Terminal ballistics as viewed from the morgue

[BUmmedic]

Kind of a long read, and trails off about midway through (essentially a run-on forum thread on one page). Nevertheless, I found his insight intriguing, and will continue to carry .45 ACP as my CCW caliber of choice.

Terminal ballistics as viewed in a morgue

 

[S&W645]

Good grief that is a pain to read. But agree on the .45ACP. That is my normal carry. In a +P round. Backup is a .40S&W S&W 4006.

 

[JCliff]

Bit of a slog, yes, but observation of what actually happened in human bodies in the real world is valuable. I confess that I've always been a fan of the .45. I'm not even close to the first one to say it on this forum, but I subscribe to this philosophy: Carry the largest handgun you can conceal comfortably in the largest caliber you can shoot well. I personally prefer to carry a full-size 1911 in .45 acp. Sometimes I carry a smaller gun, in .40 S&W. I don't think I'll ever carry anything smaller than that. Good post.

 

[mojoman]

Yeah, I love my .45 but question, wasn't that a little out dated?

 

[BUmmedic]

Yeah, I love my .45 but question, wasn't that a little out dated?

Archived from 2006... someone with more knowledge of ballistics evolution and chronology can answer this. From what I've read, seems like many put their faith in ballistics studies a lot older than this. Anyone have a friend in the Cook County ME office... should be plenty to learn from there in the last few years.

 

[MasterGadgets]

I carrry a compact .45 ACP. It is a little difficult to CC but with a little wardrobe change I can manage.

 

[kerb]

The way I look at it is even if my .45 doesn't expand at all, at worst it's still made nearly a half inch hole.
That's good enough for me.

 

[BUmmedic]

The way I look at it is even if my .45 doesn't expand at all, at worst it's still made nearly a half inch hole.
That's good enough for me.

+1. I also put weight on his observation of round deflection by bone. Rather break through than have it deflected. As as orthopod, I've seen it all... hit the bone and stop; hit and fragment with an intact bone; hit and stop/fragment/deflect with a broken, but intact bone; hit and stop/fragment/deflect with a broken, but non-intact bone; hit and crush through bone; hit and drill a little hole through bone, but left it mostly intact, etc. etc. Each is different.