Thread: Interesting theory of what causes instant "knockdown"

https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/fi...-really-a-myth

All this light bullet going very fast business has gotten me excited. I'm currently exploring velocity at both ends of the spectrum, as I want to improve my DRT ratio (already pretty good) but I also want a clinical subsonic deer killer - hence the interest in 8.6 BLK etc. Two very different terminal ballistic categories.

I came across a piece on the Meateater site in a blog (linked) where they talk about what potentially causes instant “DRT” knockdown. Whether there is a relationship between the timing of the animal's heartbeat, blood pressure and the hydrostatic shock wave, causing a fatal spike in blood pressure in the brain.

They don’t produce any direct evidence because they can't find it, but apparently there is a veterinary study in South Africa somewhere on cull buffalo that showed a clear relationship between brain hemorrhage and instant collapse, in a sample of cull animals that were all shot in the same place (H&L chest shots). Those that ran a ways showed no sign of brain injury whereas every single one that collapsed on the spot had a brain hemorrhage. The theory is its all in the timing - over which the shooter has no control.

I thought this was very interesting but as yet it remains unsubstantiated. I really want to find that article because I’m curious to see if this is indeed true or whether it’s something some bright spark has dreamt up.

We've (generally) ascribed instant knockdown phenomenon with chest shots to the Hilar zone and breaking the autonomic nervous system links back to the brain. I know that when I started targeting the hilar with the classic front line of foreleg, halfway up point of aim, adjusting for angle, my DRT percentage went up significantly. Calibre doesn't seem important. .223, .243, 6.5, .308 all achieve hilar bang flops without difficulty.

So, where are we on the blood pressure / brain hemorrhage thing? Any of our South African members come across this supposed study? I really really want to find it but so far nada.