Could a bullet realy blow someone's leg off?

[Solaire]

A cleanly severed leg seems a little over the top even for a 1/2" bullet.

[JBC]

No, but it is pretty cool looking.

[WilliamGuisan]

I think this could happen...

[Teflon Don]

Oh you'd be surprised what a small bullet could do. At close range, it could happen without a doubt. (But a pistol round probably could not.)

[Yankee Bugle Dandy]

Most likely it could given on the caliber and the range. You have to keep in mind that in general the exit wound will be alot bigger than the entrance wound and could probably do it. My cousin had a good portion of his thigh blown off and that was just by a 30.cal more or less grazing him.

[Solaire]

Obviously an anti tank rifle could do it, but the guns in verdun are firing 50 cal (more or less) which is definitely enough to remove most of your leg. I doubt it could cut it off though.

[Bishop]

I don't fancy doing much research in to this tbh, but I guess depending on the round, angle, impact and range it could do.

[Cpl. Burden R 3294]

Most weapons in Verdun are around 0.30 Cal, not 0.50 Cal. However, the amount of energy involved with a typical rifle round of that calibre is sufficient to cause severe damage. They could take off most of a leg or arm through hydrostatic shock.

[Flekk]

It would have to be a pretty big round and would have to break through the bone to have any chance of severing a leg.

You can tear off pretty big chunks by hitting in other areas but definitely wouldn't have a chance of severing it.

[Cpl. Burden R 3294]

Have you seen the effect of a .303 round hitting ballistic gel? It's not pretty. The act of changing medium (from air to solid) creates shockwaves. It's a tad more complex but basically you have a .303 sized entrance hole and a 9 inch exit hole. Even bone offers little resistance. The energy involved is enormous.

[Flekk]

Originally posted by L/Cpl. Burden R 3294:

Have you seen the effect of a .303 round hitting ballistic gel? It's not pretty. The act of changing medium (from air to solid) creates shockwaves. It's a tad more complex but basically you have a .303 sized entrance hole and a 9 inch exit hole. Even bone offers little resistance. The energy involved is enormous.

Hense why I said it would tear off pretty big chunks. But bones are a lot stronger than that and there is no way a bullet could break a bone without hitting it.

[Cpl. Burden R 3294]

Hydrostatic shock can easily break bones. Admittedly a thigh bone might only be fractured, not completely smashed to pieces, but it is the largest single bone in the body. A hit below the knee can easily take off that leg.

In fact, one of the trickiest injuries to deal with was a thigh wound, as often the femur had splintered very badly from the shock and this massively complicating healing due to infection and such.

[Flekk]

Originally posted by L/Cpl. Burden R 3294:

Hydrostatic shock can easily break bones. Admittedly a thigh bone might only be fractured, not completely smashed to pieces, but it is the largest single bone in the body. A hit below the knee can easily take off that leg.

In fact, one of the trickiest injuries to deal with was a thigh wound, as often the femur had splintered very badly from the shock and this massively complicating healing due to infection and such.

I know bullets can break bones. A bullet will, like you said, splinter the bone and make things a lot more complicated to deal with. All I was saying that a small average bullet doesn't have enough power to break through the bone, and severe all the tendons, muscle tissue and ligaments.

There is a reason when a person is shot in the arm in the real world, his arm doesn't just go flying off. And you'd think that if this was a common problem during The Great War you'd hear about it more often.

In summary, yes a bullet can severe a arm given the right caliber and circumstances. But will this happen very often with your typical round? No.

[Niga Pleez]

I have personally loaded a mortally injured human shot in the thigh with a .30-06. From my experience this question is best solved by determining ammo type. Flekk said it best.

[J. Bruh]

These days bullets are made for simple in and out, nothing too messy. Neutralize the target and move on, hence why military all over the world have adopted 5.56/5.45 etc etc as their standard issue rifle round. These cartridges aren't manufactured with the intent of giving them limb removing capability. They're made to pierce armor and make a clean wound channel that results in a quick death, or at least them not fighting anymore.

Now if we're talking about a .30 Browning, .303 Brit, .30-06 (all similar calibers), those cartridges can definitely remove a limb if it impacts the right spot. It's not going to happen every time, but it's certainly within the realm of possibility.

[Solaire]

Reson I asked is getting a leg blown off hapens every 5 seconds in verdun