This incident has been reported before, but this article goes into greater detail about the treatment. Also mentioned is that the casualty was an enemy combatant.

The medical photos at the article are very graphic and not for the squeamish. They demonstrate, however, the damage a military 5.56mm bullet can cause. Also note that the article says the shot was fired from about 150 meters, not at close range where the velocity would be greater.

The link only is provided as the photos would probably not be appropriate here.

https://www.shadowspear.com/20...ains-graphic-images/

Good stuff. Thank you for sharing.

Remarkable the femoral wasn’t blown to hell.

Wow that was way worse than I thought it would be

Oh man. What a mess. I guess Forest Gump was lucky he got hit with an AK round in the buttock than an M4.

But seriously, how much of that wound can be attributed to the M4 round and how much to the shattered bone the article mentioned exiting the leg.

Would an exact hit from an AK round into the exact same place on the bone cause a similar wound?

But damage is damage, and that is impressive.

quote:

Originally posted by highroundcount:
Would an exact hit from an AK round into the exact same place on the bone cause a similar wound?

The original article by the same surgeon was titled “Why I’d rather be shot by an AK-47 than an M4,” and he is someone who should know. An AK bullet is heavier, but it doesn’t have the velocity, and velocity is what gives the 5.56 bullet its ability to cause such damage. Many people refuse to believe that fact and are convinced that a larger bullet must cause more damage, but fact it is.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by highroundcount:
Would an exact hit from an AK round into the exact same place on the bone cause a similar wound?

The original article by the same surgeon was titled “Why I’d rather be shot by an AK-47 than an M4,” and he is someone who should know. An AK bullet is heavier, but it doesn’t have the velocity, and velocity is what gives the 5.56 bullet its ability to cause such damage. Many people refuse to believe that fact and are convinced that a larger bullet must cause more damage, but fact it is.

I didn't have time to read the original article, but I have heard over the years that velocity is why the M4 ammo is so lethal.

And I did see the bruising around the entrance wound they say was caused by the velocity of the projectile. What stuck out to me was where it said the projectile had slowed significantly by the time it hit the bone and that the bone shattered creating many "missiles" heading out the exit wound.

I was just curious if this may have contributed to the massive exit wound and if an AK round would do something similar in that exact scenario.

I would guess that 5.56 velocities aren’t necessary to shatter a bone to pieces. I have the book Wound Ballistics by the Army Surgeon General that was published in 1962, and which included a study of wounds encountered during the Bougainville campaign against the Japanese in WWII. There is an X-ray image of a humerus struck by a “.25 caliber” (6.5mm) bullet and it looked similar to the one in the article.

Well. In any case that is an awful mess. Interesting to see someone survive that.

Wonder what that guy regrets more from his actions: The giant hole in his leg or the catheter stuck up his dick hole?

high velocity lightweight bullet working as advertised

physics meets human tissue

---------------------------------------------

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I would guess that 5.56 velocities aren’t necessary to shatter a bone to pieces. I have the book Wound Ballistics by the Army Surgeon General that was published in 1962, and which included a study of wounds encountered during the Bougainville campaign against the Japanese in WWII. There is an X-ray image of a humerus struck by a “.25 caliber” (6.5mm) bullet and it looked similar to the one in the article.

That would be the Japanese 6.5x50mm rifle/machine gun cartridge, not something like the .25 ACP pistol round.

While 6.5x50mm may be ~500 ft/s slower than 5.56 (~2500 ft/s vs. ~3000 ft/s), it has a 139gr bullet that's over twice as heavy.

It has greater muzzle energy (1966 ft-lbf) than either 5.56x45mm (1325) or 7.62x39 (1555).

But it's also a full-sized rifle cartridge, not an intermediate cartridge.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
That would be the Japanese 6.5x50mm rifle/machine gun cartridge, not something like the .25 ACP pistol round.

Yes, I’m familiar with that, but thanks for clarifying for those who might not know.

Interestingly, though, the same Wound Ballistics book had some somewhat vague references to the belief by medical personnel at least that the 6.5mm Japanese bullet created more severe wounds than US ball ammunition, evidently in the belief that its velocity was higher. I assume, though, that general Internet information about the M2 Garand ammunition is correct and its velocity was higher than the Japanese rounds’. It may be that fewer wounds seen by the article’s author(s) were made with the US ammunition (although they evidently saw quite a few).

It would be interesting to note whether the cartridge in use at the time was M855, M855A1 or possibly the US-Aussie special ops team got hold of some Mk318 Mod 0 ammunition.

Very cool, and I must admit I'm impressed AND surprised at the level of care the goatfuckers fighting us get. Someone needs to force all those twats who go on about our military indiscriminately killing everyone see this (and more).

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
all those twats who go on about our military indiscriminately killing everyone

Yes, that was my immediate reaction as well.
It’s one of those things I don’t think about very much because I would get too spun up.
We’re fighting savage barbarians who deliberately violate all the civilized rules of warfare in ways that are virtually unrecognized by anyone, much less criticized, and yet we operate under what surely must be the tightest restrictions in the history of military conflict. If our enemies think of it at all, it’s not with gratitude, but rather contempt for our weakness.

Ouch.

One way to look at this is that the doctors got some good training and we got some good data on how our ammunition performs in a "live" target.

Ain’t physics a bitch.

It's cool and gross at the same time to note how the human body basically looks like whole butchered hog when it's opened up like that.

Stories like this come up every so often. In a perfect world the 5.56 round would be a one shot killer no matter where it hits you. In reality most small arms wounds aren't this bad, and the 5.56 needs near maximum velocity to cause the kind of wounding shown in those photos.