I mentioned the 14 patients I worked hit with birdshot at inside-the-house ranges. All were dead, most were dead when we got to the scene. These were all 20, or 16, or 12 gauge. I do recall one call I ran, two brothers were rabbit hunting. Boys age 10 and 12. They had .410 shotguns loaded with #6 shot. They were crossing a barbed wire fence. The second brother was going through the fence and his shotgun discharged. From 10 feet away he hit his brother right in the middle of the back of the neck. There in the neck, you have the spine, you have the spinal column with all the nerves, and you have the jugular veins and the carotid arteries. When we got to the scene that little boy was dead. We tried the resuscitation of course but he stayed dead.
So even the anemic little .410, loaded with small shot, is a real killer at close range. I wouldn't use a .410 for household defense, but, I wouldn't want to get hit with one, either.
In response to someone's question, believe it or not I never saw someone hit with a .223 Most of the shootings are done with cheap guns, like the .22, the .32 auto, the .25 auto etc. See a lot of .38 special and a few .45 Colt and .357 mag. Saw a few rifle wounds, saw a guy get his leg blown in two at mid thigh with a 7 mag. He lived but what a mess!
Of all those patients I saw hit with bird shot, one really stands out. Most of these were dead when we got there. A few made it to the ER with a pulse but only one or two made it to surgery, where they died. I had one guy from the county next door. He was a timber faller, big giant black guy about 27 years old, working all day with that chains saw he was 6-4 and 230, looked like Black Superman. Got into an argument with the girlfriend and she let him have it in the belly with one load of #8 from a 12 gauge. See, it is a lot harder to kill a young man, in shape, than to kill a fat old geezer. The next county EMS brought him to my hospital, and our docs couldn't handle him we took him to the big hospital in Macon Ga. for more surgery etc. I attended the 45 minute ride. This guy was conscious and alert. I couldn't believe this guy, 12 hours after the shooting he was looking good! I thought he was going to break the record of the 13 consecutive corpses.
We delivered him to Medical Center of Macon and he looked pretty good. Just to make sure I called The Med 3 days later on my next shift. They told me, he died 6 hours after we dropped him off, kidney failure.
