fastbolt said:
What was the nature of the wounding or the injury you discovered, and what other causes could have accounted for it, if any, determined? Why was the injury attributed to the handgun bullet, especially if it was 'remote' from the bullet path? What medical studies defining the nature of injury caused by systemic pressure waves, and providing a possible model for the injury you observed, are available for someone interested?
We've seen hemorrhaging of the liver and other internal tissues. In many ways this wounding resembles blunt force trauma. The most likely other possible causes would be getting very hard hit from the exterior with a blunt object. This seems unlikely because an external cause would most likely leave exterior bruisng, which we do not observe. The nature of the wounding seems to be from the inside, which is more consistent with an internal pressure wave than an external blunt force.
Another factor leading us to conclude that the hemorrhaging of the internal tissues is due to the ballistic pressure wave is that we observe the effect repeatedly with high-pressure wave bullets (such as the quik-shok), but have never observed the effect with low pressure wave projectiles (such as broadheads). If it is common for apparently healthy deer to be walking around with pre-existing internal hemorrhaging, or to acquire internal hemorrhaging on their death run, we should have seen it in at least one of the dozens of deer we have observed that were killed with low-pressure wave projectiles. The fact that we only observe the internal hemorrhaging when using high pressure wave projectiles is pretty compelling.
fastbolt said:
Are you any closer to releasing the results of the studies performed by you, and your colleagues, to which you've referred in previous posts, yet?
We're closer in that more of the paper has been written, and we've decided to use an introduction which focusses on a working definition of "stopping power" that describes an idealized experimental approach. Most existing experimental work sheds some light on how different bullet types would probably perform in our idealized experiment. We are framing the paper in terms of interpreting the existing research in a manner to make specific predictions regarding the outcome of the idealized experiment.
The working title of the paper is "The Pressure Wave Theory of Stopping Power" which tends to emphasize the pressure wave contributions to incapacitaion since there is already universal agreement that the permanent crush cavity is important. Of course, the paper presents a model which considers both the pressure wave and permanent crush cavity contributions to rapid incapacitation.
fastbolt said:
Even if supported by other scientific studies, are you proposing that only certain thoracic hits would permit the generation and propagation of a systemic pressure wave, or would it be likely to still occur if an intervening limb was only wounded, and which didn't involve a major vessel being punctured?
If a bullet penetrates into the center region of the chest (picture a 3" radius sphere centered in the chest), then there will be a systemic pressure wave. The likelihood that this pressure wave contributes to incapacitation depends on the magnitude of the pressure wave, which in turn depends on details of the bullet and load, as well as how much energy the bullet has when entering the center region of the chest. Systemic effects are much less likely if only a limb is hit, and somewhat less likely if a limb is hit before the bullet hits the center chest region.
fastbolt said:
How would the various organs, tissues and structures found within living bodies permit wounding, injury and severe damage to occur via the mechanism of a pressure wave?
We know for certain that pressure waves can and do wound tissue, both from our own direct observations, as well as from widely known lithotripsy studies. We do not yet know whether such wounding mechanisms play an important role in causing rapid incapacitation, or whether they are merely correlated to rapid incapacitation because both rapid incapacitaion and the observed wounding are caused by the pressure wave.
Our work to date has focussed on testing the hypothesis that the pressure wave contributes to incapacitation without consideration of specific physiological mechanisms. Now that we have supported this hypothesis, we are beginning to make efforts to identify specific physiological mechanisms. However, like many areas of scientific and medical research one can be highly certain of a cause-effect relationship long before one understands the specific detailed mechanisms involved.
fastbolt said:
Does your use of the word 'systemic' indicate it can result in injury remote from a bullet's path to the extent that a wound in a hand/wrist can cause severe injury/damage to critical organs, tissues & structures in the chest, shoulders, neck, head, or even downward into the lower body/legs?
The pressure wave has the potential to propagate through the entire system, thus the pressure wave is "systemic." Wounding potential and incapacitation potential depend on the magnitude of the pressure wave at a given location. It seems to me that peripheral hits would be unlikely to create large enough pressure waves reaching the thoracic cavity.
fastbolt said:
Theoretical speculation is fun and tantalizing, granted, but this subject begs for something substantive in the way of at least a small pool of credible scientific research that sheds some light on it ...
True. This is our motive. But lots of folks believe what they see for themselves much more than what they read, especially if they are reading something that disagrees with long held expert opinion. Fortunately, putting a Quik-Shok into the lungs of several deer is widely accessible so those who are interested can see for themselves.
Michael Courtney
