“But always there is present this feeling of unexplained relations of events”
Charles Fort
Handgun Hunting!
For the first time in my life, I went big-game handgun hunting yesterday!
Vicki and I were at Shawnee Ridge in OH.
I used my S&W 629 (six-inch barrel, 44 Magnum, iron sights) with Cor-Bon (original manufacturer) 225gr DPX (all copper) ammunition.
I was able to get within fifteen meters of a 150lb Barbary ram (broadside, partially obscured by a tree trunk), and I put a single round, via trigger-cocking mode, into the animal’s chest.
The bullet broke the ram’s shoulder, blew-off the top of his heart, traversed 30cm (12 inches), and came to rest just under the skin on the opposite side. We recovered the bullet, fully expanded, but in one piece. It performed as advertised!
Upon being struck, the animal began to walk away, but both my guide and I were convinced it would fall over after only a few wobbly steps, as we were both confident of a solid hit.
We were both wrong!
The ram ran several hundred meters before finally collapsing, and we had to chase it all the way!
Interestingly, Vicki shot a identically-sized ram with her M4 (5.56×45, 55 gr Defiant TCX) an hour later, at a range of seventy-five meters, broadside, and the bullet struck in nearly the same spot. That bullet penetrated the same amount of animal flesh, but went through-and-through and was not recovered. From the exit wound, I am confident it expanded, as designed. The animal’s heart was blown to pieces!
Upon being struck, the ram dropped instantly, kicked a few times, but never took another step, dying in place.
I am persuaded what made the difference in terminal effect between my shot and Vicki’s is velocity!
My single 44 Magnum bullet impacted at 1350 f/s. Vicki’s 55gr 223 bullet impacted at 3100 f/s, and that substantial additional velocity is what brought about the difference in outcomes.
This instantly paralytic “neural-shock effect,” as we saw with Vicki’s animal, is rarely seen below 2200 f/s. That seems to be the ballistic velocity threshold.
What is actually happening within the animal’s body in the later case I am not prepared to explain!
My neurologist friends acknowledge the phenomenon, but have never explained it (at least to me) in any kind of understandable way.
Another member of our party shot two other animals today, also using Vicki’s M4 with the same ammunition, and terminal effect was identical, with the exception that one animal, after going right down with the first shot, got back up a minute later and began gingerly running, while displaying very little disability!
Thus, while “neural shock,” may be galvanizing and virtually instantaneous, it sometimes departs as suddenly as it arrives, as we see.
We live and learn!
/John