Killing the Energy-Killing Myth

I read a contempo "Best Cartridges To Hunt Elk" weblog that advised, and I paraphrase, "Most effective elk cartridges demand to exist flat-shooting and hit with plenty energy to effectively dispatch a big bull."

And that's a lot of bull.

Because energy doesn't kill.

A big, tough animal like this 800-pound bull elk requires a LOT of bullet energy to kill, right? Wrong.

A big, tough creature like this 800-pound bull elk requires a LOT of bullet energy to kill, right? Incorrect.

The Myth of Killing-Energy

"Killing-free energy" is 1 of the biggest myths, or at to the lowest degree misconceptions, in hunting. But a profitable one. Belief in it has led to new cartridges, bullets, and rifles year after twelvemonth for decade later on decade.

Ill brash, yet successful extreme-range shooting with anemic rounds like half-dozen.5 Creedmoor have poked some holes in the killing-energy theory, but hardly killed it. Nor will this article. But past reading it you lot might go a ameliorate understanding of what goes on when y'all throw a small rock at loftier speed into the thoracic crenel of an elk. Or mule deer. Or buffalo. Or… any other game including jackrabbits.

Where do you draw the line? Which of these centerfires is finally powerful enough to kill an elk? And which bounces off? I'll bet dollars to donuts the 243 Winchester (third from left) has terminated more elk than the 338 Lapua Magnum (2nd from right) and 470 Nitro Express combined.

Where do you draw the line? Which of these centerfires is finally powerful plenty to impale an elk? And which bounces off? I'll bet dollars to donuts the 243 Winchester (third from left) has terminated more elk than the 338 Lapua Magnum (second from right) and 470 Nitro Express combined.

Deportment and Reactions

Nosotros'll begin with (and should probably stop with) the unimpeachable Sir Isaac Newton's third law of movement: For every action there is an equal and contrary reaction. The quantity of free energy in a bullet sent toward your game is the aforementioned as the free energy sent dorsum into the rifle — and your shoulder behind that burglarize. So, if the energy in the recoiling rifle didn't instantly kill you, how can the energy in the bullet instantly impale your target animate being of the aforementioned or larger size? Y'all captivated all that energy. Why aren't y'all dead?

This shooter just absorbed 65 foot-pounds of recoil energy from a 416 Rigby throwing a massive 400 grain bullet. If energy kills, why is he still standing?

This shooter only absorbed 65 foot-pounds of recoil energy from a 416 Rigby throwing a massive 400 grain bullet. If energy kills, why is he still standing?

Hemorrhaging, Not Squashing

The obvious answer is that the rifle didn't intermission your skin, tear your aorta, or perforate your lungs. The bullet probably did that to your deer or elk. If the bullet tears the proper vital organs and plenty of them, the animal will die. Just not from massive energy. From massive blood loss.

That this occurs is proven past misplaced shots that strike, say, the paunch or rump. Or fifty-fifty the shoulder without penetrating to the vital organs beyond. The target animal absorbs all the energy carried by the bullet, yet isn't killed by that energy.

If the bullet breaks plenty support structure — for case a leg os — the beast may autumn, but odds are it will not be instantly killed. More likely it volition scramble up and run off three-legged, sometimes surviving to the next hunting season, unimpressed by all that killing-energy of the "all-time cartridge" y'all used to wound it.

If energy kills surely this whitetail would have been flattened by the 7mm Rem. Mag. that just hit it with 3,200 f-p energy. You can see by the dust and hair in the air behind its rump that it's leaped forward already and is still on its feet. That buck went on to dash about 80 yards before fainting from low blood pressure, then expiring from severe hemorrhaging causing brain cells to die.

If free energy kills surely this whitetail would take been flattened by the 7mm Rem. Magazine. that just hit information technology with 3,200 f-p energy. You can see by the dust and pilus in the air behind its rump that information technology'south leaped forrard already and is still on its anxiety. That buck went on to dash about 80 yards earlier fainting from low blood force per unit area, then expiring from severe hemorrhaging causing encephalon cells to die.

Then Why Those Dramatic DRT Responses?

All of us take seen and probably caused what appear to be pretty dramatic "dead right there" hits on large game. If that'southward non killing-energy, what is information technology? Most likely a primal nervous system strike. Hit the brain and/or spinal cavalcade forward of the withers (higher up the shoulders) and about game is killed instantly. Unplugged, every bit we used to say.

In contrast, strike that aforementioned animal with that same bullet behind the withers, and it will lose motor command backside that point, but non killed outright. Broken back. Same bullet, same energy on target, merely dramatically different results. Broken back in forepart of the shoulders and instant death. Broken behind with the aforementioned bullet, aforementioned energy — and only paralyzed behind that wound. Why? Because energy alone doesn't kill. It has to be practical to the right identify. And then not much is required.

Additional proof of this comes from 22 rimfires and 45-pound-pull bows flinging target arrows. Park a measly 40-grain 22 slug with 100 f-p free energy in the spinal column of the neck of an elk and it's as dead as if hit with a 300-grain solid from a 375 H&H Magnum carrying 3,700 f-p energy. Drive a target arrow into that same spinal column and you'll get the aforementioned results. Obviously very little energy is needed to instantly terminate even large game if that energy is applied to the proper place.

