[The Reaper]

Odd Job:

I understand your question on the failures. I have seen the rounds work on live tissue out to 225 meters from a 10.5" gun, and they functioned as designed. I have never seen a LeMas round overpenetrate and exit a live tissue target either. Given that there is a performance envelope for any rounds, that would be more than acceptable for me from that barrel length. I have not seen any out to failure. I would say that this is not directed at you personally, but the demands for ever more testing seem to increase all of the time. I suspect that if they were tied to a purchase agreement; i.e., if the rounds meet these performance criteria, we will purchase X number of rounds, that the testing requirements would be more palatable. Or if an impartial forensic pathologist acceptable to all parties had agreed to validate the rounds under a final set of protocols. Otherwise, it is an issue of bankrupting a company by requiring more and more tests, regardless of how well they performed in the previous ones. Kind of like the story about the produce imports in Japan sitting on the dock awaiting inspection till they will fail inspection. And as with any live tissue testing, we should not be requiring the deaths of more specimens than required for the value returned of new data.

Frankly, I see nothing wrong with posting and examining the X-Rays, but I will defer to the experts on that. If I can get my hands on some, I will be more than happy to post them. We did not scan they ones we shot, but I am pretty sure that they are going to show a generally spherical deployment of tiny particles at varying distances away from the wound track. That is what the ones we shot showed. I too would love to see MRI or CT imaging with computer enhancement providing a three dimensional view of the deployment of the round in live tissue, better yet with a time line.

As far as identifying the specific composition of the bullet, I suspect that it is like asking for the formula for Coca-Cola. It would appear to be an industrial secrecy sort of thing. I am not a radiologist, but in my limited experience as a layman, any metallic particles will show up, though some metals have more density and are more radio-opaque than others.

If Gary Roberts were to engage Dr. Vail here directly in a professional discussion, he could possibly work out a set of protocols for further live tissue testing with X-Rays and any other desired use for the specimens.

For terminal ballistics, I do not care about the performance envelope in any tissue other than live tissue at any target temperature other than 98-105 degrees. In that range, the LeMas has performed beyond my expectations. IMHO, for shooting bad guys, there is no simulant for live tissue better than live tissue.

TR