Does bullet weight really matter? It seams like as long as the bullet is going fast enough and has enough energy, bullet weight doesn't matter. Any ideas?

Mburu

Bullet weight always matters. Bullet weight drives momentum. Momentum is what determines the "knock it off its's feet" effect of a bullet. Energy is driven by velocity. If you are shooting lead cored bullet, then bullet weight is defenitly important. You need the right amount of mass to handle the impact and control expansion long enough to deliver the needed wound channel.

With the new copper and guilding metal bullets available today, bullet weight is becoming less consequential to overall killing effectiveness. However it is not nullifying the need for bullet weight. Like we said, momentum is driven by bullet weight regarldess of bullet construction.

I don't agree completely with what the Admin Said.

Yes bullet weight should be considered, but ultimately if your bullet has enough energy and has a decent amount of mass then you are fine. For example if you are trying to kill a deer, it really doesn't matter if you hit it with a 80-90 grain bullet at 3,000 ft/sec or is you hit it with a 200 grain bullet at 2,000 ft/sec. Yes as the animal gets bigger and is potential more dangerous you should make sure you deliver enough momentum. And yes I agree with the admin on the whole lead core holding together part of the discussion.

My thoughts are, bullet weight really doesn't matter on anything smaller than a medium sized deer (140 lbs and smaller). Big deer, elk and moose should be taken with bigger bullets that will hold together. But 85% of the shooting any one does is on small deer sized animals or smaller. So my opinion is use what ever you have that works. Faster usually shoots flatter, and most animals will go down with anything larger than a 55 grain bullet. So just poke a hole in em and put them down.