So premise of my question........author of terminal wound research claims that ideal velocity at impact is within a range of 2,600 fps, an no more than 3,200 fps. (Faster than 3,200 fsp and most soft point hunting bullets will blow up on impact.......ejection vs. penetration. Blow a chunk of meat off, but animal escapes to suffer a painful death somewhere else). That is for most hunting calibers in range of 30 caliber or less. At 2,600 fps +, that is sufficient velocity for most soft point hunting bullets to expand to the point it creates a wide for caliber wound channel when sent thru the boiler room. At same time, it creates enough shock to system to shut down the nervous system. Say a good double lung shot, animal drops where it stands (nervous system shuts down), then before it can recover from the shock, it bleeds out. So two related but different forms of injury. 'His premise (and experience) says that much below 2,600 fps and same animal, same shot, nervous system does not shut down, so animal may not go down, but may still be up and moving until it bleeds out and then goes down. Ergo you get comments like "didn't get far" before it dropped. "Not far" being subjective, but perhaps a few steps to 75 yards or more. Yes it killed them.....but didn't drop on the spot. You are following blood trails and tracking to find him vs. finding him right where he dropped. Again, that is independent of caliber. Theory is that what matters is if the bullet from whatever gun is still running 2,600 fps or faster at impact to impart shock to his nervous system. And that applies to most chest shots that impact lungs, be it thru the shoulder, or just behind. Speed kills.
Where caliber comes in, and this applies to most of the 6.5's, when muzzle velocity isn't much greater than that, depending on range, bullet will have dropped below 2,600 fps at impact. In most cases, that is no more than 200 yards. Maybe less.
Ergo the very specific questions to try to confirm if the guy was FOS or credible. When you killed an animal, and it dropped right there.....what bullet, what muzzle velocity, what distance and where did the bullet impact. If all the parameters were met, then he may be right, If not, then he was not.
Where this has specific application to the 6.5 Creed relates directly to it's suitability for hunting. If his claim is true, then you need to take that into account. Load lighter bullets in 120 to 130 grain range to up velocity to extend their effective range, and accept that even then, there is an effective range, and it's not nearly as far as the gun can accurately shoot.
