The truth about the “killing power” of rifle cartridges

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As a child, I read far too much about guns and took far too much of it seriously. A cornerstone of all of these neologisms was “killing power,” which was about assigning mystical numerical values ​​to the supposed ability of cartridges to bring down game quickly. These numbers were invented by calculations involving bullet weight, velocity, muzzle energy, whether Jupiter was in alignment with Mars, and when the tide was low in the Bay of Fundy. The only thing sillier I have seen is the PSR (Personal Survival Rating) number given to contestants at Naked and scared. (If the show were assigned a PBNADW number—Psychological Problems Not Adequately Dealt With—I would believe it.)

Every kill power formula I have ever seen is missing a few key elements. The most important of these is the shooter's ability

. People who can really shoot can use virtually any cartridge and be successful with it. People who can't shoot well, who tend to flinch or panic, can't make anything work for them. So you can use a .338

the most effective cartridge I have ever used and give it to someone who is afraid of it because it has recoil and the cartridge has hardly any killing power. A miss is a miss and a bullet to the stomach is a bullet to the stomach.

**See also: The Hottest New Rifle and Shotgun Ammo for 2023

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Bullet performance

and killing power

The second missing element in calculating the killing power is the performance of the bullet

that I have never seen considered anywhere. I started hunting seriously in 1968, which gave me about 30 years of the spoiled bullet era, and so I have seen a lot of bullets fail – all calibers, all weights, all types. If your bullet doesn't work, you have very little killing power left.

A failure to hold together is worse than a failure to expand, and that failure reached its nadir in 1987 when Winchester released a version of the Silvertip that would disintegrate if it hit a thick blanket of thistle wool. That Silvertip was so awful that it sent shivers down the spines of bullet makers everywhere. The company underwent an agonizing re-evaluation and began not only making much better bullets, but also conducting realistic testing.

I'd like to say our bullet problems are over, but I fear that the current long-range craze will lead many people to hunt with high BC bullets that are overly streamlined and therefore structurally weak. Currently, streamlining and structural strength are incompatible. There may be a .600 BC bullet out there somewhere that is great for big, tough game, but I don't know anything about it.

Too many variables

A hippopotamus can teach you one thing about bullets: the killing power depends on the animal. Agency LEEROY from Pixabay

The rule of hunting is that whatever your killing power, anything can and will happen and you should accept that and be prepared for it. This explains how I drowned a bull hippo in the Luangua River in Zambia in 1987. We had received a request on shortwave that a previous client's hippo skull had been lost or stolen en route to the taxidermist and could I please shoot a replacement? And so PH Abie Du Plooy and I walked along the banks of the Luangua, which is the hippo hub, until we found a beautiful bull sleeping soundly with his snout right at the water's edge, dreaming of biting crocodiles or female hippos or whatever bull hippos dream about in half.

The rifle I had was a .458 loaded with 510-grain Trophy Bonded Soft Noses, which expand to a truly enormous diameter on impact. However, I shot where I was supposed to, which was just below the ear, where the skull is more like a safe than anything else, and the bullet penetrated maybe ½ inch, so little that I was able to pull the bullet out with my fingers. The blunt trauma must have been incredible, and the hippo was unconscious. Its head slid forward until its nostrils were submerged, and it drowned. (The bullet expanded to its usual colossal diameter, by the way.) How does drowning factor into killing power? I don't know.

Or take my strange experience with the .300 Weatherby Magnum, which has been around since 1944, used all over the world and for everything, and whose so-called killing power is never questioned. In my case, it either killed like lightning, or the animals it hit ignored what was happening and only fell over after several fatal hits. What do you think? I have no idea.

The facts about the so-called killing power

I have seen many animals find their Creator and have sent many of them on this journey myself. Here are a few things I can tell you about this topic:

1. The placement of the ball is crucial.

A .223 in the heart has much greater killing power than a .375 H&H in the ear. If you can't shoot, it doesn't matter what you use. If you can shoot, it doesn't matter what you use.

2. Hard balls are best.

If you have to choose between a hard bullet that will hold together securely and a squishy one that expands quickly and can give you a quick death, always go for the hard bullet. It will penetrate and do its job, and you may have to track, but so what? That's part of the hunt. The squishy bullet can give you – not to mention the poor animal – a horror show.

For African game, the author relies on Swift A-Frame bullets. Fast

If you want to see a PH smile when he asks you what kind of bullets you shoot with, tell him “Swift A-Frames.” They are infallible from what I've seen. The general rule on safaris in Africa is that you pay for the hit whether you find it or not. The search for a wounded trophy can take days, making the hunt less than wonderful. I was on a search for a wounded eland that was unsuccessful and took a day and a half. I once saw a helicopter used to search for a wounded roan, a rare and extremely expensive animal. Hiring the helicopter (which found the animal) was less painful than paying thousands of dollars for a lost animal.

3. Some species Are harder than others.

That's the only way I can explain things I've seen time and time again. Moose can take more punishment than anything I've seen in North America and still keep going. In Africa, three of the four major antelope species – eland, roan and sable – are tough, but the fourth, the kudu, is not. The legendary toughness of the Cape buffalo is a fact.

4. Forget the nonsense about one-shot kills.

If you hit it and it staggers on its feet, shoot again. If it runs away and hesitates, giving you a chance to shoot, shoot again. If it is dangerous and appears dead, shoot again. I have known people who refused to shoot a second time so they could claim a one-shot, thereby prolonging the animal's suffering. They belong in hell with a broken back.

5. If you trust a cartridge based on your experience, stick with it

Trust breeds confidence, and confidence improves the shooter's performance. The cartridge I trust more than any other is the .338 (and by extension the .340 Weatherby and the .338 Remington Ultra Mag). I have never seen anything that could stand up to it, either here or in Africa. It is not an antidote to bad shooting, but when used with the right bullets (250-grain, Nosler Partitions or Swift A-Frames) I have never seen anything get more than 100 yards with a good hit. In New Zealand I met a hunter who used a .340 Weatherby in Africa, and during the course of the safari the trackers called his gun Boom pop, boom for the sound of the gunshot and flop for the sound of the animal hitting the ground violently. Regardless of what you pack (including .338), you'll be much better served by taking the time to read about killing power and using it at the range to work on your marksmanship.