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Title: Cheney Shotgun Ballistics Don't Match Up
Source: prisonplanet.com
URL Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/150206matchup.htm
Published: Feb 15, 2006
Author: Alex Jones
Post Date: 2006-02-15 22:35:37 by Coral Snake
Keywords: Ballistics, Shotgun, Cheney
Views: 2768
Comments: 53

Cheney Shotgun Ballistics Don't Match Up

Alex Jones/Prison http://Planet.com | February 15 2006

What we had deducted almost immediately after Cheney machine began rolling on this shooting is now finally starting to filter out into the rest of the media: It is not only unlikely that Whittington was injured in the way he reportedly was if Cheney had shot him from 30 yards it is impossible.

After reviewing the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife report on the shooting, there is no doubt that this is a cover-up.

The pattern of the birdshot depicted in the diagram on the report indicates about a foot spread from cheek to chest.

As we previously reported, birdshot is not like a traditional bullet. Birdshot is composed of hundreds of tiny lead BB's with very low mass which are designed to spread out and slow down very quickly. The idea is basically to shoot out a bunch of tiny pellets to catch a bird that may be taking wing at the instant it recognizes the shot has been fired. Many points ensure greater likelyhood of hitting the target.

These pellets are incredibly tiny and the further they get away from the gun, the slower and less forceful they become. So at a distance of about 90 feet (or 30 yards as reported by the White House) the pellets would have hit Whittington with the force equivilent to a gentle shove and have left maybe some tiny surface marks on any exposed skin.

The only way to account for the pattern indicated on the TDPW report is if Cheney was about 10 feet away from Whittington when he shot him.

Click to Enlarge

Reports and press releases that followed the event explained that some of the pellets had become lodged in his heart tissue. The only way this is possible, the only way that the tiny pellets designed to spread over distance could have maintained the force necessary to penetrate Whittington's hunting vest, clothing, skin, muscle, bone and finally into his rock-hard heart would have been if they came from a much shorter distance than the White House is claiming.

The initial reports have Whittington making jokes and feeling fine after the shooting, but doctors would have been able to diagnose with a simple x-ray that there was a chunk of metal in his heart tissue immediately upon receiving him. Now that he has taken a turn for the worse, they are in scramble-mode to cover-up what really happened in case he dies.

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#5. To: Coral Snake (#0)

These pellets are incredibly tiny and the further they get away from the gun, the slower and less forceful they become. So at a distance of about 90 feet (or 30 yards as reported by the White House) the pellets would have hit Whittington with the force equivilent to a gentle shove and have left maybe some tiny surface marks on any exposed skin.

Interesting info on Birdshot here:

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3.htm

I have had a lot of questions, summed up as follows: How effective is birdshot (#4, #6, #8, etc.) as a defense load?

We have done tests with various birdshot loads. Birdshot penetrated through two pieces of drywall (representing one wall) and was stopped in the paper on the front of the second wall. The problem with birdshot is that it does not penetrate enough to be effective as a defense round. Birdshot is designed to bring down little birds.

A policeman told of seeing a guy shot at close range with a load of 12 gauge birdshot, and was not even knocked down. He was still walking around when the EMTs got there. It was an ugly, shallow wound, but did not STOP the guy. And that is what we want... to STOP the bad guy from whatever he is doing. To do this, you must have a load that will reach the vitals of the bad guy. Birdshot will not do this.

In fact, tests have shown that even #4 Buckshot lacks the necessary penetration to reach the vital organs. Only 0 Buck, 00 Buck, and 000 Buck penetrate enough to reach the vital organs.

Unless you expect to be attacked by little birds, do not use birdshot. Use 00 Buck. It will do the job.

Hmmmm...maybe someone should have this fellow pepper a styrofoam dummy in full hunting gear at 30 yards with birdshot and see what happens.

