Gary Reeder
The Taylor Knock Out was not to give the actual
Friday, March 17, 2023, 16:45

power of a cartridge. John Pondoro Taylor gave us a formula to figure somewhat the power of a cartridge, not the energy or the knock down. He just said if you are going hunting Impala (which relates to our white tail deer) then go with a cartridge that has XX TKO. Or of you are going after a Cape Buffalo then use a cartridge with XX TKO. His TKO was just a basis to go by when hunting various animals. He even gave us a full chart listing all the animals he could think of and the TKO value of each. Mainly this was just so a novice going hunting would look at his chart and see what the TKO value of a cartridge was, for instance maybe he had the 35 Remington with a TKO of 30 and a 300 Win Mag had a TKO of 40. His chart told us if we were going after bull elk to go with a TKO of at least 40 and so on. His TKO value made a lot of sense as he didn't go into the energy of a cartridge as that is mythical number. He just gave us a chart and a formula to place a certain cartridge somewhere on that chart.
Back in the early 90s before our first Africa safari Kase and I went over the chart almost daily so we would have the correct TKO value for a certain animal we planned to hunt. It was just a simple chart and a simple formula but it made sense, especially for someone not knowing what TKO was needed for a Wildebeest or whatever animal we planned to hunt. It kept us from being stupid and bringing a 30-30 for a Gemsbok or Kudu.