A puny 60-grain .224 bullet carrying just 1,300 f-p energy killed this buck instantly by breaking its shoulder, then its spine, then its hip before continuing into the prairie beyond,

A puny 60-grain .224 bullet carrying just i,300 f-p energy killed this cadet instantly by breaking its shoulder, then its spine, then its hip before continuing into the prairie beyond, "wasting" some of its energy. I'll take placement over energy every fourth dimension.

Launching Deer

What about all those deer that hunters take reported flipping over or bravado ten feet backward afterward solid, bone smashing hits from super magnums? Is that not an example of killing energy? No, it is not. More likely information technology's muscular reactions to the impact. The animal leaped. Again, Newton'south law. If the shot didn't knock yous over, how the heck is the bullet — which has lost considerable energy during its flying downrange — going to have the power to flip an equally heavy or heavier animate being into the air? Or push it back ten inches let lonely 10 feet?

Some of the misconception about this might be the fault of our kinetic energy measurement. A projectile's kinetic free energy (free energy in motion) is a production of its weight and velocity. Doubling weight doubles energy. Doubling velocity quadruples free energy. This is why 50-caliber blackpowder big game cartridges pushing 400-grain bullets i,600 fps back in 1880 have been superseded past 7mms pushing 150-grain bullets 3,200 fps in 2021. The loftier velocity 7mm delivers more energy. (3,411 f-p for the 7mm vs. 2,274 f-p for the 50-caliber.) About bottlenecked, smokeless-powder cartridges of about 25-caliber and larger throwing 120-grain bullets and heavier deliver more energy at 100 yards than practice most the heavy, boring bullets of yesteryear.

To fully appreciate this we should define what kinetic energy in human foot-pounds means: a pes-pound of energy is enough to, theoretically, enhance 1 pound of weight one human foot off the ground. A bullet conveying 3,000 foot-pounds of free energy, and so, should push button a 100-pound pronghorn or whitetail doe a good xxx feet, correct?

Wrong. I know because I've tested the theory hundreds of times. I've striking thirty-pound coyotes with bullets packing 3,000 f-p free energy and blew them exactly nowhere. They collapsed in their tracks in the snowfall. The bullet stayed inside, besides, then the petty coyote absorbed all that killing-energy. Simply got pushed not so much equally an inch. Some other coyote took a 180-grain bullet from a 300 Win. Mag. to the chest and dashed a good 30 yards before collapsing from massive hemorrhaging.

Let'due south Be Honest

Honestly, bullet free energy matters. A lilliputian. Our problem is conceptual. Nosotros ally our misconceptions to macho myths most massive metallic muscle powered by piles and piles of powder. Our rifles kick and roar. Surely these fire-animate dragons have the power to deliver an instant death blow, correct? Not necessarily.

Much as we'd like to believe we are wielding the Hammer of Thor, we're actually only throwing glorified stones fast enough to penetrate to vital organs and break them down. Regardless their diameter and mass, our bullets are just bits of ripping and tearing metallic engineered to return vital, life supporting organs ineffective. When the cardio-pulmonary system tin no longer deliver richly oxygenated blood to the brain, information technology fails. Blood pressure drops. The animate being gets silly. Loses consciousness. Dies. This takes several seconds, perhaps minutes depending on the degree of hemorrhaging. During that time the animal retains function to stand, walk, run, fodder, fight, mate… I've seen it all. Including expiring on the spot, instantly. Whether hit with a 55-grain bullet or 500-grain.

Surely the massive energy of a 375 H&H, 458 Win. Mag., or 458 Lott will kill a deer instantly every time, right? Don't count on it. I've seen half-grown whitetails take a 50-caliber through the chest and run 25 yards before falling.

Surely the massive energy of a 375 H&H, 458 Win. Mag., or 458 Lott volition kill a deer instantly every time, right? Don't count on it. I've seen one-half-grown whitetails take a l-quotient through the chest and run 25 yards before falling.

Yes, sometimes some combination of bullet free energy, where it lands, the target animal's heart beat, blood pressure, adrenaline, and the stage of the moon combine for an instant kill. But let's non fool ourselves. This wasn't killing energy. If it were information technology would piece of work nearly every time.

Be A Complete Hunter

The shot is not the end of the hunt. Woodsmen learn to read sign from an animal's reaction at the shot to tracks, blood, clipped hairs… Expect game to run for several seconds after a good heart/lung shot.

The shot is not the end of the chase. Woodsmen acquire to read sign from an animal's reaction at the shot to tracks, blood, clipped hairs… Expect game to run for several seconds after a good heart/lung shot.

At that place's zero wrong with trying to find and use the rifle, cartridge, and bullet we imagine to be the Hammer of Thor, only as woke, responsible hunters, nosotros must accept and perfect our other essential hunter skills — tracking and claret trailing. Failing to drib an animal in its tracks is no condemnation of anyone's hunting/shooting skills. It'south the reality of physiology. This is the real world. Simply equally prey struggles and fights to escape the ripping claws and fangs of wolves, bears, cougars, lions and leopards, it fights to escape ripping bullets. And simply as wolves and lions proceed to pursue and assault prey animals they've wounded, so must hunters track, blood trail, and find game we've struck with mortal blows. Chase honest and shoot straight. After that, track relentlessly to recover your game.