430 Man - I agree with the 50 caliber revolver statement. I would think a 90 to 120MM shell would probably knock them over.

I've seen a big man (6'3" 270#s) take a blast from a 12 gauge at about 15' that knocked him to the ground – another fellow was on a dead run and took a 9mm in the butt cheek and it spun him 180* and down he went. If these guys would have had 4 legs they might have been able to take the hit and still stand - that's probably the biggest reason a fairly small 4 legged animal can take a hit from a large caliber revolver using a large metplat – they have 4 legs, not 2.

I like JWP475’s explanation – If you ever are so unfortunate as to take a round, you might think you just got a hot branding iron put to ya.