¯ Larry was discussing "Armed And Dangerous" with Wayne. ®
WT> LG¯ I prefer Edward Matunas' Optimum Game Weight calculation to
WT> LG¯ the old FPE calculation, which basically gives you a number
WT> LG¯ without any baseline for reference. In most laymen's terms,
WT> LG¯ fpe has very little meaning.  Optimum Game Weight, OTOH,
WT> LG¯ tells one *exactly* what one wants to know about the end
WT> LG¯ results of a projectile.
WT> I'm familiar with the above, and it's useful too as long as you
WT> are using playing with modern cartridges.
LG¯ There's its limitations, alright.
It assumes that you are using a hunting-style bullet properly
constructed for the game being hunted...
WT> It seems to fall apart when you plug in heavy, slow-moving
WT> projetiles such as  those developed for the Sharps, Ballard, and
WT> single-shot Winchesters of the last quarter of the nineteenth
WT> century.  It's been fairly well proven that rounds like the
WT> .44-90-500 Sharps, or the .45-110 Winchester for example can
WT> take any game in North America (up to, and including the big
WT> bears) cleanly.
LG¯ As will the old standby .45-70. Hmmm...Taylor Knock-Out Factor,
LG¯ anyone?
Irrelevant!  The .45-70 kills far better then its ballistics imply.
Even loaded to old black powder standards, it's capable of taking
any game on the planet (including African Elephant, rhino, and cape
buffalo) at ranges under a hundred yards.  When loaded to its full
potential, in a strong modern firearm, it's so close to the .458 Win
magnum in power that no game hit by either could ever tell the
difference...
LG¯ BTW, Elmer Keith must be smiling down fondly on you.
Maybe...  We both like large caliber weaponry.  We part company when
it comes to the speed we like to see the projectiles fired though.
Elmer wanted heavy bullets with as much speed as possible, and I
think that large caliber bullets loaded to a more moderate velocity
level will do as good a job as any of the "hot-rods", and in some
cases better...
WT> LG¯ and we all know that the .22 will do better than that in the
WT> LG¯ real world.
WT> True.  Perhaps by a factor of TEN.  IF the right bullet is used,
WT> AND that bullet is placed properly...
LG¯ Under ideal conditions, even better than ten. Much better. It's
LG¯ all I ever used to slaughter twelve hundred pound steers and
LG¯ four hundred pound hogs with. But, as said, those were *ideal*
LG¯ conditions.
True.  I've done the same, and it's not a fair gauge of a
cartridge's ability as a hunting round.  After all, out in the
field, you can't stick the muzzle in the animal's ear and pull the
trigger....
WT> I suppose it depends on how you figure.  Neither formula is
WT> perfect, but both offer a uniform way of comparing one cartridge
WT> to another as long as you recognize the limitations of each.
LG¯ Yep. Assuming one has a little knowledge about cartridges in
LG¯ general.  Unfortunately, I run into an inordianate number of
LG¯ people who ought to know better, but don't. Know one deer hunter
LG¯ who doesn't know the difference between a 7mm-08 and a 7mm Rem.
LG¯ Mag.  And he *hunts with* a 7mm-08.   And he ain't
LG¯ *that* rare, at that.
Nope, I've run into several like that too.  One being so out of the
loop that he thinks that he can ONLY fire Winchester brand ammo in
his model `94 Winchester.  He told me that Remington brand was for
Remington rifles, and Winchester brand was for Winchester.  I didn't
bother to ask him what brand of rifle Federal, Speer, etc. was made
for...........
WT> Funny!!!  Thanks for the laugh!!!!!!
LG¯ Just trying to keep it topical. Now, if we could just work some
LG¯ of those inner city math questions into a ballistics
LG¯ format...
I'm sure you'll figure a way...
LG¯ You know, like: "If Johnny was trying to sell an eight-ball, and
LG¯ was ripped off, how far would he have to lead a running "client"
LG¯ at twenty five yards with a Raven .25? Would there be any
LG¯ holdover? Or wind drift?
SEE?!  You've already started!!!
                              \x/7
.45 ACP:  ONE-HUNDRED years of successful practical testing!
... 7.62x39, 7.62x51, 7.62x54, 7.62x63.  Numbers you can have fun with!
---
 * ¯ NRA Life Member, 1972 ® *
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