Sunday, May 19, 2013

Praxis: Arrow Wounds.

Often in western films there is a scene where an arrow is yanked from the body of a fallen comrade. As dramatic as that may be it is definitely not the recommended method for removing an arrow.

6 comments:

CowboyDan said...

Fascinating. Thanks.

William Flatt said...

Arrows certainly rank right up there with shit-dipped punji stakes. Few things are nastier, I'm sure, but nothing else comes to mind... maybe hardwood bullets like the Germans used in WWI.

As much as diplomats try to ban the use of things like this from warfare, the only rule to fighting dirty is there are no rules.

And this makes me wonder if we might soon see the use of arrows designed to deposit their razorlike blades in their target, where they will continue to cut and infect the body till it dies.

If the enemies read this blog with regularity, I'll be looking to see if they ban hunting arrows, bows, and crossbows. I don't put anything past them as being off the table.

Judgment Comes said...

Actually, my experience is that many modern broadheads shatter like glass upon entry, especially when bone is encountered.

And they spin at a high rate as well due to the fletching configuration being in a helical shape.

And they are relatively silent. They do have a tactically useful and particularly terrifying value.

Hips and heads kids, hips and heads.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Flatt The "wooden bullet" of ww2 is an urban myth. The rounds that GI's found at the end of WW2 were balsa wood blanks. Shit dipped punji stakes are the nastiest thing you can be wounded by as they cause almost immediate sepsis.

Anonymous said...

Would a "hardwood bullet" even be practical? Wouldn't the heat of the propellant and/or friction from travel down the barrel cause the projectile to combust?

I occurs to me that the cavity in a hollow point projectile could be filled with shit (or something similar) to induce sepsis?

@Judgement Comes, would not a broadhead shattering be a good thing for the shooter's side. It would make extraction of the pieces more difficult and time consuming. It would also seem possible to coat any arrow point with a sepsis-inducing substance to increase the severity of a wound. A simple target point would seem to be an effective means for delivering a sepsis inducing agent. I can see some hyper-macho special-forces type yanking the arrow out; laughing at the "stupidity" of the "idiots" using target points in combat; applying a coagulant field dressing and continuing the mission. With any luck Mr. Machismo would already be too far into sepsis to save by the time he stood down and sought medical attention for the "minor wound".

Hollow point arrows and bullets would seem to be useful delivery systems for a range of toxins and biological agents.

Judgement Comes said...

@BadCyborg

Yes sir. That was my point.

And you remove an arrow by pushing it completely through whenever possible. Not pulling it out.