I recently read "Hard Corps", a good story of a former gang member's experiences during the invasion of Iraq. (He was awarded the Silver Star.) He was describing one firefight where he had a shot at a guy standing sideways to him, but hesitated and then aimed at the guy's head because "bullets can bounce off ribs". Is this really a factor to consider? Would it happen with a .30 caliber round? Why would it happen with ribs and not a skull?

That sounds like total bs to me. Bullets, such as that of a .30 caliber round, has enough terminal performance to smash right through ribs easily. Heck, a 7.62x39 or .308 can go through cinderblock and cement. So, the guy sounds like he doesn't know what he is talking about.

But, I could definitely be wrong. And if thats the case, then my apologies.

GOP is right, but I don't know if I would call what he said "BS".  I believe the author probably heard it from someone somewhere and may even believe it, but that doesn't make it so.  For the most part a bullet is not going to be stopped by rib bones, especially something like a .30 cal round, but bullets do funny things sometimes.  We know for a fact that the flight of a bullet is affected by leaves, twigs, and grass as it flies through the air, especially 5.56mm rounds.  I suppose if someone were hit by a bullet that had already expended most of its energy, then its possible it won't have enough juice to penetrate deeply.  I also suppose it is possible that if a bullet struck someone in the ribs at the right angle it could be deflected enough to cause only superficial damage. 

 

The long and short of it is that his reasons for not shooting someone in the side are not very plausible.  If you have the shot, take it.  You always miss the shots you don't take.  It's kind of like the stories you used to hear about "such and such" cartridge being too weak coupled with stories of the enemy taking multiple rounds and not going down.  Of course there are physiological and psychological reasons why the enemy doesn't go down when shot, but I always find it interesting that the story teller never tells us how many of those rounds may have missed, therefore causing no damage whatsoever.  You always need to get the whole story. 

Maybe my comments were too harsh. I just find it ridiculous that he aimed for the head because he felt his shot may be deflected after hitting the ribs. Heck, if the shot is availiable, then take it. Even if the round doesn't have the ability to kill the guy, a injured bad guy > healthy bad guy. Even if the injury is minor.

Unlikely that rib bones would stop any center fire rifle round at normal combat ranges, so I'd agree with the previous suggestions that the author did describe his thinking but it was based on rumors he'd heard somewhere along the way.

so I'd agree with the previous suggestions that the author did describe his thinking but it was based on rumors he'd heard somewhere along the way.

To me, this sounds like something he'd heard when he was a 'gangster', and it stuck in his mind.

That sounds most likely, and that sort of rubbish should have been drilled out of him during training.  I think it rather questionable allowing him to sign up in the first place, assuming he had a criminal record in association with his being a former gang member.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if he added the rib rubbish in as an afterthought however, to justify nearly missing the enemy, aiming for his torso, but striking him in the head at close quarters.

It was a very well-written book.  He didn't come across at all as ignorant or a BS-er.  He didn't try to gloss over what a f***-up he'd been in his teenage years; he said that when he was being given the award he kept half-expecting someone to whisper in the officer's ear and have them call it off.  What do I know, I was never in the service, but he sounded like an outstanding Marine.  He was pretty funny in parts too... in the intro he was talking about how grunts hate this and that, John Kerry and his "stuck in Iraq" remark,... and "that f***-head Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead".  He read a little bit of the book in Iraq and burned it.

Bullets can bounce off windshields if fired at just the right angle. Bullets sometimes fellow the bone and go in side and out the other. Doesn't happen very much but all it takes is to see it happen once.

.................but any object passing through matter that has some lateral force applied to it, will suffer deflection or YAW influence. This becomes especially pronounced when you go from one state of matter to another as in from air [gas] to flesh  [plastic solid] and bone [elastic solid]. The tendency to bullet veer will generally be in the direction of least resistance to momentum. At 500 meters per second I can well prove that simple breeze cross wind of about 5 kph will affect bullet  lateral drift in the trajectory. So a bone will prove to be quite an impediment, it will deflect a bullet-even shatter a bullet if the bullet strikes at the right angle and velocity. WATER will deflect or smash a bullet; if the bullet hits with enough kinetic energy.

Will a rib stop a bullet? Not likely. Will it change the trajectory radically? Absolutely.

I don't have to be expert rifleman to prove this. Its physics.

Herald