That's a great explanation and I appreciate you taking the time to write it. However, it doesn't entirely address my question.
You're saying that the energy is ultimately dissipated as heat through friction. I believe that is partly true. But it's also dissipated my movement of tissue (or gel) in the form of the temporary wound cavity. Now obviously tissue (and gel) has a threshold for elasticity, beyond which it will tear. And I understand that we are not meeting that threshold with pistol bullets.
But, if we dump a significant amount of energy (let's say 450ftlbs for example) into the human torso, the way it is dumped makes a difference. In the professional boxing world, fighters can hit with between 450 and 1050ftlbs of energy. From a hit to the torso, that energy is dissipated into the body, but cause no wounding damage. This is obviously radically different than a tiny metallic projectile dumping energy at very high speed.
But what I want to know is, what is the difference in effect? If someone is punched by a boxer with 450ftlbs of energy, and then subsequently dies from blood loss, the coroner is unlikely to find much evidence of the effects of that punch. But surely it did have an effect on the victim's ability to fight after being hit. So when we look at a shooting victim on the coroner's table and see a gunshot wound, that's what killed them. But did the energy transfer from that bullet have any effect on preventing the victim fighting back, like a punch would have?
These are two extremes, I understand. But the issue of the temporary effect of energy transfer from a projectile upon the human body does give me pause. No we can't measure it. But does it do something that compromises the ability of the victim to function, other than the physical wounding damage observable after the fact?
Here's the reference of the boxing energy:
https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/the-true-force-of-a-boxers-punch/Content?oid=2133328