by smurfman on Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:26 am
Another thing about Taylor's TKO formula that many do not consider is it is applicable to non-expanding bullets, not expanding. The main idea behind it was to predict how long an elephant would be knocked out by a hit in the head but did not reach the brain. A secondary use was to estimate how effective a given bullet cartridge combo would be on elephant or other very large game. Another factor to consider in calculations is it favors flat nose bullets over round nose with added "points" being given to larger meplats.
As to the stopping power of a 500 S&W compared to about anything else, I may be the only person here to have first hand experience to someone shot with this round. About 2006 we were dispatched to a shooting. Upon arriving, the victim was found slumped on the basement floor in front of the utility sink. He had been shot once through the right lung. Aid was administered and the victim was taken to the nearest Level ! trauma center where he died in surgery less than an hour later.
The background in the shooting was the victim was shot by a family member when the victim refused to stop knocking on the door during a drunken argument. The bullet went through a 1950's solid pine door of about an inch thick, hit the victim in the right chest, and then exited the victim as well as the outside wall. Needless to say, the bullet was not found.
After realizing he had been shot, the victim yelled out to the family member and then turned around, walked several feet to the stairs, went down two flights of stairs to the main floor, walked most the 30'+ length of the house, down another flight of stairs to the basement, crossed another 20 some feet to the sink, and then fell to the floor after turning on the water and beginning to wash up. During this time 911 had been called. It took several minutes for the police to secure the scene, another several minutes to package the victim for transport and get him to the ambulance, and about 10 minutes to get to the hospital.
The victim was able to ambulate for a half minute, maybe more, after being shot before growing too weak to remain on his feet. This incident is not a ringing endorsement for the 500 S&W as a man stopper though I would not volunteer to be shot with one any more than I would to be shot with a 25 ACP.
This is a sample size of one so is not statistically accurate but it is what I personally experienced. It is an anecdotal example that foot pounds of energy is not the be all end all some think and that more depends on bullet placement and to a lesser extent, the damage caused. In the above case, the bullet appeared to have acted much like a solid in that there was not much damage going in or out, even after penetrating an old solid pine door.
I have seen a few of the other side of the coin too, "weak" options killing rapidly due to shot placement. From the examples I have seen and what I have seen/read from other sources, I have come away with the opinion that shot placement key and that there is not only a "minimum" standard that a cartridge has to meet but there is also a "maximum" in which anything more has diminishing affects. Not that the latter becomes less lethal but that the benefits are not as noticeable as one would think.