Of course this forum has a plethora of gunshot threads, but most are about the immediate outcome.
I'm trying to fit the injury to the desired result, which is recovery with some slight permanent damage that's more annoying that disabling. My character is a young woman who's firing from partial cover of stacked stone and gets hit with a black powder rifle bullet that ricochets off the rocks and breaks. I'm thinking one of the pieces goes into her arm at a shallow angle and lodges in the humerus but doesn't have enough force to break it. Antiseptics had just been discovered and they're in a major city, but she's effectively a wanted criminal and treatment mostly consists of bandages and a lot of liquor while hiding out trying not to get caught. IF she can control infection (possibly with the help of maggots, for extra ick), is it plausible the wound could heal with full use of the arm but occasional pain? Aches when the weather changes, difficulty sleeping on that side, the general irritation of having lead where it shouldn't be...?
(I'm basing this somewhat on personal experience of having ORIF hardware in my ankle, it doesn't bother me but it's just...there, plus it's weird being able to feel the screws under the skin.)
After fleeing from the authorities, her story about the scar is that it's shrapnel from said city being shelled several months before. Where this could be a problem is going through US immigrant medical screening at Castle Garden about 4-5 months post-injury. I'm guessing a former Civil War doc could tell this was fresher than almost a year, even allowing for malnutrition causing slower healing. The screening was mostly to make sure people could earn a living, but...let's just say politics complicates everything.
I'm trying to fit the injury to the desired result, which is recovery with some slight permanent damage that's more annoying that disabling. My character is a young woman who's firing from partial cover of stacked stone and gets hit with a black powder rifle bullet that ricochets off the rocks and breaks. I'm thinking one of the pieces goes into her arm at a shallow angle and lodges in the humerus but doesn't have enough force to break it. Antiseptics had just been discovered and they're in a major city, but she's effectively a wanted criminal and treatment mostly consists of bandages and a lot of liquor while hiding out trying not to get caught. IF she can control infection (possibly with the help of maggots, for extra ick), is it plausible the wound could heal with full use of the arm but occasional pain? Aches when the weather changes, difficulty sleeping on that side, the general irritation of having lead where it shouldn't be...?
(I'm basing this somewhat on personal experience of having ORIF hardware in my ankle, it doesn't bother me but it's just...there, plus it's weird being able to feel the screws under the skin.)
After fleeing from the authorities, her story about the scar is that it's shrapnel from said city being shelled several months before. Where this could be a problem is going through US immigrant medical screening at Castle Garden about 4-5 months post-injury. I'm guessing a former Civil War doc could tell this was fresher than almost a year, even allowing for malnutrition causing slower healing. The screening was mostly to make sure people could earn a living, but...let's just say politics complicates everything.
You're correct that its heavy 385-grain bullet (compared to a popular .30-30 bullet weighing 150 grains) would have lots lead left over after fragmenting on nearby stone. Approximately 85 grains of black powder would also give it enough zip to do the job you describe. Good research.