ammunition, ballisticsLets consider .22 LR, .22 WMR and .223 as an example (or 44 Mag vs 44 SPL vs 45 ACP for that matter). FMJ ammo of those calibers will,presumably, go through in many cases when torso is hit. So they should leave a channel of approximately the same diameter. So are they different in stopping/lethal power? If so why?
“Stopping power” is largely a buzzword.
I take your question to be, essentially, “All these rounds are the same diameter, so shouldn’t they be equally effective given identical shot placement?” If this is incorrect please edit.
A very complex thing, bullet lethality is. But the simple answer to your question is that, ignoring ALL other factors (including human factors like you can’t hit the broad side of a barn, or your target being high on meth and 350 lbs), a bigger and faster bullet will impart more energy to the target, and more energy is better.
The longer the projectile becomes, the heavier it becomes. The larger the case, the more speed will be imparted to this heavier projectile. The more velocity behind a mass… Well, now we’re in my high school physics class again.
Upon entering a person a permanent wound cavity is created. The permanent wound cavity is tissue that is torn, punctured, and otherwise damaged in a way that won’t heal itself. The more powerfull the bullet — or rather the more energy left in the bullet upon impact — the more severe the permanent wound cavity will be.
In addition to a permanent wound cavity, there is a temporary wound cavity. Again dependent upon the amount of energy left in the bullet upon impact. The easiest way to visualize this is a mold of jello. Put your finger in and pull it out quickly. Now if you jammed your finger in there like Bruce Lee, the mold is probably moving around quite a bit. If you put your finger in really slowly, there will be less movement of the jello as a whole.
The hole you made is the permanent wound cavity. It will be smaller than your finger because jello, like our bodies, stretches and is elastic. Again the more energy you used to puncture the jello the more permanent damage you will do. Maybe you ripped a few chunks off the surface for example. More permanent wound cavity.
The more energy imparted by the bullet, the more disruptive to your body the stretching and moving of organs associated with the temporary wound cavity will be.
This ignores all manner of other factors such as jacket thickness and structural integrity for example. M855 ball ammo issued in the military has a ring where the cartridge neck is crimped to the bullet and sealed for waterproofing. As a side effect, that promotes jacket fragmentation, leaving the lead/steel core exposed to separate further. Longer bullets with more taper will yaw upon entry more severely as the heavier rear end maintains momentum longer than the light front end. Once the bullet begins to yaw, or rotate end over end, the permanent wound cavity expands. Again in M855 this yaw puts stresses on the ring which rips off the jacket which causes the lead/steel core to split into usually 3–5 pieces, creating a new network of permanent and temporary wound cavities. None of these examples apply to .22LR because its velocity is too low to rip the lead bullet apart, it has no jacket, and the yaw is much less severe due to bullet shape.
All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.