The most important things are often ignored in human kills of animals, human judgment and skill. Human judgment and skill includes shot placement, bullet selection, the gun cartridge, accuracy of the gun, and target practice. Many try to place the blame on the gun or the bullet, while they are the ones that picked it or sighted it in (or not).
The problems with most killing formulas are that they oversimplified the situation. The following is just what I think and can be picked apart. So do not take this as a personal assult, it is just me on a soap box. More is unknown than known. Shot placement trumps it all. Some pistol experts focus mostly on Meplat (frontal area of the bullet) and feel that velocity has minimal effect. Rifle formulas are mostly in the reverse. Many do figure in velocity in penetration, at least. But, I have seen none that figure in hydro shock. Time of energy transfer does also have an effect; you can see that in boxing and felt recoil. Many rifle killing formulas break down to a constant times Bullet gr squared times Velocity squared. To include bullet frontal area one must add in on not multiply it, especially with Sectional Density as frontal area cancels out the diam. squared part in SD. So many killing formulas are basically the same without anyone knowing it and frontal area of the bullet is seldom is considered. I do not know of any formulas that deal with bullet expansion or weight retention. This varies a lot with design and quality of the bullet. Yes the bullet has major impact. Many are starting to figure in physical size and toughness. Some also note the mental state of the animal, and when the bullet strikes (if heart is a rest or increasing blood pressure so that a bullet shock causes a fatal spike in blood pressure – then animal drops in its tracks), and many other variables that are nearly impossible figure in. So do the math and see what your favorite formula boils down to as the wool may have been pulled over you eyes. I can show some of the math. I did it once and misplaced it. I was making up a killing formula that included an area and penetration component that made an attempt at figuring bullet expansion. Bullet frontal area, expansion (or not) and weight retention does directly effect penetration and the wound channel. There is a relationship with frontal area and penetration, if one increases the other must decrease. The wound seems to be more of a combination of me plat, velocity, and penetration (excess or insufficient) than any one factor. Plus the energy of the bullet remaining once it exits is lost. There is a major exception to this: there is a value to having entrance and exit wounds. Some of the excess energy has a function, plus it can be an insurance policy.
Still, the most important things are often ignored - the person shooting the gunl. Human judgment and skill includes shot placement, bullet seection, the gun cartridge, accuracy of the gun used, and target practice. Many try to place the blame on the gun or the bullet, while they are the ones that picked it or who sighted it in (or not).
The problems with most killing formulas are that they oversimplified the situation. The following is just what I think and can be picked apart. So do not take this as a personal assult, it is just me on a soap box. More is unknown than known. Shot placement trumps it all. Some pistol experts focus mostly on Meplat (frontal area of the bullet) and feel that velocity has minimal effect. Rifle formulas are mostly in the reverse. Many do figure in velocity in penetration, at least. But, I have seen none that figure in hydro shock. Time of energy transfer does also have an effect; you can see that in boxing and felt recoil. Many rifle killing formulas break down to a constant times Bullet gr squared times Velocity squared. To include bullet frontal area one must add in on not multiply it, especially with Sectional Density as frontal area cancels out the diam. squared part in SD. So many killing formulas are basically the same without anyone knowing it and frontal area of the bullet is seldom is considered. I do not know of any formulas that deal with bullet expansion or weight retention. This varies a lot with design and quality of the bullet. Yes the bullet has major impact. Many are starting to figure in physical size and toughness. Some also note the mental state of the animal, and when the bullet strikes (if heart is a rest or increasing blood pressure so that a bullet shock causes a fatal spike in blood pressure – then animal drops in its tracks), and many other variables that are nearly impossible figure in. So do the math and see what your favorite formula boils down to as the wool may have been pulled over you eyes. I can show some of the math. I did it once and misplaced it. I was making up a killing formula that included an area and penetration component that made an attempt at figuring bullet expansion. Bullet frontal area, expansion (or not) and weight retention does directly effect penetration and the wound channel. There is a relationship with frontal area and penetration, if one increases the other must decrease. The wound seems to be more of a combination of me plat, velocity, and penetration (excess or insufficient) than any one factor. Plus the energy of the bullet remaining once it exits is lost. There is a major exception to this: there is a value to having entrance and exit wounds. Some of the excess energy has a function, plus it can be an insurance policy.
Still, the most important things are often ignored - the person shooting the gunl. Human judgment and skill includes shot placement, bullet seection, the gun cartridge, accuracy of the gun used, and target practice. Many try to place the blame on the gun or the bullet, while they are the ones that picked it or who sighted it in (or not).
