Sure...speed kills.Like Denton said, it gives us range.I'll add it also expands our bullets on impact.
So long as we still get the two things we need to kill BG animals cleanly and consistantly at any distance...penetration and expansion.
We don't have to do anything more complex than shoot a bunch of woodchucks with a common 22 rimfire;then do it again with a 220 Swift to see the effect of the extra velocity.
It still boils down to bullet construction, though;and impact velocity. Years ago we used to shoot a lot of woodchucks with Sierra 52 and 53 gr match bullets. Jackets were hard but brittle. Not intended for shooting animals.
Out to 300 yards or so results were dramatic...ghastly,jagged wounds and sometimes animals almost blown in two. But beyond that, as velocity drained the magic was gone. They often drilled through. Chucks got back to their holes and made tracks.We stopped using them. Common soft points killed better beyond 300 yards.
John "Pondoro" Taylor wrote years ago of the peculiar "shocking effect" of the 375 H&H,due to its high velocity (for those times).IIRC he noted it occurred at velocities of 2500-2600 fps and up.He was talking Cape Buffalo,and large game....not deer.
Complex subject. Impact velocity, shot placement,bullet construction and expansion characteristics,size of animal, etc all come into play IMHO. Most modern cartridges all seem to do well out to 300 yards or so....it's beyond that it seems that higher impact velocities rule the roost.
