For I story I’m writing, I’d like to know the injury that might be caused by a handgun at close range.
The gun would be a police weapon (is 9 mm standard enough?) that goes off accidentally and hits the person holding it in the foot or leg (i.e., close range).
Ideally, I’m looking for a painful wound, but not life threatening.
Thanks.
9mm or .38 or .357 or .40SW . . . AFAIK are all ‘standard’ calibers of handguns that I would venture to say 75% are ‘carried’. Note the quotes–I have no hard evidence beyond the anecdotal.
But hitting in the foot or leg is generally not life threatening, unless you’ve got someone who bleeds a lot. But those veins/arteries are usually closer to the torso.
Tripler
Plenty of stories of those who shoot themselves in the foot. So many in fact, they made a cliche about it.
Would the bullet break bones?
Famous (on the 'net) video of DEA agent shooting himself in the foot in front of an audience:
He seems remarkably calm and just kind of limps around.
Shawn Taylor would disagree about that. Femoral artery bleeds out pretty fast.
9mm is a popular round now. .38 and .357 not so much anymore since most carry pistols instead of revolvers. There are many rounds in use but you should not have problems with the 9mm.
One common injury is the weapon going off when being put in the holster or waistband. Depending on where you stick your gun it can be painful or embarrassing.
There are numerous gore sights out there that will show you in graphic detail the effect of gunshot wounds. Asylumeclectica.com has an index of sites and tends to the morbid instead of the other stuff.
You can call your local sheriff’s office or police department, ask for their information officer and tell them you’re writing a book. If you’re nice and they’re not jerks – some are – they probably will be willing to answer non-specific questions (meaning, unrelated to any specific incident or case) about law enforcement procedure. I’d imagine they’d be fine answering “What is the standard issue weapon for an officer? If in plain clothes, where would he or she carry it on their person? How bad a wound would an accidental shot make?” Just don’t ask any hinky questions.
BTW, you can also inquire into procedures for reporting and/or investigating a weapons discharge, if the administrative results of such an event would fit into your story and add veracity to it. Most departments require every discharge of a weapon (other than at the range, for training or qualifying) to be reported. In law enforcement (IME), there’s a form for everything.
Different bullets are designed to do different things as well. Some will pass clean through someone and, not altering it’s shape or trajectory, will do relatively less damage. Others are designed to mushroom and cause extensive blunt force trauma and some are even designed to open like a sawblade and lacerate tissue indiscriminantly.
Maybe someone can say what’s standard issue for most police forces. The results from each are telling and would likely differ significantly.
I think I know what you wanted to say lieu, but what you actually said is not entirely true.
Sure, there are various types of ammo designed for different tasks, but no handgun bullet will cause “extensive blunt force trauma” - they simply don’t have enough energy to do so. And mushrooming bullets are not designed to cause blunt trauma - they are just supposed to punch slightly bigger hole through tissue, better distribute their energy and to not overpenetrate.
There are no sawblade-like lacerating bullets. Maybe you was thinking about something like Black Talon - famous “teflon-coated cop-killer” ammo. But it’s just another JHP utilizing fancy way of expansion. A lot of bell and whistles and nothing more.
Most commonly issued by police forces are JHP (jacketed hollow point) bullets. Modern generation of these have good and consistent penetration, low risk of over-penetration and reliably mushroom even when shot through thick clothes. They are also quite effective in penetrating low class body armors.
Leg shots are tricky because they are either not effective being flesh tissues, or are life threatening. Few years ago we had lost a police officer who was shot in leg - bullet went through femoral artery and he was dead in less than two minutes. Also few years ago some bad guy lost a leg - he was shot once with 9mm bullet by policeman. But bullet shattered his femur and doctors had to amputate.
Getting back to your story, RealityChuck, if wound is self inflicted (during improper holstering for example) then 9mm (or .40 which is probably most popular handgun caliber among US law enforcement) bullet through foot would be painful and not life threathening. The guy would be needing some rehab though. If wound is not self inflicted (he was wounded by somebody else) then just bullet throug thigh (but missing bones) will be painful enough - especially when unexpected and the guy is more on a wimp side 
Also note, that bullets in both scenarios will go right through and eventually hit ground.
