I suggest you watch the TV series CSI. You can get a lot of information on that show about things like this.
Bullets are usually made of lead, which is dense and soft. They travel at high velocity, which means that impact happens with a great deal of force. If the bullet strikes a bone, it will fragment the bone, and the bullet itself will become deformed or fragmented. The force of the impact destroys surrounding tissue with shock waves. In fat or dense muscle the shock waves don't do as much damage as they do in soft tissue like organs and the brain.
2007-02-02 01:53:29
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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I have to make a couple of assumptions. You didn't specify handgun or rifle. Most handgun bullets designed for defense are hollow point while rifle ammunition is generally a full metal jacket or a soft point. Handguns launch a bullet at much lower velocities and therefore require the hollow point to ensure expansion while a soft point bullet from a rifle will normally expand even at much greater distances due to higher velocity.
Assuming that you are talking of handgun ammo and hollow points here is what I can tell you:
A hollow point is designed to expand once it enters soft tissue. The expansion creates a greater frontal area which causes more damage to soft tissue but decreases the depth the round will penetrate.
The round will create a permanent wound channel that will remain open and this is the hole that you see. The entry wound is normally small, the diameter of the bullet itself. If there is an exit wound it will usually be larger since the bullet has expanded and the resistance is different on exiting.
There is also what is known as a temporary stretch cavity. This is the area that the force of the round has applied pressure to and that has caused the soft tissue to momentarily move away from the wound channel and the tissue is damaged.
A bullet wound will normally cause a person to go down in one of three ways. First you have to realize that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If a bullet or load of buckshot could pick up a person and throw them back through a window like it does in the movies the exact same force would be applied to the person shooting the gun. It simply doesn't happen.
A hit to the central nervous system, i.e. the brain or spine will normally put someone down the fastest due to disruption of the electronics signals that run the body.
Next it is possible that the lungs can be damaged so that they collapse and a person will basically go down due to lack of oxygen. It takes time but it does happen.
The most common scenario is that the bullet does damage to the internal organs and causes a significant amount of bleeding, most of it internal, until there is not enough blood being pumped to the brain and they collapse due to lack of oxygen. Obviously the more damage done here the faster the blood loss and the faster a person will be incapacitated.
TV would have you think that you HAVE to fall down as soon as you are shot and that is so much bull. Incapacitation times vary but they are not immediate. A bad guy can easily empty his gun back at you before he goes down. In fact most police departments have a policy that if an office fires at a suspect he must shoot at least twice. Too many officers have shot a perp once only to have the perp shoot back and kill the officer. It is not a matter or bad cops or poor judgment; it’s a matter of protecting the lives of law enforcement officers.
Hope this helps.
2007-02-04 14:28:54
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answer #2
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answered by Christopher H 6
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The old "cut a cross in the bullet" trick doesn't really get seen much anymore. This may help a bullet expand on penetration, but it really was only used in the days when bullets were purely made out of lead. Nowadays most bullets have a lead core with a brass "jacket" around it.
Also, a bullet that is cut in such a way will not "start rotating" on penetration. Most firearms, except for shotguns, have what is called "rifling" on the inside of their barrels. Rifling is a set of grooves which twist in a spiral down the barrel. The purpose of rifling is to start the bullet rotating on it's way down the barrel. This rotation adds stability to the bullet so that it doesn't start tumbling end-over-end.
Most of the answers here are correct with regards to the fact that different types of bullets cause different injuries. In a handgun, a "full jacket" bullet, which is completely covered in brass tends to cause the least damage, as it tends to keep it's shape pretty well. A "jacketed hollow-point", on the other hand has the tip exposed, with a slight hollow in the lead underneath. This causes the bullet to expand on penetration, causing far more horrifying injuries. Another reason why you don't have to cut your bullets. You can just buy them over the counter in the most lethal form possible.
Most bullets are designed NOT to fragment upon penetration, this would cause a dissipation of energy, and the bullet would not cause as much damage.
By the way, Hollywood will have you believe that an entry wound from a bullet would gush blood. This simply does not happen. The bullet actually sucks the hole it makes closed behind it. It's the exit wound where things get messy. I know, I've seen a lot of gunshot victims.
2007-02-02 02:31:57
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answer #3
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answered by Anthony Stark 5
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Depends on the gun, the type of bullet and the circumstances:
"It's not impossible for a bullet to behave erratically, and that awareness influences trajectory studies, as well as bloodstain pattern analysis. In one Oklahoma case, as reported by Innes, a bank robber put a .357 Magnum to the back of the head of a female witness and fired. The bullet entered her skull, made a sharp turn, went around inside her head and exited out the forehead. The girl was knocked unconscious but she recovered and testified against him. In another case, a .22 caliber bullet entered a vein at the wrist, a seemingly innocuous wound, but it traveled inexplicably up the arm and right into the heart, killing the person."
Check the article for much more information about what can happen and why.
2007-02-02 01:49:40
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answer #4
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answered by Yahzmin ♥♥ 4ever 7
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In addition to the answers already posted, some bullets are specifically designed to fragment upon impact. So it really does depend on the type of bullet and point of entry.
2007-02-02 01:58:12
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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a terrible fact :
sometimes it depends on how you manipulate the bullet. If you carve a cross on the top of the bullet, it will open up like a star when it hits your body and will start to rotate once it enters, leaving a devastating damage ..
2007-02-02 01:56:49
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answer #6
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answered by JS 2
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The comments approximately Australia are loopy. They genuinely have been initially a Gun Nut usa and protested whilst their government had to take them away. in spite of the undeniable fact that, they have not had a mass taking photos on the grounds that 1992 as a result and the Australians (even people who protested) will now assist you recognize they sense a lot safer. as nicely, no longer all weapons have been taken away; human beings nonetheless have looking rifles and if a bad guy or boogie guy broke into your place, you're able to nonetheless have the flexibility to do a lot of harm with a looking rifle. My factor - can we genuinely desire each and every American to have get right of entry to to gadget weapons and sniper rifles? won't have the ability to we limit particular gun get right of entry to and easily make hand weapons and searching rifles obtainable? only asserting.
2016-11-24 19:05:45
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answer #7
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answered by ? 4
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it stays in the body and blocks some blood and some bla bla bla
2007-02-02 02:20:22
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answer #8
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answered by help me 1
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