Guys,
Just thinking this through. If a round at its maximal penetration depth for arguments sake of 16" is .68" that represents it's terminal state. It's dynamic expansion is actually somewhat larger true? For example as the round expands the petals flare outward as they are "peeled" back to their final resting diameter, thus the wounding tract is actually larger than the percieved ".68" diameter would leave one to believe? Your thoughts are appreciated.
P.S. I have been drinking wine
Dave
I'm no expert but the point you make is true in some cases but not all. If a projectile expands fully it may continue and peel back further and end up with a smaller diameter that it was at maximum. However it also may expand some but not enough to allow the petals to fold back at all. Also consider that if you have a round that expands and folds back like in your example you have to consider how long it took to expand fully and then the petals fold back to reach it's final diameter and final penetration depth. Say it started as a 40 cal and expands to .69 but continues to peel back the pedals until it is .65. How long did it take to reach .69 from 40? How far did it penetrate at .69 until it reached .65 and stopped? It may be a rapid expansion design that quickly went from 40 to .69 and then continued to .65 and continued for awhile before stopping. It may be a slower expansion design that takes a couple more inches to reach .69 from 40 and then quickly goes to .65 and stops right away after.
If you look at the gel tests some cavities are ball shaped near the entry point with a long narrow track about end bullet diameter. Others are more football shaped a few inches in and have a short tail or track that is end bullet diameter. If that makes sense
Although complete expansion is not instantaneous, it occurs quite rapidly; often within a couple inches of travel through tissue. Vitals can be located several inches from the point of bullet entry. Therefore, recovered diameter is still a reasonable average for wound track calculation.
Not an expert on anything
Last edited by Velo Dog; 04-05-2017 at 06:56 PM. Reason: spelling
When jacket separation or fragmentation occurs, either the jacket or pieces of lead can sometimes be found deep along the bullet path.
However, handgun bullet fragmentation or jacket/core separation tends to decrease wounding potential.
Hopefully an expert will come along soon enough because I stated already I am not one but I would posit that if a round has jacket separation or fragmentation the fragments would need to leave the wound track to add to any wounding potential and they would need to strike something not struck by the main projectile already. Just sounding out my understanding.Originally Posted by Velo Dog
Pistol bullet fragments are usually so close the main wound cavity as to be of no additional wounding value. Rifles can create very large cavities with fragmentation and have a significant increase in tissue damage from that fragmentation.
See:
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....mance-Thoughts
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....listic-History
Regional Government Sales Manager for Aimpoint, Inc. USA
Co-owner Hardwired Tactical Shooting (HiTS)
Excerpt:
The late Dr. Martin Fackler was a huge influence in the field of wound ballistics, and much of the FBI protocols in this regard follow his principles. In a 2012 interview, Dr. Fackler said, “The size of the hole the bullet makes, the .45 is bigger than a 9mm. But how much bigger, by diameter, really doesn’t give you the measure of how much tissue it disrupts. What does is the area of a circle, or pi-r-squared. It’s the radius squared. So, if you take your .45, your .451, and your 9mm as your .355, take half that, the radius, square that, and what you’ll find is that the volume, or the area, of damaged tissue made by the .45 is about 60 percent more than made by the 9mm.”
http://www.personaldefenseworld.com/...y_beauty_horiz
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
Has the 9mm = .40 = .45 thing been overplayed just a bit? IDK.
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
Probably not. But just in case the pendulum swings back a little bit, I've been up stocking my DW Valor inventory to be safe.
Can you clarify whether fragments that leave the main wound track by a few inches can lead to damage of tissue/organs not within the main wound channel?
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