Martin Fackler
From Gunsopedia
Martin L. Fackler, MD was a battlefield surgeon, but is better known in the field of terminal ballistics, He is a retired colonel in the US Army's Medical Corps. He is generally acknowledged as the foremost expert in wound ballistics in the United States. His scientific approach to the field and firsthand experience treating gunshot wounds contrasts sharply with the far more commercialized work done by gun magazine writers and their editors.
Important contributions include:
- Developing and testing medium in which the effects of bullet wounds could be simulated. This led to the widespread acceptance of 10C ballistic gelatin for evaluating penetration and expansion of projectiles.
- Establishing effects of projectile design and shape on wounding
- Being the first researcher to demonstrate that yawing and cavitation do not typically cause severe tissue trauma. He asserted that fragmentation was the most effective means of inflicting wounds in a modern military rifle round.
- He claimed to debunk the "kinetic energy dump" theories of terminal ballistics that posited wound trauma being caused by a high velocity projectile that could be made to yaw in tissue and transfer its kinetic energy very quickly. He showed that this manifested itself as the "temporary stretch cavity" in which tissue is pushed by the shock wave following the projectile.
External links
- Firearms Tactical Institute's Wound Ballistics site Includes articles by Fackler and most appropriate for those seeking a scientific angle to wound ballistics.
- THE EFFECTS OF SMALL ARMS ON THE HUMAN BODY, By Martin L. Fackler, MD
