As far as knockdown power..
It's the difference between poking an animal in the shoulder with a 110gr bullet and having it go a long distance, and poking same animal with a 200gr bullet going a high rate of speed and having it drop right there.
Night/Day difference between hitting an animal with a 338rum and a 30-06. I've done it a bunch of times, and the "knockdown" power of the RUM is rather impressive.
That is a fact.
The term itself is "bad",sloppy,and gives the wrong impression.
Animals are never "knocked down" by bullets, which are "scalpels" and not sledge hammers.If they actually knocked animals down in the sense we think of it, Newton's Laws tells us we could not shoulder fire the weapon.What we see are the effects of large wound channels and greater tissue and bone destruction with a larger and faster cartridge and heavier bullets which land in the right place,ie vital tissue,destroys bones required for them to stand; not knockdown in the sense that a Mack truck knocks down a brick wall,or something similar....
If the "knockdown" theory were correct(it isn't)then we would be able to gut shoot elk, moose, and elephants and they should be,theoretically ....well....knocked down.....even with indifferent bullet placement. People with experience know that simply isn't true and a gut shot with a 300 RUM will get you nothing but a rodeo while a properly placed 7x57 bullet will get you a very dead elk ( or elephant)in short order.You only need to see an elk take a bullet from a 300 or 340 magnum in the guts,and watch him trot off, to know the knockdown stuff is nonsense.
We are definately seeing something occur when an animal is hit properly in the right place,with a bullet from a powerful cartridge....but it sure ain't "knock down" power...