Pissed Off Janitor  posted on  2006-02-15   23:38:26 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Pissed Off Janitor, Coral Snake (#5)

SHOTGUN BALLISTICS

Athena website

Athena Research & Consulting LLC

Wound & Terminal Ballistics

The Business End of Things

Introduction

The ultimate objective of any weapons system is to deliver a payload to the intended target. If you fail in that objective, then you may as well not have the weapon at all. In the case of rockets, motors, and artillery ammunition, the payload is generally a chemical one (i.e. explosives).

In the case of smallarms (hand held weapons) the payload is usually just the projectile itself - the kinetic energy is delivered to the target. Smallarms include rifles, pistols and shotguns. Rifles and pistols usually deliver only one large projectile, whilst shotguns usually deliver a large number of smaller projectiles. A vast range of shotgun ammunition is available.

There are general widespread misconceptions as to the effectiveness of these smallarms - against both soft and hard targets. These misconceptions have arisen primarily because of the exaggerated weapon performance depicted in most movies and TV shows. Sometimes people just misinterpret scientific data and get the wrong idea when it comes to weapon performance. There are physical limitations as to what you can achieve with hand held weapons.

Note that the term 'soft target' refers to living creatures, and the term 'hard target' refers to vehicles, walls, and the like.

* * *

The author has reviewed data relating to many animal tests (pigs & sheep), wounds to military personnel, and wounds to civilians. These wounds were caused by many different calibers; and included rifles, handguns, and shotguns.

The author has concluded that (in broad terms) the key criteria for lethality are penetration and kinetic energy. Basically, a bullet must penetrate the target deeply enough to reach vital structures / organs; and it requires kinetic energy to do damage to those structures. If a bullet penetrates the body completely, then any residual kinetic energy is wasted - carried downrange with the bullet.

* * *

Shotguns are widely believed to be very lethal, and at close range this is certainly true because the multiple projectiles cause multiple wound tracks over a small area - often resulting in one large hole. However, the pellets must be large enough so that each one has sufficient kinetic energy to penetrate to vital areas. Basically, bird shot (7 1/2, for example) can only be guaranteed to be lethal to a range of about 5 yards, beyond 10 yards, or so, the wounds may look severe, but be relatively superficial due to the lack of penetration of individual pellets. Large buckshot pellets will be lethal at considerable range, but practical accuracy, and excessive spread, will limit their effective range to around 40 to 60 yards, depending upon choke and individual weapon characteristics. Those who choose to cut down their shotgun barrel diminish lethality considerably, because they may reduce the overall kinetic energy delivered by a given cartridge by as much as 50%.

Figure 1 shows a human arm which was injured by a 12 gage shotgun at just 10 yards. The shot size was #6, and the shotgun barrel had been sawn down (length not known, but probably around 14"). Note that pellets are spread over a large area (cartridge contained almost 400) and that they had insufficient energy to penetrate much below the surface of the skin - the silver pellets are visible.

[Figure 1 - 12 gage shotgun blast to arm. Range 10 yards, #6 shot]

Full size image


http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=695568

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1238294&blobtype=pdf

Trauma Rounds Chief Discussant JAMES M. WILSON, MD Refer to: Wilson JM: Shotgun ballistics and shotgun injuries (Trauma Rounds -- San Francisco General Hospital). West J Med 129:149-155, Aug 1978

Editors DONALD D. TRUNKEY, MD F. WILLIAM BLAISDELL, MD

Shotgun Ballistics and Shotgun Injuries

This is one of a series of Conferences on Trauma at San Francisco General Hospital

* * *

Sponsored by the American College of Surgeons Northern California Trauma Committee. Supported in part by NIH Grant GM18470.

