It reappears every season in new forms: A hunter picks out a cartridge to do what it sounds like, rather than what it reliably does in tissue. It is that discrepancy between anticipation and terminal performance in which long tracking jobs commence.
Contemporary bullets are perfect, and they cannot resist nature or law of physics. The terminal ballistics is eventually concerned with the result of impact, the penetration of a projectile, its disruption of vital structures and permanent wound track instead of apotheary mythology of energy dumping. According to one of the technical descriptions, terminal ballistics is the science of the projectile behavior when it strikes its target.
Not all of these cartridges are used illegally. The hustle begins when they are forced into employment in areas where the average bullet weight, building and impact speed can no longer offer the same penetration and tissue destruction to bigger-bodied game.
1. .223 Remington
The 223 Remington is not a bad kid: it has a low recoil, good practical accuracy and a low trajectory that hits easily even on small targets. Using standard 55-grain loads of over 3,200 fps, the round could take about 1280 foot-pounds at the tip. That figure is respectable on a box flap, but it is not that thing which is reliable penetration with heavy muscle and bone.
The step between varmints and big bodied animals is where the expectations go astray. On bigger game the allowance of the cartridge is reduced rapidly, since the bullet merely has less weight to sustain the propulsion of the shot, when the angles become steeper, or when shoulder structure is interfered with. With sufficient impact velocity to cause some of the.22-caliber bullets to jump high and cry, such action is not shot-to-shot, distance-to-distance, and animal-to-animal predictable.
2. 5.56×45 NATO
Since 5.56 NATO is the same diameter as .223, it is frequently confused in the same discussion and in hunting also, the same restriction is generally applicable; light bullets which lack much leeway when dealing with hard body parts. In most rifles 5.56 is loaded to a greater pressure than.223 and this may add velocity, however velocity does not substitute sectional density and bullet integrity when the target is constructed like a tank.
To a large extent, the popular discourse of small, fast rounds has been based on shock and transfer of energy. The greater reality is less difficult: bullets kill living beings by killing the central nervous system or by causing excessive loss of blood. When a cartridge has trouble reaching and disrupting those structures, at angles other than perfectly, then it is operating on borrowed time.
3. .22-250 Remington
.22-250 is speed on tap. Light bullets may come off the muzzle at about 3,800 fps when they create the type of trajectory that simplifies closeness to predators and small targets. The same velocity combined with bullets in those thin jackets with the purpose of rapid expansion is precisely what is going to make the cartridge fail when it is required to go deep and controlled.
The most powerful hook of the round, which is velocity, is also a temptation to the shooter to exaggerate its performance when tested on heavy animals. In the case of a light projectile, high speed disturbance may be dramatic in front and unimposing in depth. What it leads to is a very tight margin in which everything must fall into place: bullet selection, bullet velocity, and shot angle. Beyond that window the performance becomes not impressive but fast and shallow.
4. .243 Winchester
243 Winchester is a deer rifle in a happy place: Recoil is low enough that deer are comfortable, downrange performance is fine, and bullets in the 90 to 100-grain range are manageable. That makes it a confidence-builder in the business, and confidence gets shots to hit where they are needed.
However, at bigger target size, .243 starts to feel good on paper, tight in action. The cartridge has the ability to kill large animals but it is not adding much additional penetration capability to the party when a shot passes through heavy bone or when it has to penetrate a great deal of tissue due to quartering shots. This is the place where the universally known fact that caliber counts, the bullet does not deceive the shooter: the construction of projectiles can assist, but it cannot make up all a lack of mass and sectional density.
5. 7.62×39mm
The 7.62x39mm has real world plausibility: it has sufficient recoil that can be controlled, is consistently dependable in use in most applications, and has sufficient punch to shoot deer at reasonable ranges. Average loads propel a 123-grain bullet approximately 2350 fps producing approximately 1500 foot-pounds at the tip.
The range and retained velocity result in the disappointment. Beyond 150 yards the fall-off, both of trajectory and impact velocity, commence, and this decreases the terminal-performance margin, particularly when the bullet is not of a type expected to expand confidently at lower velocities. Within its comfort zone, it is able to work. Beyond it, the cartridge is a lesson of energy and velocity loss, no solution.
6. .30 Carbine
The 30 Carbine is frequently regarded as a sort of a real rifle round since it is fired out of a shoulder-fired platform and it is carrying military history. It acts more like a hot handgun cartridge, ballistically, with a 110-grain bullet at about 1990 fps. That is some good background when individuals think it is supposed to work as old deer cartridges.
It can make the business at a short distance, on small game. The thing is that can turns out to be the sales pitch whereas consistently is the requirement of the ethical use of the field. In larger animals the low velocity and choice of bullet design of the cartridge limits penetration and reliability of expansion, particularly where the shot is not in the most ideal position, broadside, and in soft ribs.
7. .17 HMR
17 HMR is a precision joy maker straight enough to range over small targets, though not difficult to shoot. Ordinary loads propel a 17 grains bullet at approximately 2, 550 fps, yet the important figure is energy: it is barely more than 250 foot-pounds at the muzzle.
And that mix begs the common fallacy of equating accuracy and authority. It is not very important to hit precisely where one intends the projectile to go when in the real world, it is unable to penetrate deep enough to cause damage to important organs when shot at. Being a rimfire that aimed at small varmints, it performs very well when it is in its lane.
None of these cartridges are “bad.” Each has roles where it is efficient, accurate, and genuinely useful. The mismatch happens when marketing shorthand speed, flat trajectory, “knockdown” replaces the unglamorous checklist: adequate penetration, reliable bullet performance at expected impact speeds, and a wound channel that reaches what matters most.”
