I always thought about SD as being how much caboose is back there pushing the train...
If two bullets expand equally, but one has a much higher SD... isn't there more "shank" pushing the mushroom of the higher-SD bullet through the animal?
Or, imagine two semi trucks in a head-on collision. Both have the same tractor, but one has a short trailer loaded with whatever, and the other has a long trailer loaded with the same whatever. The longer one would "penetrate" deeper... wouldn't it??
An honest question... just wondering if I'm visualizing things wrong.
Where I think you are correct, 338Fed, is that lead-core bullets tend to shed bullet weight... thus rendering SD sort of irrelevant compared to a bullet that doesn't shed weight.
But all else equal, a higher-SD bullet will penetrate deeper. I hope I'm not wrong about that because MAN that makes sense to me! :-)
It makes sense all right, that I'll agree. Too bad it doesn't always work that way.
Example 1- the 420 grain Flat point Hard Cast at 1380 FPS was out penetrated by the 500 JRH also at 1380 FPS at the Linebaugh Seminar in Jackson, Miss.
Example 2- The 50 Alaskan revolver shooting a 525 grain Flat point harf cast at just under 1600 FPS penetrated exactly the same as the 500 JRH with the 425 grain
Example 3- the 416 Rigby penetrated 4 inches less with the 410 grain solid at 3280 FPS at the same seminar
