On a few occasions I have read that bone fragments can act as secondary projectiles and as serious wounding agents of their own. Is this a significant, if unpredictable factor? Additionally, particularly in a pistol caliber, would a higher velocity (say 1300 fps+) round have a greater or lesser tendency to produce such bone fragments?
Bone fragments are light enough, and surrounding tissue dense enough, that any energy imparted to them from a bullet will dissipate quickly, thereby minimizing their potential as projectiles. Displacement of a given bone hit by a bullet might disrupt something nearby, such as a rib puncturing a lung or femur tearing the femoral artery, but most of the damage done by a bullet is going to be due to the expanding and collapsing wound cavity most of the time.
It can be a very significant factor but is probably not taken into account by ammo manufacturers.
I would guess that lower velocity tends to produce more fragments but they don’t go far.
First hand I saw a gangbanger shot in face with a .45, his buddy standing next to him had multiple teeth and bone fragments embedded in his.
I know in a hunting situation I try to stay away from shots that hit major bones. IE the shoulder of a deer. Bone fragments can travel quite far away from the main wound. Don’t know how this translates to a human target but It has got to add to the “stopping power” of a given round if you get bone fragments traveling through the human body.
Where do you mean? Preferred shot placement is just behind the shoulder…right into the ribcage. Probably lots of bone fragments.
Bone fragments can become secondary projectiles, impaling themselves in tissues or lacerating them. That’s a useful tool, but not a primary consideration. I’ll defer to others on what makes them work well or poorly in that regard.
I’ve had my hands in the wounds of a substantial number of gunshot victims…extremities, abdomen, chest. I disagree with this statement, no offense meant.
As have I and I don’t think it’s something you can categorically state. It simply depends. Bone fragments can indeed produce secondary wounds.
No offense meant.
Nothing is 100% in medicine, I agree. But in general, the concept of “bone missiles” is kind of silly. In my experience as a surgeon, that is.
Bone missiles? That’s a new one, I don’t think that’s what was claimed.
Are bone fragments a more significant MOI than the bullet itself? No.
Can bone fragments cause secondary wounds? Yes.
I don’t claim to be a surgeon and maybe I totally misread Fackler but I doubt it.
If you have a journal I can refer to I’d be happy to look it over.
None taken.
I’ve not seen as many GSWs as you, nor been as deeply into the wound as you. I have seen enough in the field and at autopsy to have seen a few pieces of bone go off and do their own thing post-impact. Not reliably, and nothing could be counted on or planned for, but the possibility exists. That’s all.
Yes…the possibility exists. A bone fragmented from a bullet injury to a long bone might travel as much as an inch or two in the surrounding tissue and could possibly injure an adjacent artery. Femoral, brachial, subclavian arteries come to mind as possibilities. I’ve never seen that happen, but I agree it’s possible that it could.
Mostly what bones do to bullets is dissipate their energy, limiting penetration and wound cavity formation. Hitting a bone, even to the point of fracture, would likely save somebody’s life far more often than it would endanger it.
I shoot for the heart/ lung area of deer. Some friends shoot them in the shoulder itself. Hit that shoulder knuckle with a highpowered rifle and you’ll have a lot more “bloodshot” tissue than one through the lungs. You still will hit ribs on lung shots but that’s not near as bad as the shoulder itself.
You mean that whole area protected by the ribcage? 
Some friends shoot them in the shoulder itself.
It happens. I hunt bow so shot placement is key.
I tend to agree. Bone is light-density material when compared to metals, and as such bone fragments don’t travel far nor have the momentum to do much damage.
However, bone strikes with softpoint bullets in the thoracic cavity tend to enhance spalling of the lead core, which enhances the “lead snowstorm” appearance on postmortem xrays, and implies at least in some cases more catastrophic trauma to lung parenchyma. The damage isn’t from bone fragments, but from bullet bits.
I once saw a wound caused by a handgun bullet that hit the radius and continued through the liver. The liver was wounded with bone shrapnel in addition to the primary channel. I’ll never forget the image; it was very impressive. I have also seen long bone fragments lacerate vessels in close proximity. So yes, it ‘can’ happen…