The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology
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Am J Forensic Med Pathol · Dec 1997
The MEN frangible: study of a new bullet in gelatin. Metallwerk Elisenhütte Nassau.
Experimental gunshots were made with 9 x 19 mm (9-mm Luger) Frangible ammunition using skin, gelatin, and bones as targets. Direct gunshots penetrated 50 cm into gelatin blocks without mushrooming or fragmentation. Skull bone was easily perforated. ⋯ Gunshots perforating tibias produced comminuted fractures. In all soft tissues, except the direct gunshots into gelatin, high-resolution radiography revealed many metallic fragments along the bullet path. Clinical radiography can show the larger copper fragments, but the explosion-like distribution of metallic foreign bodies in soft tissue is a serious surgical problem.