Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Speed kills. Doesn't it?

There seems to be some difference of opinion on that by some folks I trust like our own JB.
That said, my experience mirrors yours...and Ive killed a LOT of stuff with the little .22 TSX and TTSX...
Speed is a BIG plus with Barnes.

All I can add is that there is a reason I use 32 g V-MAX @ 4K+ on prairie dogs, and 40 gr Nosler BT's (in the mid 3K range)on coyotes. The V-Maxes would not consistently penetrate deep enough on coyotes. (I LOVE the explosive effect of the light V-Maxes on PD's, though)

20 grain V-Maxs at 3650 don't do too bad either.....

Each year I see between 330 to 350 whitetails, around 300 pigs, and at least 50-60 exotics,many coyotes and bobcats killed, with everything from .204 to 45-70 and everything in between, some bullets are fast and light some are heavy and slow,some animals are shot with what you would call junk bullets, some are shot with the best bullet money can buy.
I have looked at animals that looked like they have been run over by 2 big trucks when we dressed them out and I have seen animals that you wondered what the hell killed them, I think you guy's are beating a dead horse.Pun Intended! Rio7

I have.

In my experience, this is false

Dead and stopped are different things.
Stopped being preferred when things have forward vision and claws.

Yeah, it is in mine too. Have even used some cup-and-core big game bullets at 3100+ fps with great results on big game at various ranges, in particular the Hornady Interlock and the present generation of Nosler Ballistic Tips. And the all-around quickest-killing bullets I’ve used, at any velocity, have been Berger Hunting VLD’s.

But I agree that monolithics kill quicker when pushed faster. The highest velocity I’ve seen so far was 4300 fps with a 40-grain Cutting Edge Raptor from a .22-250. My wife used that load on a doe pronghorn at about 150 yards, and the kill was instant and spectacular, just like a mule deer buck she shot with a 100-grain TSX, also at around 150 yards, started at 3550 fps from a .257 Weatherby.

But have also seen a number of TSX’s and Tipped TSX’s (as well as other monos) not kill very quickly when started at velocities from 3150 on up. Which is one reason I hadn’t commented on this thread so far: Over the years and several hundred big game animals I find absolute statements about killing power sort of like political promises: Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t.

John: oddly enough, the only "absolute" statement I can make regarding bullets is the little 100gr Hornady Interlock out of my 257 Weatherby at published velocities. Not ONE deer has ever taken a step and I'm talking about a sample of 80 plus animals. It is "electric"!

The critters I've shot with TTSX have not died at lightning speed.

I'm more of the opinion that lead kills...when it fragments. Speed helps with that.

My experience is that the Monos kill as quickly as anything Ive ever used. I don't have as many critters in front of the gun as JB has, but a couple hundred plus....about 60 of which were killed with monos....
I love them for the little guns in particular......


That said, as JB and jorge pointed out, an all time fave of mine is a Hornady Interlock 100 grain 6mm....flat base...which I can no longer find, but am carefully guarding a stash of a couple boxes.....

Hmmm...makes me wonder what a 160gr .338 TTSX doing 3500 out of a .340 Bee might accomplish. I don't normally lean that light for caliber but this conversation does make the idea intriguing.

In my experience as a ER nurse, with human gun shot wounds, the faster rounds do way more damage. Seen many a 45 pistol people survive and have minimal hollow organ damage. Seen some shot with 223/556 and 9mm and other fast rounds. Not pretty the amount of secondary damage produced by the hydrostatic shock wave. So in trauma we say velocity is more important than mass, and so do the trauma manuals. I believe this, and the docs I work with have taken care of more than their fair share of gun shot wounds, so I tend to believe what they say about it.

Each year I see a lot bullet wounds in all kinds of critters large and small, I would agree that the lite fast bullets can and do kill like lighting, but I will comment that I also see large slow bullets kill very well also, the difference seems to be the lite bullets do a great deal more meat damage then the slow heavy bullets,as with every thing to do with hunting every caliber, has it's up side and down side, big and slow usually has limited range, lite and fast more range, less knock down power on larger game.
I think most any modern hunting bullet will do the job when properly placed,then again I have never seen any caliber or bullet, kill like lighting with a gut shot. Rio7

I don't understand all the concern that I read about meat damage. If the animal is shot in a meaty part with any expanding bullet, there will be meat damage. If it is shot through the heart/lungs the damage is irrelevant. If the animal is not running away, I will deal with a little blood-shot meat. I have never found it to be a big issue. I will take the velocity "mess" over the slow mover. The exception to that is for very large animals where extreme penetration is a necessity.