Easy example:
.30 180 gr varmint bullet impacts at 2,000 fps and immediately shatters and fragments into a million little bits in the first three inches of flesh outside the scapula transferring 100% of its energy.
Or
.30 180 gr monolithic bullet impacts at 2,000 fps, expands to only 2x diameter, penetrates from one shoulder through the other and keeps going across the bean field having transferred only 15% of its energy to the deer.
Easy choice between those two examples.
The detail that you're missing is that *energy transfer* is not a wounding mechanism. Read in depth some of what Fackler et al have written and you'll understand what I'm saying. Tissue that is crushed, cut, torn, etc., forming the permanent cavity is the only effective damage done that will reliably cause incapacitation. The energy transfer/hydrostatic shock as a wounding mechanism theory has been soundly proven to be non-effective. With the exception of a couple tissue types, temporary stretch /hydrostatic shock is not a reliable wounding mechanism.
