In my experience the larger the bore and meplat the less important speed is in terminal performance. I shot a mature bull Elk through the rib cage with a 440 grain wide meplat hard cast after he was down as a finisher. At a velocity about 950 to 1000 FPS out of the 500 JRH. The damage dwarfed that of the 180 from the 300 win mag that impacted at 285 yards. The exit from the 440 grain hard cast was 3 to 4 inches.
I also shot a 70 1/4 SCI bison with the 500 Linebaugh with the 525 grain WFN hard cast from Cast Performance @ 1090 FPS that exited and blood poured out of the entrance hole.
I smaller bore such as 38 special / 357 mag higher speed deginately increases terminal performance..
In my experience the 475/500's are very effective @ 100FPS and 1200 FPS gives more than adequate performance with good bullets.
Last edited by jwp475; 09/14/21.
