Muzzle energy, as in foot pounds of energy equating to a bullet's power in overcoming game animals is a number that has little if any meaning in this world.
: Some animal species or individual animals are suseptable to expiring due to massive tissue shock caused from rapidly expanding or exploading bullets, whereas some are not impressed by this measure of 'power'. The higher the fpe number, supposedly, the more killing or incapacitating the round is. When you slam a big moose or buffalo with 4,200 foot pounds of ripping energy from a .300 magnum, and see him continuing to chew his lilypad stem, you may wonder if fpe has any worthwhile meaning. The next time out and with identical shot placement for all intents and purposes, you see a .30/30 developing 1,700fpe drop a moose in it's tracks at the shot, bam/slam. Hmmmm - maybe the 'numbers' are reversed - the smaller the number, the better killing power? We know that isn't so, or shouldn't be so, but the results from those expamples seem to indicate that?
; This was only one comparrison expample.
; How about a .535" round ball from an iron-sighted muzzleloader, developing a gigantic 230 foot pounds of energy at impact, dropping a bull moose within 40 yards of where it was standing at impact, stone dead on the run, yet 25 min. earlier that day, a 180gr. Nosler from a .300 WTBY, impacting with over 3,000fpe, the moose merely walked a couple steps, turned around and looked over his 'flock' of cows, takes another 180gr. Nosler from that 'other' side and stands for 1-1/2 minutes before falling over. The muzzleloader moose had holes through his lungs and heart, while the .300 WTBY blew the lungs up completely, and cut the heart in 1/2. Much more damage, yet that moose wasn't nearly as impressed as he didn't even know he'd been shot. The ML moose took off instantly at the shot, yet dropped stone dead in seconds.
; These sort of comparrisons could go on and on, but do show one thing, that fpe is an exceptionally poor method of showing potential killing or incapaciting power. It is a number with no meaning relative to game animals we hunt. Afterall, 1 fpe means the energy to lift a 1 pound object, 1 foot, at sea level. Have you ever shot into something that aborbed all the energy of your bullet, yet wasn't moved at all? How far was it lifted? That .300 WTBY moose didn't even ripple it's hide when that 180gr. Nosler, DUMPED all it's energy into it, let alone be moved sieways, upwards or down to the ground by the incredible theoretical force of 3,000 pounds of energy, over 3 times the moose's own weight, not only once, but twice, 6,000 foot pounds. 6,000 pounds moved 1 foot - yeah, right. Who makes up these stupid formulas, anyway?