My ex wife was shot with a small calibre revolver. The bullet passed through her forearm shattering the bone. Painful but not life threatening.
A friend of mine shot himself in the leg practicing his “quickdraw” at work one night. 9mm ball through the back of the thigh. Painful, but not life-threatening.
Well? Just how quick was he?
Did you have an alibi?
My dad claims that when he was in the Navy (1945-47), someone on guard duty with him at the brow was fooling around with his .45, accidently shot himself in the leg, and didn’t even know it until he went off duty and saw all the blood on his dungarees.
I try and try, but still keep on missing my ex wife.
Obviously not quick enough, in every sense of the word.
What a coincidence. A guy I work with just did this a couple of months ago. He shot himself in the leg with a 9mm.
The bullet went lengthwise into his lower leg and shattered his fibula. The surgeons had to operate and remove the pieces. But apparently it’s not a crippling injury - the tibia is strong enough to hold you up by itself.
The bullet missed all his main arteries so he didn’t bleed to death. But it caused a massive amount of swelling so the doctors couldn’t close up the wounds. They had to leave his skin open (but covered with gauze) so the swollen muscle tissue had someplace to expand to. After the swelling went down, they sewed up the wounds. Then a few weeks of physical therapy and he’s back to work.
Where we all make fun of him for shooting himself in the leg. Because that’s the kind of people we are.
Well, puppygod, I don’t disagree with your points but neither am I in full agreement with your assertion. You put together a fine post and, as would be expected, it’s going to differ from what I parsed into a intentionally simplified caveat.
I’ve examined Black Talons before and after firing. It’s one of the more malicious looking things I’ve ever seen. Their intent is obvious. The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology has also chosen to describe the Black Talon bullet as “resembling the teeth of a circular saw blade…”. I believe the comparison to be warranted and, with the intent of skipping a great deal of detail, appropriate.
I’m not sure how many articles I’ve just read that discuss the trauma from a handgun bullet’s impact, often referred to indeed as “blunt force.” No, they won’t approach that of a 12 ga slug or the round from a .45-70 but that hardly removes the mayhem they wreak from such a characterization. Sectional densitiy of the 158 grain .357 is 177, the 250 grain .45 is 175 and the 240 grain .44 is 185. The .50, probably not police appropriate, is a tad higher still. Not to quibble but in my estimation all those will provide an appreciable degree of blunt force trauma when they impact denser parts of the torso. I think we were putting different levels of detail in different types of posts. I do though appreciate your points and the detail you added.
You’re right about the .40s adoption too. Personally, it’s what I too use to safeguard the home.
From here… Most other departments have gone to more powerful rounds. The .40 S&W caliber is the overwhelming top choice of police departments today, followed by the .357 SIG and the .45. Created to duplicate the best ballistics of the .357 Magnum revolver in a semiautomatic pistol, the .357 SIG spits a 125-grain jacketed hollow point at 1300 to 1400 feet per second, delivering 500-plus foot-pounds of energy. Departments which have adopted it are delighted with the performance, reporting a high frequency of one-shot stops.
My dad’s a cop…he carries a Glock 9mm , and I think that’s pretty standard for his department.
I, too, have examined Black Talons before and after firing, and I have to agree with lieu. These are designed to shred tissue like a saw. Similar to the way the Sheriff with whom I studied the rounds described it.
And in case it’s helpful, he is required to have his weapon on him at all times when he is inside the city limits, on or off duty.
[Anecdote Alert]
At the printshop I managed the pressman was in the air force during the vietnam war era. He shot himself in the foot with whatever kind of sidearm they issued to air force MPs at the time. He was laid up for a couple of weeks but healed completely.
As it happens, it was lucky for him, because the guy in charge of the base press-house came to his bedside and asked if he felt like he was cut out to be an MP, and if not would he like to learn to operate a press.
So he got a 30 year career out of shooting himself in the foot.
I just sent you an article.
ETA: Never mind, it’s not on point. Sorry.