I also pointed out earlier in this thread that original bullet diameter has little to do with internal damage, at least with expanding bullets. (It also varies in "solid" bullets, due to shape, but hopefully we won't get sidetracked with that here.) Conventional expanding bullets start to expand when they hit skin, and are fully expanded by about the time they penetrate one bullet length, or a little more.
They also expand in widely varying diameters, depending both on make and the individual bullet, yet another reason a .338 doesn't necessarily "hit harder" than a .30 caliber. Why would .03" in initial bullet diameter make a significant difference when the bullet immediately expands to anything from, say, .4" to .8" wide?
One thing I've been meaning to do since this thread started is measure the expanded diameters of various recovered bullets in my collection. Might measure a few today.
I’ve got a few I could measure as well, just to throw up here.
