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MLeake · October 12, 2010, 12:51 PM

Saw a guy demonstrate pretty conclusively that a .44magnum 240gr JHP, fired from a Marlin 94, might not do such a good job of penetrating the cartilage, muscle, and bone behind a 200-250lb hog's front shoulder. Hog ran into the brush, and the shooter ended up needing a coup de grace at the base of the skull to put it down. When the hog was butchered, the bullet was found, quite deformed, stuck in the shoulder cartilage.

OTOH, another guy in that group shot a 250lb hog broadside, from about 15yds, with a 12ga slug. Hit it about two ribs back from the front shoulder, midway from chest to spine. That hog also ran off into the brush. When found, it no longer required a coup de grace, as it had bled out. Only lesson learned there was that even killing wounds, from big bullets, may not immediately stop the target.

While people are in the same basic weight class as hogs, our skeleto-muscular structures aren't nearly as tough, and we don't have nearly as much cartilage. JHP tends to work pretty well on human tissues, and the reputable makes penetrate deep enough, reliably.

Ball ammo tends to be popular with militaries because it feeds reliably, rather than for killing efficacy or lack thereof, especially when many militaries have a variety of weapons in any given caliber.

A lot of people in the forum seem to like to quote Marshall and Sanow, although many of their findings are challenged by statisticians and ballisticians. But their findings for .45acp showed stoppage rates around 90% for 230gr JHP, but only around 65% for ball. And that was with 80's vintage JHP, not the new, bonded stuff that actually expands very reliably at lower velocities. Makes one wonder...

October 12, 2010, 12:51 PM	#25
MLeake Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2007 Location: Outside KC, MO Posts: 10,128	Depends on what you're hunting Saw a guy demonstrate pretty conclusively that a .44magnum 240gr JHP, fired from a Marlin 94, might not do such a good job of penetrating the cartilage, muscle, and bone behind a 200-250lb hog's front shoulder. Hog ran into the brush, and the shooter ended up needing a coup de grace at the base of the skull to put it down. When the hog was butchered, the bullet was found, quite deformed, stuck in the shoulder cartilage. OTOH, another guy in that group shot a 250lb hog broadside, from about 15yds, with a 12ga slug. Hit it about two ribs back from the front shoulder, midway from chest to spine. That hog also ran off into the brush. When found, it no longer required a coup de grace, as it had bled out. Only lesson learned there was that even killing wounds, from big bullets, may not immediately stop the target. While people are in the same basic weight class as hogs, our skeleto-muscular structures aren't nearly as tough, and we don't have nearly as much cartilage. JHP tends to work pretty well on human tissues, and the reputable makes penetrate deep enough, reliably. Ball ammo tends to be popular with militaries because it feeds reliably, rather than for killing efficacy or lack thereof, especially when many militaries have a variety of weapons in any given caliber. A lot of people in the forum seem to like to quote Marshall and Sanow, although many of their findings are challenged by statisticians and ballisticians. But their findings for .45acp showed stoppage rates around 90% for 230gr JHP, but only around 65% for ball. And that was with 80's vintage JHP, not the new, bonded stuff that actually expands very reliably at lower velocities. Makes one wonder...