Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Nock down Power

Nope, recoil is the reaction of the force needed to get the bullet out of the barrel. The impact energy is the momentum of the bullet which starts to decrease as soon as it leaves the barrel.
Force = mass x acceleration
Momentum = mass x velocity

Nope, I used a 50 bmg a couple of times. Thats the least amount of blood and animals running probably 100 plus yards at a minimum.

Vs a 257 wtby and 100 tsx where they often don't run on rib shots, but if they do its a very short distance.

IMHO if you want DRT besides a CNS shot, the closest to that is going to be rapid bullet expansion and the faster that bullet is going the better it is going to be at "knockdown"

Me, I don't really care, I prefer to shoot a bullet and round that will get it done at whatever my max distance is for the largest animal I"m hunting if I"m serious. If I don't care, then I often may hunt with some really small rounds... 32-20 being one... and love the challenge and the fact that you have to pass up shots all the time...

That's very true for deer. They really react to bullet speed and expansion.

Moose, on the other hand, seem to be bothered by the noise. They'll die on their own schedule...Them rascals can soak up some punishment.

Ingwe,
I liked your point about "nock" down versus up.

I took a #6 pellet in the face one time, about as close to my eye as one could get without actually hitting the eyeball. It's surprising how much power one of them little things carries. I bled like a stuck hog.

Took one of those shotgun pellets, @ BB sized, to my right leg from a small game hunter once. It went through two layers of cloth and drove @ 1 1/2 inches into my leg from about 50 yards away. Bled pretty good for a non vital hit.

Only one pellet hit me out of the pattern. I got lucky the tree I was leaning against took most of the load.

Why was he shooting at you???

OP,

If you want knock down power, bust as much bone as you can

.................If a casual observer in such a debate, I just might ask party #1 to explain for example, how the relatively "lighter" hunting VLD bullets in the 264 and 7mm calibers immediately drop big elk at extended long ranges?

I would then ask party #2. How would having more recoil necessarily increase knock down power? Party #2 is thinking that the more the recoil the more powerful the round, therefore equaling superior knockdown power. Well yes,,,and no.

I say to both. Sufficient bullet speed along with sufficient bullet weight is needed for any given bullet to do its job upon and after impact. But what determines better knock down power capability, depends more on "what" the bullet does internally "after" impact assuming the bullet is well placed.

A heavier bullet does not always translate into better knockdown power and is not necessarily superior to lighter projectiles. Depends on the game hunted and how the bullet reacts internally in the game.

Setting lighter vs heavier bullets aside, better shock/knockdown power imo, hinges more on the amount of internal damage and wound channel destruction. I wonder if that was later discussed in their debate.

My understanding, FWIW, is that animals drop due to wound reaction, not 'umph'. A heavier bullet might be more 'effective', however, if so it would have to do with inflicting a larger wound channel etc. - not simply because it was more 'massive'.

Shot at a squirrel without checking his background in all of the excitement. We made up, but needless to say, I have never hunted with him again.

.................If a casual observer in such a debate, I just might ask party #1 to explain for example, how the relatively "lighter" hunting VLD bullets in the 264 and 7mm calibers immediately drop big elk at extended long ranges?

A heavier bullet does not always translate into better knockdown power and is not necessarily superior to lighter projectiles. Depends on the game hunted and how the bullet reacts internally in the game.

These 2 points are what I was primarily thinking. Party #1 is my FIL, whom is ALWAYS right. He swears by heaviest projectile for a given round. I have debated him in the past saying we both have taken deer with 1oz slugs, deer didn't flinch, ran off like the big bang skeered it. Not far mind you, but body language didn't say "I've been hit". My good buddy last year took a nice doe with his Savage 99 in 22HP. Bang-Flop. So I don't subscribe to the "shocking power" theory.
I think party #2, who knows him fairly well was trying to pizz him off. But he made enough sense for me to want to some google stuff when I think I have the right questions in mind.

The 2 points are quotes from bigsqueeze, but my efforts on a segmented quote were an utter failure

Nock down power is real or a .22 would hit as hard as a .375 H&H but it doesn't,does it?

Take a 243 and a 375 H&H and pick a bullet that penetrates equally between them,,Which one has the most "Nock Down Power"

Jayco

Someone on the forum has a sig line that says something along the lines:

Foot pounds don't kill game; leaky holes and broken bones do.

hahaha. 24HCF NEEDS A LIKE BUTTON FOR POSTS LIKE THIS

Is this about shooting people and the pain it inflicts or getting fragged with the burn shrapnel inflicts, or hunting big game?

Hunting 100 pound gooks is quite different than big game...

Dinky Dow!!!!!!!

Jayco

........By your example "if" the 243 bullet by chance did give a wider and more destructive wound channel given the same distance of penetration on the same game, then imo, the 243 might have the quicker knock down power, even though all the energy #s on paper favor the 375 bullet.

It`s not as much as to the weight and diameter of the bullet, but rather the pattern of internal destruction that is made.

Given the same distance of penetration if that were the case, a lighter 264, 7mm or 30 cal hunting VLD or similar bullet, will cause a greater defect in terms of wound channel width and overall destruction vs a 375 bullet, which characteristics of expansion after impact cannot match the width of internal destruction of some lighter bullets.

Bullet expansion internal characteristics after impact play a greater role imo where knock down power is concerned rather than just bullet weight and bullet diameter alone.

That doesn`t mean I`d use a VLD on a caped buff should I ever go to Africa someday. Girthy beasts require more bullet penetration.

But the 375 H&H is legal in Africa.

I sure don't have the answer but in whatever terms a guy wants to look at it,larger calibers have more nock down power than smaller,all thing being equal....

Maybe that's why Phil Shoemaker loves the '06 with heavy partitions but chooses to use the 458 Win Mag for backup.

Jayco

No shoulder-fired rifle has the power to "knock down" an animal. You must destroy their ability to stand. A bullet placed in selected spots is capable of that as long as it penetrates sufficiently.

..............Yes the 375 is legal in Africa. But all things aren`t all equal imo.

I put more emphasis on knock down power in what the bullet does after impact vs the automatic assumption of more knock down power based on more bullet weight along with more diameter.

for real nock down try this