Is there such thing as "knock down power"?

[redneck]

The biggest disagreement seems to be terminology.

I think the main idea is that some calibers have a definite advantage at OVERWHELMING via damage, shock, and THUMP.

 

[444]

I have read for year that knockdown is a myth and I even understand their rationale. But I have seen a few examples that seemed to me, to be a knockdown. The last mule deer I shot vanished instantly. The moment I fired the shot I opened both eyes and distinctly remember the rifle rising in recoil and the deer was not there. AND... the deer was not dead. I walked up to the deer and it jumped up and ran. I have been knocked down, I have knocked down other people, and have seen other people knocked down. This is what it looked like to me. I shot a coyote with a 185 grain HP in a .45 ACP Officer's Model; same thing. I muffed the shot and hit it too far back; about in the center of the body. Again, I can remember shifting my focus from the front sight to the animal the moment the trigger broke and the coyote simply vanished from sight. I walked up and it wasn't dead; and no major bones were hit. Again, it appeared to me just like anything else I have ever seen that was knocked down by impact. In both cases the animal hit the ground in a fraction of a second after the shot.
But of course, if the bullet knocked it down, why doesn't this happen every time ?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Want guaranteed one shot stop? Well, 12 pdr cannon ball does the trick. Decaptitates, severs body parts (arms/legs) or the body itself. No pocket model out yet.

Concur w/the LE instructor. There is no guaranteed one shot stop handgun bullet and it's all a matter of shot placement. Recall the story about Carlos Hathcock using a 30-06 to shoot the VC/NVA in the chest. The guy responded by charging. Another round. Still charging. Head shot. Plop!

 

[Jim K]

Hi, 4v50 Gary,

I got out my seance equipment and checked with one Leonidas K. Polk, who was on the receiving end of the heaviest sniper rifle of the unpleasantness between the states, a 20 pdr Parrott.

He says you are right.

Jim

 

[Leaky Waders]

From my experience there is no such thing as overwhelming knockdown power. That is the bullet transferring all of its energy into the target and blowing it backwards a number of yards.

Sure...a .22 will sometimes make a can dance a bit but it doesn't blow it a half a mile away.

No duck, dove, goose, quail or any other fowl I have ever shot in the air was blown upwards towards the sun...they roll to the earth in the same general direction they were headed. (Or fly off mocking my lame shot )

I think the flipping and flopping seen w/ small and large land game is termed knockdown when it's really reflexes, fight or flight or some combination.

Using simple physics, I think it would be odd for me...at 165 lbs to shoulder a weapon and blow something backwards several yards that equals or exceeded my weight while I stood my ground.

My two cents...in the big scheme of life it probably doesn't matter too much unless you are on the receiving end.

v/r,

LW

PS My argument excludes catapults and cadillacs - either driven by jilted lovers.

 

[Moparmike]

The day when I can knock something down with a bullet without so much as moving myself (yay physics ) is the day when I can leap over rivers, ditches, and stacked hay in a '69 Charger by yelling "Yeeeehaawwww!", flooring it, and using the convieniently placed bush next to the obstacle to be crossed.