Quote Originally Posted by fusilier View Post
There was an interesting discussion on a physics forum about what kind of bullet would be more "damaging" -- their consensus was that older, bigger rounds would do more damage. Damage being derived from force, the older rounds had more momentum (even though newer ones had more energy).
I think bullet design would also have a significant effect since hollowpoints are far more damaging than ball rounds to unarmoured targets. Frangible rounds particularly, such as the glaser safety slugs, appear to make mulch out of soft targets at least according to the videos on youtube.

All other things being equal though, I agree that the larger slower round would be more likely to knock people over.

Quote Originally Posted by fusilier View Post
EDIT-- Civil War soldiers often reported that being shot by a musket ball felt like being "kicked by mule." Also, they were known to tear their uniforms off, looking for the wound -- they were in shock and couldn't actually tell where they had been hit.
When you have 19mm balls being fired at you, it's going to hurt.
I was reading an account of the Pennisular War where it was sometimes reported that the musket balls were amputating hands and other appendages if the ball hit a lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) spot.