Originally Posted by davewilson
Trickymissfit; What I'm trying to say is that if the bullet passes thru the animal your not getting full benifit of the round.
i'm going to respectfully disagree with this statement. check out what a 50 gr solid going in at 4k and out the other side at 3k does to an animal. when a bullet "zips" right through an animal, it causes a whole bunch more damage because it makes a bigger wound channel. assuming it mushrooms.
it's physics! It takes energy to move the bullet thru the air before impact, and as well after impact. You hit something out there, and it absorbs certain amounts of energy, but the bullet goes all the way thru; thus retaining certain amounts of energy to propell it even further. But if the bullet fails to exit the target it impacts; it then expends all retained energy (thru flight) into the object it hits. Most ballistic folks say it takes around 35% of the energy at the muzzel to propell the bullet, and and it will expend another 35% at impact with the rest carrying it on thru the flight. But if the bullet fails to exit, you then expend the remaining 65% into the target. I might add here that many folks say the number is closer to 40%, while others use a 33% for shorter ranges (300 yards or less). I think the 1/3 number is flawed as it violates one of the laws of physics. In this particular case the bullet struck two massive bone structures, which probably aborbed more energy than if it had been a lung shot. But it still probably 20 to 25% of the energy it had when it first impacted on exit. Probably about 1500 to 1600ft. lb. of expeneded energy.