Hey all,

I am really enjoying the responses to what "Woods Gun" you would pack in my make believe wilderness that is chock full of the meanest critters known to man. It's even better when pics are added....some really stunning handguns are in that thread. Thank you all for playing around a bit and adding your thoughts.

What I would now like to know is where I can go online and check ammo energy levels and compare them to other calibers. I have found charts that have all sorts of ammo listed, but they won't have some of the hot loads listed like Buffalo bore and Cor-Bon or they'll not have the hotter hunting loads listed. If you were going to compare the 45LC to the 44mag you'd have to go back and forth to several different tables and then go to a couple different manufacturers sites and get THEIR data and compare it to what you found on the other tables...a time consuming process as I am sure you know.

Is there a place that I can go and compare the power levels of these calibers that were mentioned in my thread I referenced above without jumping back and forth to all different sites and charts? What is the best online ballistic info that includes Buffalo Bore, Core Bon and the hotter loadings that allows comparison to other calibers and such? I would guess there is a software program that you could use, but I am NOT a reloader.

I am just wanting an easy and convenient place I can go and do a comparison of the energies from a typical 10mm hunting load to a typical 45Colt Hunting load, just an example. Or find out if a full power 357mag is equal in energy to a practice load in 44mag. I don't know these things and would like to learn more.

Anyone know of a place to learn it online? What's the best charts to use?

Thanks again for help.

Nalajr

I don't know of any tables to help answer your question. Often times, manufacturers' published figures about their ammunition are "optimistic" to say the least anyway. What you can do is use a free online ballistic calculator. You will need to do a bit of research and find some data points, such as velocity, ballistic coefficient for the bullet, etc. But if you have all the data necessary you can figure out external ballistic information that will match your setup and your location far more accurately than any generic table.

External Ballistics Calculator

Another good thing about a calculator is that you can see retained energy at various distances, as well as bullet drop to help you with your zero and your hold. Ammo manufacturers often simply list velocity/energy at the muzzle. This is more relevant for rifle cartridges, but I often use it for revolver loads as well when I do some long range handgun shooting. If you just want to figure out energy, here is a simple calculator that requires only bullet weight and velocity:

Bullet Kinetic Energy Calculator

Hope that helps.

About the only way to get accurate numbers is to fire it yourself over a chrono and use a energy calculator, whats listed on the box is usually overstated. Buy a copy of Ammo and ballistics.

Many of us believe that fpe numbers are pretty meaningless anyway, at least where handgun performance is concerned. The table will tell you that a 9mm 110gr bullet at 1150fps has about the same energy as a 230gr 45cal at 800. There's no question in my mind which of these is more likely to incapacitate a living organism. Army tests long ago showed that a 45cal 250gr bullet at 900fps will make two holes in an Indian pony at 100yds. Tough to do better than that with a handgun, regardless of energy calculations.

You have to know the stats and you get these from the makers, but you can calculate from this site:

www.handloads.com and find the energy calculator.
It will give you a wealth of info.

Although it is a fad to worship at the alter of muzzle energy, it does not translate directly to effectiveness on living animals. In particular, penetration is more related to momentum and cross-sectional density of the bullet. Construction of the bullet is also very important, since we no longer are restricted to plain lead bullets.

This leads to the paradox that a small lightly constructed bullet traveling at high speed can have tremendous kinetic energy, but be ineffective due to extremely shallow penetration.
Anyone who has seen a light 22-250 bullet designed for prarie dogs blow up on the ribs of a coyote knows what I mean. The coyote just runs off. On the other hand a 22-250 Nosler partition can be used to take deer effectively (in OK the 22-250 with proper ammo is legal for deer).

Unless you chrono your chosen ammo in your gun, you don't really know your MV; guessing from the various tables may be way off, especially if the table test barrel is long and unvented.
Energy Calculator

__________________
Science plus Art

Be careful to take into account different barrel lengths used to generate the test data too. They do vary from vendor to vendor.

__________________
NRA Certified Instructor

OKFC05 said it very well. I recommend re-reading his post.

You may also want to take a look at this link. While it doesn't list every available load it does feature a range of loadings that are somewhat "standard". I also like that they also have some really obsure calibers featured. BTW, scroll down and you'll also find a link to the rifle ammunitions.

List of handgun cartridges - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can drop by here and poke around, scroll down for handgun ammo and look at other manufacturers...

Hornady Bullet Ballistics Chart

The Shop Shooting Supplies | Reloading | Gunsmithing | Hunting gear — MidwayUSA website also list the technical specs.

Ballistics by the inch

is also helpful. There are a good many. The manufacturers themselves as well.

But most useful are books. Reloading catalogs for one. Also indispensible is Bob Forker's "Ammo and Ballistics" now in it's fourth edition and Barnes "Cartridges of the World" in it's 11th edition I believe.

tipoc