No, it's wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.
And it's wrong BECAUSE that muzzle energy doesn't mean what you think it means.
See, when your formula is wrong, your results will be wrong.
I've never hunted with a Trapdoor in my hands, but I have hunted with someone who was using an original Trapdoor, loaded with original .45-70-405 black powder loads. I assure you, they'll go right through a cow elk and make a big hole all the way. You don't want to be behind that elk, either.
All Chuck Hawks would have to do is take one of the motorcycles he knows so much about and ride on out of his trailer in the Third World over to the next state to the east...
Idaho has restrictive muzzleloading rules: no sabots, lead bullets only, loose black powder or Pyrodex only, exposed hammer, no primer ignition, no scopes.
And yet, hunters take plenty of cow elk in a special season every year with basic sidelocks and lead bullets, at distances well over 100 yards. Stalking, calling ability, misses due to low-velocity trajectory, limited vacation days, etc. are limiting factors; muzzle energy sure isn't.
There's the rub: the formulas Chuck Hawks uses may have some validity for light, fast spitzer bullets. But they're dead wrong for slow, big holepunchers. GIGO.
That's why science has to include empirical confirmation. Otherwise you just get convenient formulas that produce neat-looking, but wrong, answers.
And it's wrong BECAUSE that muzzle energy doesn't mean what you think it means.
See, when your formula is wrong, your results will be wrong.
I've never hunted with a Trapdoor in my hands, but I have hunted with someone who was using an original Trapdoor, loaded with original .45-70-405 black powder loads. I assure you, they'll go right through a cow elk and make a big hole all the way. You don't want to be behind that elk, either.
All Chuck Hawks would have to do is take one of the motorcycles he knows so much about and ride on out of his trailer in the Third World over to the next state to the east...
Idaho has restrictive muzzleloading rules: no sabots, lead bullets only, loose black powder or Pyrodex only, exposed hammer, no primer ignition, no scopes.
And yet, hunters take plenty of cow elk in a special season every year with basic sidelocks and lead bullets, at distances well over 100 yards. Stalking, calling ability, misses due to low-velocity trajectory, limited vacation days, etc. are limiting factors; muzzle energy sure isn't.
There's the rub: the formulas Chuck Hawks uses may have some validity for light, fast spitzer bullets. But they're dead wrong for slow, big holepunchers. GIGO.
That's why science has to include empirical confirmation. Otherwise you just get convenient formulas that produce neat-looking, but wrong, answers.
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