From: gmk@falstaff.MAE.CWRU.EDU (Geoff Kotzar)
Subject: Re: Will .357 stop a bull?
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <viking.772090594@raquel.agron.iastate.edu> viking@iastate.edu (Dan Sorenson) writes:
#	I grew up on a farm.  2000 acres, some 1000 cattle, and some
#1000 hogs each year passed though our place.  I post this for information
#only, not to make light of the situation.
#
#james@bishop.jsc.nasa.gov (James Beaman/LESC) writes:
#
##Police officers fired more than 40 shots at a charging bull in
##northwest Houston early Tuesday, hitting it at least two dozen
##times before a Harris County Sheriff's Department deputy arrived
##with a rifle to fell the injured, enraged animal.
#
#	They should have retreated and counted their blessings.
#With a bull, you've 2000lbs of beef on the hoof if it's a small
#breed like a Simmental, and over 6000lbs if it's a Key.  Forget it.
#A rifle in .30-06 is the minimum necessary for a reliable kill.
#Even the venerable .30-30 just bounces off the skull of a bull,
#and I know because I've seen the bullet whinging away.


I thought you might be interested in a lab experience that both refutes
and corroborates the last statement above.

As part of some material properties tests we were running on bone
we needed mature bovine bone. A farmer in the area had a bull that
was 10 years old that he was willing to sell to us, but only if he
got to kill. Apparently this bull had been a pain in the ass for all
of the decade this farmer has him.

When it came time, the bull simply would not cooperate and they could
near enough to rope him. They decided to shoot him. The farmer called
a neighbor who brought over his .30-30. The first shot hit the bull in
the center of the head, careened of and slammed into the side of the
farmers brand new pick-up. A pain in the ass right up to the end. Got
to love him. The second shot penetrated the skull and shattered the
back away.

So a .30-30 will do it but not reliably.


gmk