Defensive Carry banner

A combat medic on calibers

2K views 31 replies 24 participants last post by  Texas Red 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Good read. However he stated the "victims" who were already dead were not brought to him. So, some of those may have been one-shot kills? When I was in EMS I encountered a man shot thru the heart with a .357 Black Talon from about ten feet away. Small entry wound, no exit wound. Massive internal damage. He was DRT. So entry wounds can be misleading. Just my 2 cents. I do not doubt this man's credibility or observations. Shot placement?
 
#4 ·
Shot placement has always been the key, and the smaller your placement zones, the smaller the bullet/energy combo.
 
#7 ·
Not that I disagree that larger calibers are more effective - but I would be interested in the figures on FMJ vs JHP. The military, to my understanding, only uses FMJ which we all know doesn't do as much damage in the human body as a JHP.

Modern hollow points minimize the effective difference in common defensive pistol rounds in regards to wound tracks.
 
#13 ·
Wonder if this will give pause to those who carry FMJ "because it penetrates farther"?

I too have to ask if it is possible all the single shot kills never made it to the medic for treatment? Dead is dead so little need to take them to the field hospital.
 
#14 ·
In my experience as a combat medic the canister or beehive rounds out the tank maingun were excellent one shot rounds. Then the 50cal, then the 7.62 Nato, then the 7.62x39, then 12ga 00 buck (under 25yrds), and lastly the 5.56; for handgun rounds the 45acp first, then the 7.62x25, then 38 Special. Obviously, blast wounds are quite bad, depending on multiple variables. Any gunshot can kill you if you're hit in the right place. Bigger/heavier is better, all things considered.
 
#28 ·
During my days working in an inner city hospital in Dayton Ohio, I saw a few very small gunshot wounds that were quite fatal. It was hard to tell a .22 LR from a .25 acp on the surface but some of the larger calibers were easy to spot.

Basically, I learned that I did not wish to be shot by ANY Caliber!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Atonal and Eric357
#29 ·
I suspect he refers to ball ammo for pistols.

I was a field corpsman when we used the 55 grain load M16 and saw many shot with the round

It is devastating. I must assume he is taking about rounds used after Vietnam that are heavier

After I got out I went to get further college medical training and worked in a trauma center of a major city for over a decade

I can count on one hand they number of people I saw DOA by a single round. Most handgun victims lived if we got them fairly quickly.

However most street thugs use ball ammo as well and most hits were to extremities

Shot placement is critical and far more important than caliber.
 
#30 ·
I believe what he is seeing from the 5.56 is SS109/M855. That design was chosen to replace the 55 grain M193 specifically because it did not fragment as much as the M193. It was deemed to be more humane. John Allen Muhammed knew better than to use M855 during his rampage. He and Malvo never fired a second shot. They had more than 80% one shot kills.

My takeaway from this is that ammunition performs as designed. The only people that should be using military type ammo are those that for whatever reason have no other option.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top