Effective killing range?

cycbb486

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May 2, 2005
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13
Location
Manitoba
Am I correct on this? I read somewhere for a round to be effective at killing whitetail deer it should have at least 1000 foot lbs of energy upon impact. Debating as to whether or not I will use the 6BR this season?

I thought I saw a chart somwhere that showed this info. Any idea where?


Calvin
 
<font color="white"> 1000+ FPE would certainly do the job. What is more important than energy for a whitetail is bullet performance. Dont get me wrong, you do need a sufficient amount of energy but deers vitals are small, a bullet that did significant damage even with 700 or 800 FPE would do the trick. If using a 6mm bullet you may want to keep the energy up to 1000+ due to a absence of material to create the damages you need to be below 1000 FPE. </font>
 
Maryland regs reads as follows

[ QUOTE ]
Rifles used for deer hunting must use ammunition developing a muzzle energy of at least 1,200 foot pounds.



[/ QUOTE ]


Bullet construction and shot placement are very important when operating on the margins. There are techniques which I do not personally use such as head shots that some people like to use with marginal calibers and cartridges.

There are also big deer and little deer.
 
There is actually something written there in Mieicheles post. Here is what it says

[ QUOTE ]
1000+ FPE would certainly do the job. What is more important than energy for a whitetail is bullet performance. Dont get me wrong, you do need a sufficient amount of energy but deers vitals are small, a bullet that did significant damage even with 700 or 800 FPE would do the trick. If using a 6mm bullet you may want to keep the energy up to 1000+ due to a absence of material to create the damages you need to be below 1000 FPE.

--------------------


[/ QUOTE ]

Now I am going to have to edit my post
 
I have killed deer easily with 45 ACP handguns which were generating around 300 ft/lbs of energy on impact. THey actually harvest deer very well, WHY??

Because the bullets I used, Rem Golden Sabers, are designed for this speicific velocity range and they performed perfectly. The bullet had enough weight to fully penetrate the vitals and do plenty of damage to quickly harvest the deer.

That said, I took very close shots, no more then 30 yards and was very confident of the shot placement.

1000 ft/lbs of energy is far more then is needed to kill a deer. The trouble is in saying when X amount of energy will kill a deer and when Y amount of energy will not kill a deer.

Shot placement is key, that and what is required by law of course.

Don;t get caught up in kenetic energy, it can be very misleading if you use that to predict a bullets game taking potential.

Kirby Allen(50)
 
To effectively harvest any grass eater, a projectile must travel through an animal so that a min 1/2" but better 1" or larger diameter permanent wound channel is created through as many vital organs as possible.

Whether an arrow, 45ACP slug or 50cal FMJ bullet, if it will accomplish this task, the animal will go down.

Ft-lbs means very little if all of it is vaporised on impact. Conversely, a 22cal FMJ from a 22/250 has plenty of ft-lbs but will do little to no damage even though it will most likely exit, unless the bullet tumbles.

Watch the impact velocity at the game and match the bullet to this. Add in the types of shots you WILL take and adjust your bullet selection accordingly.

for small cal. light weight bullets, velocity will help in creating a larger wound channel IF the bullet holds together.

I prefer medium standard cals (6.5 to 30) with mid to heavy for calibre weights arriving within the bullets design parameters. Doesn't have to be fast. Just fast enough to cause proper expansion and adequate penetration.

This very boring combo ALWAYS works...regardless of the math or animal or distance.

Jerry
 
Just one odd ball experience.

Things started out wrong and continued wrong for a first time hunter.

End result was 223 cartridge w/69gr Match bullet at 2600 fps MV mistakenly fired at a rag horn elk @ 120 yds. Said elk went about 20 yds and keeled over. Entrance wound was 224 bullet was under hide on off side. It was 100% weight retention and at least 98% shape retention. o expansion whatever!

It just barely caught the tip of the heart. The fella has the F&amp;G report with pics and ballistics report to prove it + the cost of a decent semi-custom rifle donated to the cause. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Wouldn't propose that on a regular basis but when the planets are aligned right its kind of a done deal.

FWIW /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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