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Old November 19, 2006, 07:39 PM   #37
Odd Job
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 2, 2006
Location: London (ex SA)
Posts: 476
@ JohnKSa

Quote:
From what I can gather, if the round is sufficiently energetic, even a deflection has some potential to do significant damage through "spalling". That is bone chips being blown off the back of the bone and becoming secondary projectiles. Again, probably one of those things that is not all that uncommon but that you can't count on as a consistent wounding mechanism.
I haven't seen any single-surface spalling (but that doesn't mean it can't happen). It is yet another 'thing' I have not investigated. In fact the more questions are asked, the more I realise how much scope remains for all sorts of experiments.
The problem is that most bones aren't solid, so if the far surface has to give up material, it generally has to take a direct knock or it has to give up material because of a fracture that originates on the near side. Bone fracture lines travel faster than bullets and it therefore follows that secondary bone fragments from the near surface are not going to reach the far surface before the near surface fracture line does (assuming that is the direction the fracture is 'propagated'). I'll try to make a nice section here on bone fracture patterns in gunshot wounds. I just have to be careful to find decent material from my files. It may take a while, but I'll get onto it, along with the ribs.
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