How important are exit wounds?

[Hookeye]

Oddly when i shot deer w 44 mag revolvers i had exits w 180 and 200gr jhp full throttle
Blast sucked but recoil decent. And they shot very accurate.

 

[Bacon buster]

Shot that buck right down the gullet and the arrow was hanging about 3/4 the way out from under him however I missed the heart he ran drug the arrow out. According to gps I tracked him just a crack over a 1000 yards befor recovery

 

[Bacon buster]

Glad I had an exit. With out it I no doubt would have lost him. It was an exhausting two n a half hour tracking job through some rough crap. Few times I really was wondering if I was gonna find him

 

[Bacon buster]

Rifle I don’t need an exit I need a target. Berger does it up real nice

 

[Hookeye]

I am cool w DRT or DROT when deer hunting, as long as they drop on my side of the fence. Back in the old slug gun days to help ensure that, it was aim to break a shoulder.

Caught flack from the meat religion guys about " waste ".

What does one call.it when they shoot and dont recover a deer? LOL

Riding to the checkin in your truck is IMHO good enough.

Animals mandate a humane exit. I think stuff offering exit wounds to be of some possible insurance.

Stopping a 2 legged threat may not mandate killing. But killing would definitely stop that threat.

Shooting at a bad guy using 2x4 and sheetrock as cover..... Would think something that holds up to be better than a rapid expansion type.

 

[Hookeye]

Interesting to discuss. Hope i never find out

 

[Hookeye]

My old Hoyt was 72# and shot 430gr arrows at 272 fps ( easy to remember lol ).

Had a buck run some does in and one stopped on a mound on the ridge.....basically even w me ( 18ft base of treestand ). I had drawn as they came by and she stopped on that old groundhog mound. Which I had measured that morning coming in to stand.

45 yards.

Lined up rhe few openings in branches for clean path and let er go.

My HHA sight was set for 25 yards. So i had to hold on her backline to drop it in w that setting. Didnt have time to adj sight.

She tried to duck it, but the arrow got their quick enough to blast the spine. Fletching visible ( buried to fletch). Magnus stinger 125 e bleeders was way out the other side.
Which when she rolled meant bye bye carbon arrow.

Man that arrow got there fast! Was first yr back w wheels since injury forced giving up trad for a while.

Sometimes, even in archery......a little extra zap can help save the day. Lower arch, less time of flight and enough to plow through when it got there

 

[Hookeye]

Am not against light tackle on critters. It can work well but limits range and shot angle.

Recurve I limit deer shots to 25 yards and after gun season want em closer.
Wheels n sights i limit it to 50, but practice farther ( used to ).

Proly 40 now that im older and less gung ho.

 

[Hookeye]

For defense i was always of the bigger hole is better club.

But with changes think higher capacity may be more important. Hopefully bullet technology has helped smaller stuff work better.

15 rounds is for me, more reassuring than 8.

 

[Bacon buster]

Nushootr lighted knocks are so you can find your arrow not the deer. Read that arrow to see what kind of hit you got. Figure out if it’s ok to go ahead and go find your deer or wait a while

 

[Bacon buster]

In a firearm conflict capacity is your friend. Getting hit by any bullet is gonna wreck your style. I’d rather have more chances than bigger holes

 

[Bacon buster]

In self defense I’d prefer no exit and let the bullet do it’s job. High velocity hp will have zero issues getting in and will absolutely destroy wherever it goes inside. I’d rather the hp come apart inside shed the jacket and cause severe internal trauma than go through and cause me to be responsible for something I’d have a hard time living with

 

[jmorris]

An exit would in an of itself doesn’t make something die faster than it could bleed out internally.

A superficial in and out might not kill at all where a severed carotid, femoral or aortic artery without exit, is just a matter of time before there is no more blood being pumped.

 

[Hookeye]

The old data iirc said 10% of those shot w handgun die, and only 10% die at the scene.

Dunno how bullet designs have changed things since.

But even back then....there was a lot of noise in that data.

Still something to think about.
Heck maybe advancements in medical have kept up w bullet design and its mostly a game of placement

 

[Hookeye]

Good hits deep seems preferable

 

[Bacon buster]

I’ve tested factor ammo and found most of them that claim sd are light in terms of fpe. I’ve also seen a number of them clog up and fail to expand. Bullet manufactures are not making destructive ammo but rather making what they can market. There are a few that perform decent but mostly I’ve been disappointed. In comparison my sd factory ammo for 40 s&w 165 gr hp averaged 970 FPS vs my hand loads 155 xtp at 1230 FPS. No contest in destructive force of the loads. Doctors can’t fix that type of damage if they did live long enough to get to the hospital.

 

[bangswitch]

Without reading all the previous comments, I can say petty definitively that an exit wound doesn't matter at all. The abdominal cavity can hold the entire body's blood supply, all it needs is something to breach a major vessel and you can bleed out without spilling a drop.

Speculation. Not a doctor, surgeon, veterinarian, etc.
Doesn't pneumothorax enter into the equation with two holes if no organ isn't immediately fatal? i.e. twice the external air pressure entry?

You only need one hole into the chest cavity to compromise the normal pleural space and allow air entry, which collapses the lung.
While an exit wound does increase damage from the gunshot injury, the most important thing it does is give an indication of what the bullet passed through from entry to exit.

I'm speaking from the experience of 34 years as an O.R. Nurse, having assisted on more GSW's than I care to remember.

 

[DM~]

Without reading all the previous comments, I can say petty definitively that an exit wound doesn't matter at all.

I'm speaking from the experience of 34 years as an O.R. Nurse, having assisted on more GSW's than I care to remember.

How many of those people in the O.R., did you have to track, using a blood trail to find them???

DM

 

[bangswitch]

How many of those people in the O.R., did you have to track, using a blood trail to find them???

DM

We're the kind of place the wounded run to, instead of away from. Unfortunately many of those who made it as far as the ER ended up in the morgue instead of the OR.