Doctor Courtney is a physicist, not an MD. Layman, eh? Got a hell of a resume for a layman.
I tend to listen to physicists when it comes to describing such things as energy transfer in soft targets. I wouldn't let an MD write me an operating system for my computer; a prescription, sure. Treat a disease, sure, but do physics? I think not.
Condescending medical doctors are what makes me suspicious, sorta like Al Gore and his "if you don't believe me, you believe in a flat earth".
How about a politician doing climatology? Makes about as much sense, eh?
I have SEEN with my own eyes what a magnum rifle can do and, just as a layman, it has to have something to do with energy transfer. Dr. Courtney's work is the first I've read that gave me a working knowledge of the processes of that energy transfer, or at least an idea of what's going on. It makes sense and explains what I've actually seen in game. I've read through some of the BS Fackler crap. You can't compare a 200 ft lbs handgun cartridge to a 3300 ft lb rifle cartridge. For a 200 ft lb handgun cartridge, I'm sure crush cavity has much more effect than pressure wave. But, my hunting experience and just plain common sense tells me that at magnum rifle energy levels, there's more to it than crush cavity. I've seen it. I can cut open a deer as good as an MD, might not be able to sew it back together and bring it back to life, but I can dissect it. I even know where the lungs are, or were. And, hey, I ain't completely stupid. I passed comparative chordate anatomy on the way to a BS in wildlife and fisheries management. More importanly, I've seen a lot of gutted deer killed by a variety of calibers up to .338 Win Mag. I'd listen to a hunting guide before I listened to a MD about rifle caliber effects. They've seen more game shot by more high calibers than any MD. It's the physicist that will put numbers to it, though. Me, I made it out of calculus, somehow.
And, hey, I ain't the only uneducated layman out here that has seen these pressure wave effects on tissue. We were just talking about Roy Weatherby. Now, what affect the pressure wave has on neural tissue, I'm a little less convinced about, but it would explain that drop in their tracks reaction when you don't hit closer than 5" from the spine in the lung cavity. I've noticed that more'n once and with ordinary rifle calibers.
I've read Dr. Courtney's posts and even he says that handgun energy levels are not enough to cause much damage from pressure wave effects. His contention is that it does neural damage at energies as low as 500 ft lbs. I'm not a neurologist, so I'm not going to argue that. He had neurologists working with him, I understand. I do know, for a fact, that energies in the 3000+ ft lbs level when properly transferred via bullet expansion and pressure wave can do amazing tissue damage well away from the actual path of the bullet, like turn lung tissue to liquid goo. I've seen it. You seem to be talking handguns. When you get a body to autopsy that's been shot with a .300 win mag and a light constructed rapidly expanding bullet, get back to us on the subject.