[Excerpts]

The choke of a given shotgun designates the amount of constriction at the end of the weapon barrel, and it is the choke that actually determines the shot pattern at a given distance from the muzzle. The constriction acts much like the nozzle on a garden hose which, when partially constricted, gives a narrow stream of water for maximum shooting distance for a given, constant pressure. Full choke (or tight constriction), modified choke and cylinder bore (or no constriction) constitute the three basic types of barrels. A full-choke barrel will force approximately 70 percent of the pellets in a charge into a pattern circle with a 30-inch diameter at a 40-yard range; modified choke gives 60 percent and cylinder choke propels only 40 percent of the pellets into this circle pattern area. The velocity of the individual pellets is affected very little by choke or barrel length. Consequently, the choke of the barrel will directly affect the pattern or concentration of the pellets. Obviously, range will be the main determinant of the actual target pattern using any given choke.

* * *

When one studies the kinetic energy of pellets fired at different ranges, it becomes apparent why shotgun charges and rifle projectiles behave so differently at ranges over a few yards. At a range of 40 yards -- a small distance for a high-powered rifle -- shotgun pellets would have lost more than half of their original energy.

* * *

A person struck by a single pellet which is smaller than bb size is seldom seriously injured unless hit in the eye. As noted previously, most serious human wounds occur at ranges much closer than 20 yards where most of the total pellet charge hits the victim. Again, range is the most important determinant of the amount of damage inflicted by a given shotgun charge. The range can be estimated in about 80 percent of shotgun cases, as can the type of shot used -- whether small (like No. 6) or large (like 00 buck).

* * *

Once the approximate range is ascertained, an intelligent approach to wound management can be formulated. Sherman and Parrish [3] have classified shotgun wounds into three categories:

Type I shotgun injuries. These are sustained at long range (greater than 7 yards). This would correspond to an across-the-street injury and such wounds involve penetration of subcutaneous tissue or deep fascia.

Type II shotgun injuries. These are sustained at close range (3 to 7 yards). They correspond to across-the-room range injuries. These types of wounds usually involve structures deep to the fascia.

Type III shotgun injuries. These are sustained at a very close range, that is, less than 3 yards. These wounds usually involve massive tissue destruction and correspond to more or less point-blank range injuries.

Type I injuries usually produce a scatter type wound. At 40 yards, however, a No 6 shot blast has lost most of its energy and thus penetrates minimally to moderate distances (Figure 1). At ranges of 20 yards or more, these small shot may penetrate the abdomen and cause an incredible number of holes in the bowel.

* * *

Type II injuries which penetrate the chest can be managed most often by chest-tube drainage. One must be on the alert, however, for cardiac injury with subsequent tamponade and for major vessel injury. Angiography should be used liberally as part of the evaluation process.

* * *

nolu_chan  posted on  2006-02-16   2:06:47 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: nolu_chan (#6)

Basically, bird shot (7 1/2, for example) can only be guaranteed to be lethal to a range of about 5 yards, beyond 10 yards, or so, the wounds may look severe, but be relatively superficial due to the lack of penetration of individual pellets.

...and the close proximity of the pellets or cluster pattern, indicates a closer range too, from what I've read.

robin  posted on  2006-02-16   10:21:26 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: robin (#10)

If the penetration and the dispersal pattern indicate a distance of, say, 10 feet, is that so significantly different from what was reported to us (and thus presumably to the authorities) that we can talk about obstruction of justice and material lying to the authorities? Is it criminal in itself? And does it constitute strong evidence that the shooting itself was criminal in some way?

aristeides  posted on  2006-02-16   10:39:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 11.

#13. To: aristeides (#11)

If the penetration and the dispersal pattern indicate a distance of, say, 10 feet, is that so significantly different from what was reported to us (and thus presumably to the authorities) that we can talk about obstruction of justice and material lying to the authorities? Is it criminal in itself? And does it constitute strong evidence that the shooting itself was criminal in some way?

The local sheriff's "investigation" was amazingly quick, and appeared to be nothing more than taking statements from eyewitnesses.

The ballistic evidence and credibility of the eyewitnesses' statements is only being checked and analyzed at blogs and websites like this one.

robin  posted on  2006-02-16 10:52:45 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


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