Originally Posted by Rossimp
Originally Posted by Llama_Bob
And yet physics remains on my side while you blather on laugh



Above is LB's go-to statement for all his posts. You know what I say, SD is mid-evil pumpkin heaving crap, hows that. SD has no bearing in bullet performance, it is only a characteristic of measurement, like 1-foot=12-inches, that's it. It has no definitive application to anything with regard to physics/ballistics. Physics would be the material engineering of the components in testing and assessing the toughness of a material or in this case the bullet for the maximum amount of stress it can take before fracturing. The durability of a bullet goes to its elasticity and plastcity within a design range, this in turn reveals design strength and toughness at a given impact velocity and its expansion characteristics. Obviously firms like Hornady (their ELD) and others do painstaking research to develop projectiles that combine a given weight retention, expansion, and penetration at numerous tested impact velocities. I can assure you they never think about SD when they are developing these projectiles. They are basing their research on only materials engineering and how these materials interact under extreme stress through mediums. The physics involved would be combining these variables and refining them to a gnats ass. SD is only a number rendered by a bullets dimensions, hence its weight and diameter. These days with advanced technologies and the use of fusing advanced materials, SD is meaningless when it comes to penetration. For shooting solids it doesn't much matter whether pushing a .308, 147gr FMJ or .416, 400gr FMJ both will penetrate like all get-out, thus proving its about the materials not projectiles SD.


Not saying I agree with Llama Bob but I'm curious which bullet manufacturer personnel you spoke with to get this information? The reason I ask is because when I made a phone call to hornady and visited with Steve he told me that there higher sectional density offerings works better for penetration both in the field and in medium.


Good bullets properly placed always work, but not everyone knows what good bullets are, or can reliably place them in the field