Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Velocity!!! How important is it?

Velocity is an interesting thing when it comes to bullets.Different shapes and construction are affected by this.One thing for certain is faster bullets are going to shoot flatter,carry more energy and just hit harder when it gets there.I once shot a doe with a 7mag using 145gr Speer Grand Slam bullet with a mv of 3200fps,behind both shoulders and it broke the onside front leg just from the sheer impact.The bullet never even touched the shoulder but it broke the front leg right at the scapula.Another thing I've noticed is the shock wave you can sometimes see in your scope when the bullet hits the animal.I've noticed this a few times.You can actually see an area as large as a basket ball sometimes,where the hair gets all distorted when the bullet hits the animal.Think of it like this,when you pass a truck on the highway,the wind shearing from the front of the truck with shake and push your vehicle.I'm sure you get the same thing with the bullet too.Does it have an affect when it hits an animal with that blast of air?I'm sure it does,but how much,I don't know.In the end,an animal hit in the vitals the same spot,with the same bullet will die,but the one with the higher velocity may very well put the animal down quicker unless too much of it's energy is lost with the bullet leaving the other side.Who knows.