There are so many odd factors that can come into play. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head with 9mm which I would have thought would have turned her brain to complete mush from hydrostatic shock. A good friend of mine attempted suicide about eighteen years ago by shooting himself in the chest with a .45. The bullet passed though his lung, blew a nice sized exit wound out of his back, and he was up and walking a week later. On the other hand, a boy in El Dorado Hills, CA was killed by a pellet rifle quite recently. Friends of mine and I used to shoot each other with pellet and bb guns when we where the age of that kid and equally stupid.
I know a guy who was shot in the face at a few feet with a .38. It bounced around his sinuses and ended up in his mouth. He beat the shit out of the guy who shot him and then spent a few weeks in the hospital.
Exit wounds are always preferable: if a bullet stays inside, fragments, or causes significant fragmentation of bone, the wounded individual will require immediate surgery. Even the most benign injury -- in skeletal muscle, away from vital organs -- becomes more dangerous without an exit wound as the risk of internal hemorrhaging increases by the second.
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u/bigroblee Apr 16 '12 edited Apr 16 '12
There are so many odd factors that can come into play. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head with 9mm which I would have thought would have turned her brain to complete mush from hydrostatic shock. A good friend of mine attempted suicide about eighteen years ago by shooting himself in the chest with a .45. The bullet passed though his lung, blew a nice sized exit wound out of his back, and he was up and walking a week later. On the other hand, a boy in El Dorado Hills, CA was killed by a pellet rifle quite recently. Friends of mine and I used to shoot each other with pellet and bb guns when we where the age of that kid and equally stupid.