Ft lbs/square inch

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I got to thinking about comparing the energy and the cross sectional area of a few bullet diameters and cartridges. I did a little spread sheet for 10 cartridges, I got all the velocities from except 160 gr 6.5 from http://www.cpcartridge.com/index.htm They are a little hot, to my way of thinking, but still ok for comparison. I just divided the energy in ft lbs by the area of the bore diameter in square inches. It is interesting to see how close they are, and that the 25-06 tops the cartridges I chose (and I don't even have one). It is another way to compare loads and cartridges and see if some load is reported a lot faster than possible, for instance a 180 grain 30 cal bullet at 3600 fps would be 73300 ft lbs per square inch.

Fps weight Ftlbs/sq in Cartridge
3500 60 41425 55 gr 220 Swift
3000 100 43102 100 gr 243 win
3100 120 52178 120 gr 25-06
2500 160 43151 160 gr 6.5x55
2700 150 42419 130 gr 270 win
2500 175 40311 175 gr 7x57
2800 180 44342 180 gr 30'06
2340 180 30359 180 gr 303 brit
2750 250 49096 250 gr 338 mag
2650 500 49035 500 gr 460 Wby

4300 40 41684 40 gr 220 Swift
3800 55 38035 243 gr 243 win
3700 75 46457 75 gr 25-06
3130 100 42274 100 gr 6.5x55
3100 130 48462 130 gr 270 win
3050 120 41142 120 gr 7x57
3000 150 42419 150 gr 30'06
2800 150 36223 150 gr 303 brit
2920 200 44283 200 gr 338 mag
2780 400 43171 500 gr 460 Wby

even the 50 BMG is only in the range of 66000 ft lbs per square inch.
 
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It would be interesting to see sectional kinetic energy plotted against penetration in different materials, or sectional momentum vs. penetration. I wonder which correlates more strongly.
 
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