More scaremongering about centerfire .22's...

[jimmy the one]

15. cavitation

ezra: All bullets cavitate; that's what produces the temporary cavity.

Bullets cause cavitation, the temporary wound cavity. Actually bullet mass, velocity, & rotation combined can cause cavitation. That a bullet can cavitate doesn't say much (if even valid), it's the degree of cavitating expansion which causes the damage, moreso to surrounding internal organs. Handgun bullets below ~1,000 fps (iirc) generally don't cause significant cavitation, their wounds are often considered akin to being stuck by a dagger or run thru by a thin fencing foil (sword) - the permanent wound cavity.

ezra: Rifle bullets cavitate more than handgun bullets. Big rifle bullets like .30-06 cavitate more than small rifle bullets like .223 (and .30-06 can throw a 55gr bullet at over 4000 ft/sec, or a 110gr at 3400, if you want to talk high velocity).

Bullets fired from rifles will cause greater cavitation - that being a larger diameter of expansion within the target/body - typical damaging cavitation 2-3 inches diam. Cavitation thru adipose tissue doesn't cause much damage, usually heals readily - so if you're being shot at, bend over as you run away (the general 'you').

ezra: What you appear to be thinking of is fragmentation, which can result in a shallow, nonfatal wound if an inappropriately fragile bullet is used to hunt a big-game animal.

No, I was thinking of cavitation. After fragmenting, the .223 inside an animal could result in two separate temporary cavities, just like in a human, but greater likelihood than larger hunting rifles for the .223 wound NOT to be fatal, thus resulting in the animal running off mortally wounded & in great suffering.

ezra: And what you don't seem to understand is that fragmentation is a function of bullet choice, not caliber choice.

Well aware that bullet characteristics are finicky, and that fragmentation is not solely a function of caliber.

wiki, eh; most all of this you will concur, but it backs me up: Most handgun projectiles wound primarily through the size of the hole they produce. This hole is known as a permanent cavity. For comparison, rifles wound through temporary cavitation as well as permanent cavitation. A temporary cavity is also known as a stretch cavity. This is because it acts to stretch the permanent cavity, increasing the wounding potential. The potential for wounding via temporary cavity depends on the elasticity of the tissue, bullet fragmentation, and the rate of energy transfer.
Many handgun bullets do not create significant wounding via temporary cavitation, but the potential is there if the bullet fragments, strikes inelastic tissue (liver, spleen, kidneys, CNS), or if the bullet transfers over 500 ft·lbf (680 J) of energy per foot of penetration.