Mike H; you posted <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>...and also to hopefully produce 2 holes so that the critter "bleeds out" more quickly. This would seem to follow the methodology of using a large bore FMJ like a .45 for maximum penetration and potentially a double hole blood loss. This seems at odds with using JHP's which go for maximum damage in say 10 inches or so and max. internal bleeding at the risk of not penetrating major blood vessels that may lie slightly beyond their reach, as was the case with that infamos 9mm silvertip in the Miami shootout, so which is best and is there a real difference. Help I'm confused.[/quote]
Well, there is a lot of confusion on this subject, so don't feel bad. The fact of the matter is that while, in my professional opinion, punching an exit hole will certainly not be a bad thing, it is unlikely to really affect the BG's course. Most bleeding, and other damage that helps you, is internal, not external.
Consider the 1986 FBI shootout in Miami, to which you alluded above. The perp in question, named Platt, was shot with a 9mm Win Silvertip bullet early in the gunfight. This bullet hit his R arm just at the bend in the elbow. It severed his brachial artery and veins; arterial blood immediately began to spurt out, and continued to do so until his demise. The bullet then penetrated his chest wall, completely collapsed his right lung, severed pulmonary vessels such that 1300cc (nearly 3 pints) of blood was found at autopsy in his right chest. The bullet stopped just short of his vena cava. It had expanded nicely. Although Platt was shot several more times, NONE of the subsequent bullet wounds (the last few delivered at point blank range) were unsurvivable.
Despite this severe GSW, Platt lived for at least another 4 minutes, killing two and wounding several other FBI agents. He was the only seriously injured person on the scene to have vital signs, and the paramedics tried to resuscitate him!
If you would like to read the autopsy and reconstruction of the firefight yourself, go to:
http://www.firearmstactical.com/tactical.htm
and click on Tactical Brief #7 (July '98)
So, worried about causing internal bleeding or external bleeding? Doesn't matter. You can cause BOTH, as happened in this case, and still have a long firefight on your hands.
Blame the 'infamous' 9mm. bullet? Well, the FBI did just that, but I don't think you can ask much more of a bullet. If the agents had been armed with 10mm.'s, the situation might have been altered slightly, but IMPO, the real problem was the failure to inflict additional nonsurvivable wounds.
I repeat my advice: shoot the largest caliber you can shoot accurately, and put big holes through vital organs repeatedly until the BG goes down.
Hope this helps, Walt
[This message has been edited by Walt Welch (edited November 21, 1999).]