Sixty-six patients with gunshot wounds to the head, including 59 with intracranial involvement (43 male, average age 26 years) were seen during a 4-year period. Injuries were limited to the head in 50 of 59 patients. Overall mortality was 66 per cent. Predictors of mortality included Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of six or less (93%), self-inflicted gunshot wounds (75%), and computed tomography (CT) findings of bihemispheric injury (87%) or ventricular injury (82%). Of the 39 patients who died, 28 met standard criteria for brain death...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8239201

Weaver wrote:Not at all surprising - most people don't know how to aim for shit, and hitting the brain - particularly the important part of the brain, the brain stem - isn't the same as hitting the head.

Unfortunately, most of those who survive end up with severe disfigurement and impairment.

Weaver wrote:Some end up with a lobotomy, some with simply a destroyed face. Yet others manage to skip the bullet off the skull in various ways.

Weaver wrote:People survive being shot in the heart, too, and death from heart hits is rarely "instant" - it usually takes a measurable period up to about a half a minute on the outside. The only place one can reliably generate an "instant" death is by destroying the brain stem.

Guns are not the uber-reliable killers they are portrayed to be, - there is a LOT of variability in terminal ballistics. This is one of the things I'm very interested in, that I expect to keep learning more about as long as I live.

Weaver wrote:People survive being shot in the heart, too, and death from heart hits is rarely "instant" - it usually takes a measurable period up to about a half a minute on the outside. The only place one can reliably generate an "instant" death is by destroying the brain stem.

Guns are not the uber-reliable killers they are portrayed to be, - there is a LOT of variability in terminal ballistics. This is one of the things I'm very interested in, that I expect to keep learning more about as long as I live.

orpheus wrote:

Weaver wrote:People survive being shot in the heart, too, and death from heart hits is rarely "instant" - it usually takes a measurable period up to about a half a minute on the outside. The only place one can reliably generate an "instant" death is by destroying the brain stem.

Guns are not the uber-reliable killers they are portrayed to be, - there is a LOT of variability in terminal ballistics. This is one of the things I'm very interested in, that I expect to keep learning more about as long as I live.

This is one reason I've always been puzzled by the firing squad custom of aiming for the heart. Isn't that less humane than the head? (Presumably with multiple marksmen firing at the head, instant (or very quick and relatively painless) death is more likely than with an amateur suicide attempt?)

Animavore wrote:

Weaver wrote:People survive being shot in the heart, too, and death from heart hits is rarely "instant" - it usually takes a measurable period up to about a half a minute on the outside. The only place one can reliably generate an "instant" death is by destroying the brain stem.

Guns are not the uber-reliable killers they are portrayed to be, - there is a LOT of variability in terminal ballistics. This is one of the things I'm very interested in, that I expect to keep learning more about as long as I live.

I'm sure you've heard of Chris Ryan? In one of his fiction books (which are complete shite,unlike his non-fiction stuff) the protagonist has to shoot the enemy, who is holding a hostage at gun-point, through the brain stem for instant death, lest we get off a shot after being hit.

I guess you read the same manual