Be careful out there...Point Blank Thigh wound from 55gr .223

[TMW89]

580lb... this was a human? He could walk?

Not after his giant leg was blown off...

[Maple Leaf pilgrim]

I'm the OP...he had probably a 28 inch thigh, he's not putting a tourniquet around that thing. He's very lucky that he didn't bleed to death.

If he has a belt and a barrel, he can apply a field expedient tourniquet. Hell, I've seen it done with a fatigue pant leg.

-S.

[Eurodriver]

I cannot understand how people get shot cleaning/repairing their weapons.

I can kind of understand NDs that happen at ranges, while reholstering, etc. But changing a pistol grip? That means the rifle has to be loaded, with the weapon on safe, pointed at you, and you have to pull the trigger all in an environment where none of those things should be happening.

[bernieb90]

I took care of a patient several nights ago who suffered a through and through gunshot wound to the right thigh after he was "changing a pistol grip on my AR15". He leaned the muzzle against his right thigh and the gun discharged. He shattered his right femur (and couldn't walk), but had almost zero blood loss and the exit wound was about 1 inch in diameter. He really wasn't in much pain initially. This proves several points...

1. The .223 is a serious round up close (this guy was almost 300lbs and had a huge leg that was just mangled inside)
2. Gunshots aren't like the movies...he hardly bled and was in stable condition...He could have easily continued to fight/kill.
3. FMJ sucks for self defense..I feel that a dedicated self defense round (that dumped more energy) wound have taken most of this guy's leg off and caused some serious vascular damage
4. Gun safety rules exist for a reason.

I don't want to nitpick, but the usage of "point blank range" in the title is not really correct.

"Point-blank range is any distance over which the trajectory of a given projectile fired from a given weapon remains sufficiently flat that one can strike a target by firing at it directly. Point-blank range will vary by a weapon's external ballistics characteristics and target chosen. A weapon with a flatter trajectory will permit a longer maximum point-blank range for a given target size, while a larger target will allow a longer point-blank range for a given weapon.[1]

In forensics and popular usage, point-blank range has come to mean extremely close "can't miss" range with a firearm, within four feet of its muzzle at moment of discharge yet not close enough to be a contact shot."

I think contact distance or simply indicating that it was a contact shot would be technically more correct (I know that you explain it in the post).

As far as the terminal performance of the round we have no idea if this FMJ was M193 spec. (which does readily fragment), or something else like Wolf (with bimetal jacket) which we know does not. In either event you are correct that there are better choices for defensive 5.56/.223 ammunition.

[WS6]

I'm the OP...he had probably a 28 inch thigh, he's not putting a tourniquet around that thing. He's very lucky that he didn't bleed to death.

300#? 28" thigh? I am 185# and have a 23.5" thigh...guy had chicken-legs! ROFL!

[WS6]

580lb... this was a human? He could walk?

I've had ambulatory patient's that were past the 800# mark. You just don't have a CLUE about "the other half", as I've come to term the part of society that EMS/Hospitals/Police/Fire deal with.

[BufordTJustice]

I've had ambulatory patient's that were past the 800# mark. You just don't have a CLUE about "the other half", as I've come to term the part of society that EMS/Hospitals/Police/Fire deal with.

So true. I had what the medical examiner estimated to be a 600-ish pound male die in his cloth lazy boy chair. Fast forward at least two weeks of non air conditioned decomp in a trailer during the Florida summer... Never again did the two part. The body snatchers had to mechanically disassemble the chair and they STILL had to use the jaws of life to cut the side of the trailer off in order to get him out.

Thread drift over. Fire, EMS, nurses, EM crew, cops....we all see the weirdest shit that the rest of society wouldn't even believe. Lol.

[XD40Colorado]

I've had ambulatory patient's that were past the 800# mark. You just don't have a CLUE about "the other half", as I've come to term the part of society that EMS/Hospitals/Police/Fire deal with.

I call bullshit on that. I'm a physician and there's NO WAY your pelvis, L-spine, hips, knees, and ankles can support that.

[WS6]

I call bullshit on that. I'm a physician and there's NO WAY your pelvis, L-spine, hips, knees, and ankles can support that.

Good for you, here is some continuing education. No CE's provided, sorry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO7iaUFIx5Y

[WickedWillis]

Good for you, here is some continuing education. No CE's provided, sorry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO7iaUFIx5Y

Woah.