The question I would pose is:
Since the bullets at those velocities are giving passthroughs, and they are not traveling fast enough for the “shock” factor to come into play, then what is really gained by pushing the bullet a couple hundred feet faster and increasing the recoil?
Excellent point.
The real question is, why is the black powder rifle threshold pretty much the same as the modern handgun threshold of 700 ftlbs. (give or take a 100 ftlbs.) ? YET the muzzleloaders are still as lethal at 100 yards or less as the modern rifle that has to reach an additional 500 ftlbs. (At least for me over the past 20 years the empirical results using a flintlock have shown it to be so.)
Further..., some folks are worried about hunters accidentally or carelessly "shooting out of safe", for those not familiar with the phrase, it's a round that travels outside the public or private lands where hunting is permitted, landing in a neighborhood. Yet..., in the areas where this was a prime concern, they legalized straight walled cartridges like the .45-70, .450 Bushmaster, .450 Marlin, .350 Legend and etc.
When I first heard they were going to allow fixed ammunition in the once muzzleloader and shotgun only areas, I expected the regulation would adopt .357 magnum, .41 Magnum, .45 Colt, and .45 Winchester Magnum, and so on..., pistol cartridges in carbines...., because on paper these look a lot like the already approved muzzleloaders, loaded with bullets like TC Maxi-balls, etc. Nope, ANY straight walled cartridge is good as long as from the rifle it hits 1200 ftlbs.
As for your point, my .450 Bushmaster rifle delivers 2700 ft.lbs with a factory load. Yes it can be a tad "harsh" on recoil and the cost per shot is like shooting the most expensive shotgun shells made.
I however, handload for my .450 Bushmaster, a lead alloy, hollow point bullet, and step down the load to get a muzzle velocity 40% below the factory ammo, and it works just fine, reduces the barrel leading, and doesn't beat me up with recoil.
(Costs less than half the factory ammo too
) IF I was going to be reaching out to 200 yards or a little farther, I might go back to factory loads, but as I'm hunting terrain that's 100 yard shots or less, regardless of the firearm used, there's no reason for the factory ammo.
LD