Foot-pounds never killed a deer. A .45 LC with a heavy bullet will certainly kill a deer cleanly at 30 yards with proper shot placement. Sure, there are better choices out there, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it if that was my only option. Load it up with a heavy lead or hollow-point bullet that is accurate, and you should do fine.

Given that ft-lbs are the product of velocity and mass, it's the only thing that kills.....hopefully we place them right and use a projectile that behaves the way we like under the stress of those ft-lbs.

Many states have taken to defining their firearms requirements by ft-lbs as it's the best they know how. In all fairness, it's not at all bad....You really should take your arguement up with the state's DNR departments.....your posting it here clearly marks you as a rookie.

..........Gee You ought to be ashamed of yourself.... I guess you were never a rookie yourself, huh? The guy came on here asking a question and seeking information to it. Now you go about trying to embarass him. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. After all... a big-time know-it-all super duper gunman such as you calling a new poster a "rookie". Way to go........

When a guy makes a statement like this:

He should expect some flak.....

Why does it seem no one here is concerned about hunting legally?

I am not posting to join in the keyboard battle, but does anyone here know what the law is for a legal load in SC? The OP did not indicate otherwise, so I am assuming that he will hunt in his home state of SC for small bodied whitetails.

Yes, I tried to check and while it's not totally clear it does seem the standard .45 Colt is legal in SC.....BTW it's also legal in some other states such as Wisconsin where "any centerfire" is considered legal... However I did hear recently they banned .17 calibers.

Well, excuse me. I have never hunting in a state that has a minimum foot-pound requirement for hunting. I actually did not know that there was such thing, so I stand corrected.

Every state that I have hunted in (granted, only 3) has a minimum caliber requirement, not foot-lbs. For example, in the state I hunt in the most (Ohio), the .45 Long Colt is a legal handgun caliber.

As for foot-pounds, I stand by my original statement- foot-pounds do not kill deer. Have you ever bow-hunted? I have done plenty of bow-hunting, and I don't know how many foot-pounds of KE an arrow possesses, but it's not much. An arrow kills by direct tissue damage and blood loss. As long as there is enough kinetic energy for the arrow to fully penetrate the deer, it is enough to kill it.

A bullet kills also by direct tissue damage, as well as through hydrostatic shock. Now, foot-pounds are a great way to measure how much hydrostatic shock, I'll give you that. But large, slow-moving bullets (i.e. many handguns, some muzzleloder & shotgun loadings) do not cause much hydrostatic shock because the bullet simply is not traveling fast enough. Therefore, these bullets (i.e. a .45 cal 250 grain bullet) moving at a relatively slow velocity kill mostly by direct tissue damage. My argument was that foot-pounds are not a good way to measure this type of bullet. What is more important is how much the bullet expands, what kind of wound channel it creates, and if it penetrates far enough to reach the vitals.

A big, slow-moving bullet may not kill as quickly or spectacularly as a fast-moving one, but it still can get the job done.

And you're just as wrong now as you were then!

Would you be so kind to explain how I am wrong?

Especially with my example of an arrow that kills quite well despite having, oh maybe 40 or 50 foot-pounds of energy? I'm just interested in where your reasoning is here....

Ft-lbs are the only thing that kills.....if there are no ft-lbs then there is no work done.....there either is no velocity or no mass....(weight).....

There must be ft-lbs of energy....the key is where is it applied and what does it effect.....to say that ft-lbs don't kill deer is blatantly wrong.....now how many ft-lbs does it take?......let see

Most ethical hunters when asked about the minimum for deer will say 1,000 ft-lbs.....(we're talking firearms here)....If you read my posts I specifically and intentionally pointed out two examples where far less than 1,000 ft-lbs killed deer.....and nice ones too.....both were eight pointers! These cartridges are not legal in many states for valid reason.....they just aren't good hunting cartridges!...period.....If someone killed a deer with a .25 ACP does that make it a "hunting cartridge?.....

We owe it to the game we hunt and the sport of hunting to do so ethically.....and legally....and use a sufficient amount of force to effect a humane kill.....

A few years ago I killed a nice 10-point whitetail (using a .257 Roberts) and removed a broadhead from it's front shoulder.....don't tell me about bow hunting.....I only wish more bow hunters took more care in their hunting.....BTW, that's the second arrowhead I've removed from deer later in the season.....

It boils down to this.....it takes a certain amount of ft-lbs of energy to effect a humane kill....often the state's laws specify a minimum.....and some states do not.....but again....ask ethical firearms hunters and the number 1,000 ft-lbs (yes...a nice round number) comes up repeatedly.....is this the magic threshhold?....of course not.....but it certainly IMO is more than 500.....and that's where we are with the factory loaded .45 Colt. and quite a few other cartridges.

For the record.....You're darn right he can kill a deer with a .45 Colt at 30 yards....but there's a far greater chance that someone else will remove that bullet from a wounded deer a week later.....someone using a real gun!