Sarge, I was responding your implication that 9mm bullets won't go through an intermediate barrier such as an arm or leg and continue into the body.
The 9mm bullet in question did not strike Platt's forearm. It entered his right upper arm above the elbow and passed transversely and superiorly through the upper arm, severing the brachial artery. It penetrated through the right lung and centerpunched the right pulmonary artery and vein, severing them, which resulted in catastrophic loss of blood into the chest cavity. The wound was non-survivable.
It is impossible to say that a 45 caliber bullet of any type would have done a better job... your assertion that 45 ball would have hit the heart and "settled his hash" is pure speculation, and based on the autopsy findings and what we know about cardiovascular function, very likely wrong.
The wound probes and Xrays shown in photos in French Anderson's book (and his verbal description) show that the bullet was traversing superiorly at a modest angle (10 degrees or so). This means that even if the bullet had gone completely through his chest, its path would not have perforated any significant part of the heart.
Also, you have succumbed to the layman's assumption that a bullet in the heart is always immediately fatal, and this is simply not true, especially with handgun bullets. I am aware of numerous cases where GSW's to the ventricles were not only survivable, but the "victim" (often a felon, so I hesitate to use the term) was able to fight for an extended period of time after taking the GSW to his heart.
