Thought I'd better put my boots on before I waded into this one...Lol.
The arm chair theorists really hit the key board quickly whe this topic comes up.
Any and all muscle tissue (Meat) is "damaged" when it is, well....Damaged by being displaced, streched, and torn by any object passing through it.
The "degree" of damage is subject to the amount of upset to that tissue.
But the degrees of damage caused by bullets is pretty much the same, when it comes to preservation for consumption, reguardless of velocity and diameter, and yes.., momentum.
I have read of such things as "eating right up to the hole..." Really... right up to the hole...? Sure, and if I was really hungry I might chew on the little bone chips too.
Those of us who shoot deer and other big game with such things as a 50 caliber round ball with an impact velocity of 1000 fps., to the 22-243 Middelstead 60 grain partition at close to 4000fps, to the meager 12 ga. Foster slug at 1400fps, to the 257 Wby 100 gr. at 3600fps. and on, and on, and on... We find that there is ALWAYS a pronounced amount of meat damage, and blood shot(bruised tissue), around the hole. But, no matter what the projectile, or the velocity, there is ALWAYS some meat/tissue damage.
I once thought that "Big, fat, and slow" bullets would "Greatly" reduce the carnage...Well, maybe slightly, but still nobody in my home is eating "right up to any holes..."
I have not found that the differance in bullet velocity, diameter, or momentum has been "much less" damaging, or "much more" damaging from one shot to another...A "little" differance, yes..., but with bullets made for hunting large game, the differanes have not been significant enough to say that this one , or that one "Saves more meat..." they all have proven similarily destructive.
Scott
