Energy numbers provide a standard for comparison of cartridges with each other. For "what kills best" and "what stops best" energy numbers alone don't mean much. There are many other factors at work, and no generalization (except my signature line
) seems to cover all possible situations adequately.
for an illustration of how energy numbers alone don't work in every real world situation, look at some extreme differences that have the same energy numbers.
A 405gr .45-70 bullet in the 1300fps range produces approx. 1500 ft/lbs of energy.
A 55gr .22-250 bullet in the 3500fps range produces approx. 1500 ft/lbs of energy.
If energy were the only thing that mattered then with the same amount of energy these two rounds should perform identically on game, right?
They don't. Which leads me to conclude there is more at work than just energy numbers alone.