylor Knock Out Factor.' many of you may have already heard about it and I think I remember the concept but never really looked at it...

So lets start here... before the ML bug bit me I shot a Winchester 300 Win Mag. My favorite bullet and elk killer was a .308/200 grain Nosler Partition Semi Round Nose. I would load with 72.8 grains of IMR-7828 - for a velocity of 2900 fps.

With this information I can calculate the TKOF...

So here is some info for you number people... Again this @ the muzzle... addition ballistic information is needed to compute the TKOF @ different ranges and that is where the bullet BC plays a big role. But since I am into ML's - 200 yards is my max so BC id a factor but not the huge factor it is in the longer range shooting.

Anyway...

Using the information listed above you should find this...
300 Win Mag = TKOF of 25.52

My elk gun for this year is a Knight 52 cal shooting a .458/300 grain Lehigh @ 1900 fps...
52 cal Knight = TKOF of 37.29

My whitetail gun will be a 45 cal Knight shooting a .40/200 grain Lehigh @ 2200fps
45 cal Knight = TKOF of 25.14

Interesting stuff - huh? Actually kinda eye opening @ the muzzle.

It is late and I do not have all the numbers I need to compute the TKOF @ various ranges, but I will spend some time at that when can - but with elk season starting on Sunday - it might be awhile. You know that 300 is going to win this thing but at what point?

Here is a summary of what I found

(Equation 1)

TKOF = Mbullet * Vbullet * Dbullet
7000





Where

• mBullet is the bullet mass in grains (1 pound = 7000 grains)
• vBullet is the bullet velocity in feet per second
• dBullet is the bullet diameter in inches

If the international standard units of grams, millimeters, and meters per second are substituted, the divisor can be changed from 7000 to 3500 to give approximately the same resulting TKOF.
http://www.reloadammo.com/tkofactor2.htm

This formula is biased towards the bigger and heavier bullets, but that's what he wanted to have a scale to Knock Out big game. Plug in some light 30-06 loads and compare to some 500 S&W loads with a very heavy bullet for comparisons. Example: A 30 caliber 150 grain bullet moving at 3,000 fps = 19.3, while a 50 caliber, 630 grain bullet moving at 1300 fps = 58.5 a huge difference, but for Taylor, he felt that's what would take down big game best. If you want to save your data, print this page after you make a calculation.

very interesting stuff there. I am surprised at some of the numbers at the muzzle mind you, when I ran some of my roundball loads.

Good luck elk hunting. Break that .52 caliber in right. I expect pictures and a good story (even if you have to stretch it a little).

Sabotloader, I've always believed Taylor's philosophy and his TKO formula have a lot of merit. Given a properly constructed bullet, it's all you need to know about killing game.

It's all a load o' ****.

that's more or less what I've heard about it too, but I don't really know for sure.

It explains the success people have shooting heavy conicals at low velocities.

Not a load of **** in my book. I use it exclusively to compare different muzzleloading loads.

It makes a lot more sense than ft/lbs when you are looking at big/slow bullets.

Both of them: ft/lbs and Taylor are nothing more than mathmatical formulas. They don't really "mean" anything. They are just a way to compare two cartridges. However, since it squares the velocity, when you use ft/lbs to compare a 350 gr slow moving bullet from a muzzy to a 150 gr fast moving bullet from a 30-06, the '06 looks good and it makes the muzzy look bad. However, we know that a 350 muzzy bullet will knock the snot out of big game. Using the Taylor makes it easier to compare those types of bullets.

Here is another link that talks about it and where he think minimums are for different game:'
http://www.loadammo.com/Topics/July02.htm

I'd worry more about good bullets operating at their effective speeds and less about energy.

There is more than one view point. Some worry most about accuracy some about bullet capability, if you do a miscomboble the better bullet helps but if you precisely place a shot any decent bullet will do the job. If you have both the precise accuracy and the most appropriate bullet [this changes with different animals and ranges ] then you get the best results. I believe that to many hunters do not know the spot to hit for an instant kill.
So when all is said and done the accuracy, bullet capability and hunter knowledge and capability all play an equally important part in doing the job well and right.