Gary Reeder
The TKO, developed by John Pondoro Taylor
Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 12:29

was just a reference point. He had lists of calibers in various levels of power. He was a guide back in the '40s and '50s and had folks come to his camp way underarmed or overarmed (if that is possible). So he came up with the Taylor Knock Out list. It was originally designed for big dangerous game. He said the TKO number meant that the round was powerful enough to keep an elephant down for a certain amount of seconds, and time enough to get to the elephant and put in a second shot. Taylor was known as an elephant hunter.

If you decided to come to Africa and hunt Lion he would tell you to bring a gun with a TKO of XXX. If you came for small game, then he would tell you to bring a gun with the TKO of XXX. It is just a reference of calibers and their power ratings. He never recommended a certain cartridge but instead gave you the choice of the rounds with that certain TKO. It is much better than the energy figures. Energy is just a number. It means nothing. It totally depends upon speed. One gun writer wrote up about the TKO factor and the energy factor. If I have my numbers right he compared a 220 Swift at almost 4000 fps to a 300 H&H at 2300 fps. In his test the 220 came out on top as being more powerful and having more energy than the 300 H&H, just because it was faster. So energy means nothing. Just another set of numbers to ignore.