Boys,
I have an extensive library on hunting, firearms, ballistics, firearm history and sport shooting.
When I started hunting, very soon I was intrigued about bullet types and their terminal effect in hunting. Then, why some bullet is triple the price of some other bullet?
Guess what?
I was not able to find any book on the subject of hunting bullet terminal ballistics.
To my knowledge this book does not exist.
If you know about such book, pls let me know.
Forensic ballistic covers other subject only paritally and forensic ballistc draws mostly from FMJ and war casualties on the subject on effect on people. (and police work for collecting evidence)
Not covering effect on animals, not by different type of hunting bullets.
The question remain, then how to approach and learn this subject?
My way of collecting some modest knowledge on hunting bullet terminal ballistics was internet search, and marketing materials by different brands.
But marketing materials, are not science, and always must be taken with a grain of salt and some distance.
A bit more reliable source on hunting bullet terminal ballistic could be found in different specialized hunting magazines, by well known reputable authors.
The bad part is, their usual approach is to describe effect of single bullet type, from one factory - they were last using, by courtesy of this factory - for marketing purposes
So, in this way, there is no systematization, of bullet per type, per use, at one place, for a person to get entire vision of the subject.
So, it is very hard that average Joe will easily get the knowledge about premium and non premium bullets.
The things also get murky, by simple fact that every bullet kills, and shot placement is paramount.
So whats the difference?
In my hunting community, it is still perceived that hunters paying high price for premium ammo are just showing off their class and status. premium RWS ammo looks good with Blaser r8 rifle and beretta hunting clothes.
Choice of ammo, based on looking good in community.
And cheaper bullets are for working class.
This is general perception, and majority do not see the true difference.
A hunter tells me he killed a bear, or a deer. I ask, what bullet did you use? he answers, RWS.
I know he knows nothing.
If I get answer, bellot spce (the cheapest on market) i know he is tight on budget, and knows nothing
In conclusion, if you know any book or publication that covers terminal hunting ballistics in perspective of bullet types, calibers and game, pls let me know.
I would like to address some of what you are saying but please understand I am not trying to be an ass. I am merely responding to your statements from a different view point and i am certainly not saying you are wrong or anything like that. I just found your perspective interesting which is the great thing about forums like this. Multiple people with multiple backgrounds, experiences, and the like make for wonderful conversations and I always walk away having learned something every time.
So the later part of your post is a great representative of pseudo what I meant on the whole machismo thing, its just the other end of that spectrum and is sheer ignorance. The whole that's a rich guy thing is an absurd argument due to lack of knowledge and an unwillingness to learn and advance their knowledge base in the sport. Yes all bullets can kill but it is a fact some kill better than others.
I also get your point on the availability of certain information but it is out there. someone commented on articles and there are a heckava lot of them on terminal ballistics of various bullet types and calibers.
Now, I'm going to make a statement but I want to stress that it is not meant as an ego or 'I'm a cool guy statement" because I am far from it. As many know, I was a policeman for many years. During that time, I spent quite a significant portion of my career in our homicide unit as a forensic investigator. there was years of training and study involved to do that in order to testify in court. I have been to more forensic study courses than I can remember everywhere from the Texas DPS Academy and Labs to forensic study courses at Texas Tech University. A huge portion, and one of the reasons that I wanted to go that route to begin with was due to ballistics and my interest in that subject. I will agree that the bulk and especially the older information in book form is on military ammunition however, there is equally as much to the contrary. When it comes to ballistics humans make a great analog for deer sized game. ( Deer and wildlife are actually much "tougher" so to speak as they have a much higher survival instinct. They don't know they are supposed to keel over and die when shot)
Especially with the advent of ballistic gel and the advanced gel technologies there has been a ton of data released in reference to hunting bullets as well as pistol, military, and everything else one can think of. Hell there are tons of studies done on stab wounds, slices, you name it. This information is readily available to the public as are tests and studies on various rounds and calibers in relation to protective vests and everything else. If you can dream of it there is dang good odds someone has studied it and published some form of information about it. I've seen tests on YouTube by civilians comparing the terminal effects of hornady, barnes, sierra, etc of various calibers and grain weights in head to head tests. It is out there but i would agree there is not a single fully comprehensive book covering the terminal ballistics of all hunting bullets, styles, weights, calibers, impact velocity, so on and so forth but that doesn't mean the information is available. It also doesnt mean that, that information isn't reliable. Sure trust but verify but many of the tests preformed by civilians are conducted under perfectly acceptable circumstances for what it is used for. Hell we are hunting animals not trying to testify as expert witnesses in a court of law.
Additionally, I used to love to try to recreate circumstances to better understand how things happen and a million other things. I highly encourage people to study and try things to see how bullets react under certain circumstances. If one is curious about bullet performance most simple test, though admittedly not necessarily the best method, is to simply dig the bullets out of the backstop and see what they did. Of course you need a private area to do this but many people have a shooting spot this can be done at outside of a public range. Use various mediums and see what happens, one will learn a ton and it is cheap and easy to do. No one hardly uses phone books anymore and they make a great medium to shoot into as is wood, cider blocks, etc. Be very very careful with hard objects as ricochet can cause serious injuries or worse. Ballistic gel is available on the open market. It can be expensive and its a little messy and a pita sometimes but you can pour it with various bones in it as well. You can get as elaborate as one's patience and pocket book can afford. I've used entire human analogs with a complete skeletal system and organs for tests before. They are super expensive but if someone just has to know and doesn't have an animal to autopsy it can be done. Every successful hunter has all the information they need for that particular animal under a particular set of circumstances to work with. Do a homemade autopsy on the animal as you clean it. I cant tell you how many times I've done this when working on loads and experimenting with bullet types. At the end of the day we are hunters and hopefully if we are successful we have the perfect test subject. If you want to kill a deer and are successful well by golly you have everything you need right there to get a pretty good idea of practical real time terminal ballistics. Again, we are hunting not trying to get a doctorate or testify in court. The proof is always in the pudding. Take pictures, note the particular circumstances of the hunt, literally as in take notes. Photograph bullet paths, organ damage, bullet penetration, performance, and on and on. If someone really wants to get that involved approach it with the mentality as it is a research project.
Of course, few people have the desire, time, and money to go all out nor does it make a person wrong in not doing so. My entire point is that I disagree that the information isn't out there. It is right in front of every one of us every time we shoot and recover an animal. It doesn't have to come from a noted scientist, lab, author, or university. We are talking about real world practical information. There is endless amounts of it. Not everyone has to have the background of some of the members in the forum to do this.
