Gun shot wounds...

If you want a relatively small wound that won't do a lot of damage, you'll want to stick with a small calibre weapon like .9 mm or 22 round.

A shot in the leg is rather dangerous, it has a pretty good sized artery running through it, not to mention the muscle damage you could do.

There's also the bullets to think of. Different tips do different damage. Some bullets mushroom, others fragment, some will break bones, others won't. Or if you're dealing with a shotgun then you have bird shot, buck shot, target and so forth. The further the distance the less damage because it spreads.

Hopefully a more versed person will come along and give you better specifics.

What is the nationality of the gunman?

As far as the wound goes, tell us how long she needs to be laid up and we'll try to work something out

The most common military handgun round these days is 9mm (9x19), but what your characters are actually shot with might well depend upon what part of the world they’re operating in, and when. Very common arms one might find internationally are Browning Hi-Powers and pistols like the CZ-75. Outside of that, it seems likely that your characters might run afoul of someone toting a Makarov or Walther PP series pistol of some sort. The Mak is chambered not in standard 9mm (9x19), but a slightly shorter cartridge, the 9x18. And the likely most common PP chambering are .32ACP and .380 (aka “9mm short,” aka “9mm kurz,” aka “9x17”) -- the PP series including the PPK and PPK/S. Of course your characters might also run across someone with a Tokarev or a Walther P38, but the first three choices may be the most likely.

Sticklers for terminology would insist that a “silencer” should be properly termed a “suppressor.”

As for the gunshot to upper arm and shoulder, fictional characters often seem to do quite well with such “minor wounds,” but if the brachial artery is hit, your characters will probably bleed to death unless they get help quick, and if the bones or joints are struck, your characters will be seriously out of action. No doubt one of our doctor members will show up to say something more useful.*

As to the leg wound, your character(s) may not need crutches at all. At least the various anecdotal wounding accounts of .22LR, 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP that I’ve read seem to indicate varying degrees of discomfort, but few who weren’t struck in the bones or joints seemed to need crutches, some even reporting having walked, while wounded, with little to no impairment. I suspect that post-wounding mobility may well have much to do with the efficacy of various pain medications. *(repeat comment above)

There's no such thing as a "clean through and through". The exit wound is always a nasty mess. The extent depends on the ammunition used, and you can vary this according to your needs. Hollow points do the most damage, so if you want your MC to be on crutches, this is your best bet. Steel jacketed do the least damage, so that or copper-clad will do for you grazed arm.

A hollow point would do more damage, most likely, but not necessarily "a ton". It would be more likely to leave some bullet fragments behind. Hollow points are notorious for acting unpredictably. A HP's primary function is to impart all of the bullet's energy into the target, thereby preventing "overpenetration" which wastes energy and is dangerous to bystanders. Its secondary function is to tear a larger, more ragged hole. Terciary, to impart hydrostatic shock to the area around the wound, which in certain cases, can cause organ failure or temporary loss of consiousness.

In an arm or shoulder, with no bone involvement, you'd probably come out ok (after surgery), provided no major arteries were severed.

Certain HP brands can become clogged with clothing fibers and will fail to expand.

.22 caliber is 0.22 inches. Not millimeters. 22mm would be an anti-aircraft round. And the Kel-Tec P3AT is .380 caliber, not .22. .380 is like a slightly less powerful 9mm (not .9mm, that would be tiny) round. As for a suppressor, it would need to be custom made and the gun itself would need a slightly longer, threaded barrel. This is feasible, but the gun would be at least twice its normal length with the suppressor fitted, so the purse has to be 10 or so inches long to properly conceal it.

ashara76 said:

MC#1 will be shot from a distance of about fifteen feet by a hollow-point Markova.

Click to expand...

Do you mean a Makarov pistol firing hollow-points?

I think the Russians did make some surpressed versions of the Makarov, but they aren't as quiet as other surpressed pistols due to their blowback operation.

Of course what you see in the movies isn't accurate, most surpressed pistols would make a noise like a loud clap or a sort of a loud hollow "poing". The point is to reduce the noise and change it enough so that it goes unnoticed.