Originally Posted by
cwi555
This is always an interesting topic to me on survival/prep forums. There is the inevitable mall ninja quotes, the 22Lr is the best thing since sliced bread quotes, and the list goes on.
There is also the unmentioned elephant in the room as with most of these threads.
SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, or any other situation where there is no medivac, no chopper to carry you out, or ambulance EMT's to patch you up and carry you to medical aid, your likely dead from any gun shot wound be it a 22 or a 44 mag. The only real difference we are talking here is time to zero heart beat.
Unless you were a sniper, or other spec ops with advanced medical training with good supplies, your time to ZHB is ticking the moment that lead makes a hole in your body, much less multiple holes.
The vast majority of combat vets who were shot, cops who were shot, or any other victim of gunshot wounds are around to tell the tale because of advanced medical care.
A look back in history will graphically display that. For America, the deadliest war was the American civil war. 718,000 dead counting both sides. By contrast, WWII claimed 418,000 lives, and WWI 116,500.
If we had only had 1800's medical tech for WWII, that number would have been closer to a million instead of 418,000. Specifically, in 1942, the war department changed the criteria for a purple heart. The meritorious service element was stripped from the purple heart. Fatal wounds and non-fatal wounds were the new criteria retroactive to Dec 7, 1941. The war department records listed 964,000 purple hearts issued and since 418,000 were fatal, that leaves us with and estimated half a million wounded vets who survived either being blown up or shot. (remember, I am only talking American losses here)
By contrast, any serious wound in the civil war was a much higher probability of being a death sentence. Especially so for bullet wounds regardless of caliber due to infection if nothing else.
If we back further in history and to other countries, it makes even the civil war look like a cake walk. The An Lushan Rebellion in China Circa 755AD claimed an estimated 33 million lives. That was ~15% of the worlds estimated population at the time. If you got stabbed, cut, or shot with an arrow, you were pretty well screwed.
The bottom line is, any gunshot wound that does not have rapid medical care available will likely kill you. For that matter, you can simply cut yourself building a shelter and get yourself killed. Dead is dead, be it a .22 gunshot, a mace to the face, or an open wound from a careless axe stroke.
Bookmarks