I killed a pheasant today.....

[Smellydog]

much rather have energy dumped

Think about what you are saying.
The bullet that penciled through failed to function. Had it functioned , expanded and still passed through the outcome would be satisfactory. Or do you think the failed bullet needed to go slower?

For a bullet to go from really fast to a complete stop in just a short distance of a critters body, an awful lot of that distance the bullet will not be doing any damage at all! Same applies to airgun pellets and shotgun pellets.

 

[Mr Tree]

I had a lot more runners with foxes using frangible bullets, than with bullets that go through em.

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

Lead would have passed through the bird SD ?Thought the idea was to transfer energy from the shot to the bird to kill it
And thinking about it - i have found far less steel shot in the birds i have done - than with lead - i might do 20/30 a week

I don't think a little 2.6mm pellet is going to impart that much energy anyway. It'd more be the quantity of pellets penetrating vitals in a bird I reckon

 

[Smellydog]

I don't think a little 2.6mm pellet is going to impart that much energy anyway. It'd more be the quantity of pellets penetrating vitals in a bird I reckon

Absolutely. Shotguns work on the accumulative effect of multiple strikes.

If it was energy alone we depended on then a shotgun pellet scores very low...even lower with a steel pellet, even larger steel pellets!