Liver Shot

[Reaver]

Stolen From www.thehighroad.org ( Hunting Section )

Hydrostatic shock is a significant wounding mechanism, and as such, it is a significant factor in incapacitation.

"Hydrostatic shock" I will take as the production of a temporary wound cavity. It has been argued, for handguns in typical SD calibers, that the temporary cavity is too small to overcome the natural elasticity of most body tissues--they return to "regular" size and position after the temporary cavity collapses, without rupture of the tissue.

However, there are three caveats:
1) High-velocity rifle rounds produce a large enough temporary cavity that it does overcome the tissue's elasticity, thereby tearing it; and that tearing is a significant wounding mechanism. The temporary cavity is increased a little by bullets that tumble (yaw) in the tissue after impact, and increased a lot by bullets that expand and/or fragment.
2) When coupled with fragmentation of the bullet (to produce small holes in the tissue being stretched by the temporary cavity), the wounding effect of the temporary cavity is greatly enhanced.
3) Some tissues have very little elasticity, and fracture easily in response to temporary cavitation. Such tissues include liver, spleen, and brain. When fractured, these tissues bleed heavily.

(There are other claimed effects of rifle-velocity temporary cavities having to do with their ability to momentarily raise intrathoracic and/or intra-abdominal pressure; but forget those for now.)

Bottom line? Ballistic shock is real: it is a real wounding mechanism for rifle velocity bullets, and will be augmented by the use of bullets that expand or fragment and by the the selection of a target organ (like liver) that is especially prone to shock damage.

That all said, I'd much prefer to take a heart/lung shot than a liver shot; and few animals are best hunted with a quickly expanding bullet. Still, at least some PHs prefer HPs on animals as large as Cape buffalo--so long as the bullet penetrates sufficiently--feeling that the shock of the bullet on a unalerted animal may hasten his collapse. On an angry buffalo, such "shock" is not felt to contribute much.

Thought it was worth a read and pretty informative.

[goodnightChesty1775]