I thought we were talking about energy transfer and wounds not tactics so I fail to see the relavance of armed deer.
This forum is browsed by hundreds of people who are new to firearms. Some of them are just buying their first gun for self defense. They look to sites like this for information about what to put in their gun, and why.
The "handguns create grievous wounds" camp is going to have a lot of these people going out and buying ammo based on the energy value printed on the box, and that is stupid. One needs to consider a lot of things for defense, and tactics certainly outrank magic bullets on that list.
Having more energy is usually a good thing, but you CAN'T add more energy without adding more recoil too. Whether that recoil is worth the possibility of a magic stop is up to the individual shooter to decide. Given current bullet designs and MY ability to shoot +P 10mm versus a nice slow 9mm/.45 I can say for sure that I'm sticking with the slower rounds that I can put on target fast.
this is where it makes a difference that we are not shooting deer you see a man may/may not get hit in the lung and decide to drop the gun the more damage done the more likely this may happen.
Yes a man may/may not decide to drop the gun. At the point that a gunfight ensues, I don't see why I should be giving my target the option. I'm shooting until the SOB is dead. Period. Since we're talking about handguns, it's likely going to take more than one so I want the successive ones to be as fast as possible.
In less than 2 seconds I can have my pistol unholstered and have 6 rounds on target (9mm, I sadly don't own my own .45). If you are saying that in that same time span you can have 5 10mm+P rounds on target, then you sir are probably good to go. I could shoot a 10mm that fast, but not with a level of precision I'm comfortable with. If I could have the extra energy on target with the same speed and accuracy as you, I might be willing to consider the extra recoil to be worth the 'X factor' of getting a magic stop. I can't though, and I'm betting that most people browsing this site for information and suggestions haven't spent as much as I have on ammo and classes and probably can't either.
Until I can shoot COM and KNOW that this pressure wave thingy is going to seriously interupt brain signals, I'm going to stick to shooting until I get that spinal cord or brain. If you guys can design a bullet that will VIRTUALLY GUARANTEE a hit within an inch or two (or more) of a vertebrae will shatter it, consider me on board.