How Do Guns Knock People Off Their Feet?

There is not enough momentum in a bullet to cause it. That is simple physics and easy to demonstrate. I think the wild reactions by living targets is usually an uncontrol muscle reaction caused by the trauma, especially if that trauma impinges on the central nervous system. I shot a young buck in the neck once and the animal did a nearly complete back flip and almost landed on it feet again if not for the fact that its spine was severed and the animal no longer had any muscle control. I have little doubt the flip was cause by the traumatic damage to to the CNS firing muscles in an uncontrolled manner and the momentum from the slug contributed only marginally.

It isn’t the force of the projectile. That energy is concentrated in a small area as the bullet penetrates, it isn’t a generalized impact affecting the entire being.

I’ll surmise it could be an involuntary “muscle twitch” reaction, like when a deer or other animal jumps up in the air when shot.

Stay safe.

"How Do Guns Knock People Off Their Feet?"
They simply don't.

mcb said:

There is not enough momentum in a bullet to cause it. That is simple physics and easy to demonstrate. I think the wild reactions by living targets it is usually an uncontrol muscle reaction caused by the trauma, especially if that trauma impinges on the central nervous system.

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Yep. In nearly 60 years of hunting deer (as well as a few other species of big game), I've seen many a deer "appear" to be knocked off its feet when struck by a bullet - particularly when the deer's central nervous system is suddenly interrupted by a bullet. On the other hand, I've seen many a deer run a hundred yards or so uphill after a bullet from the same rifle that "knocked down" other deer went through the deer's heart and lungs. "Knock down power" is a myth - plane and simple.
BTW, "a wounded deer always running downhill" is another myth. In my experience (stemming from the first deer I ever killed), wounded deer sometimes follow the other deer they were running with, as far as they can anyway, even after they are mortally wounded.

How do guns knock people off their feet? Because they were shot and they fall down. If you are talking about being blown back a few feet, my guess is Hollywood physics!

The Grand Total is 120 just in case you don't have 10 minutes to spare.

.308 Norma said:

BTW, "a wounded deer always running downhill" is another myth. In my experience (stemming from the first deer I ever killed), wounded deer sometimes follow the other deer they were running with, as far as they can anyway, even after they are mortally wounded.

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In my experience a wounded, especially fatally, deer runs to the least convenient place for me to drag them out of.

Oh, there's a ravine/pond/thicket/steep slope near by? Yeah, it'll die there.

Can’t happen! Perhaps at time of impact the muscles reacted causing the person appear to have been moved by the bullet impact! If a shoulder fired firearm is capable of moving a human body several feet from the energy departing upon the body.....I want no part of shooting said firearm!

As an example: about 10 years ago, I shot a small bull elk at approximately 40 yards, broadside, behind the shoulder. He never flinched, just continued to walk, in spite of being hit by a round with just over 5600 ft/lbs. muzzle energy. I thought that I had missed, until a few moments later, he collapsed! memtb

It doesn't happen. Physics doesn't allow it.
Witnesses are biased or mistaken. People have a tendency to jerk away from a wound, and when you're scrambling away already, you lurch or trip. Sudden pain or nervous system damage will cause someone to clench up or collapse.

You're example seems Ike he caught a bullet. Prior to being executed.

JR24 said:

In my experience a wounded, especially fatally, deer runs to the least convenient place for me to drag them out of.

Oh, there's a ravine/pond/thicket/steep slope near by? Yeah, it'll die there.

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Oh, yeah! Come to think of it, that might be where the myth about deer always running down hill after they're hit came from. I mean, I can't even remember how many times my dad gave me a mock scolding for shooting a deer "downhill" from the road.
I always protested, "But Dad, he wasn't downhill from the road when I shot him!"

Any non-explosive round that will knock a man-sized target off of it's feet will also knock a shooter off of his or her feet - unless the weapon is recoilless, has some kind of recoil-management system, is mounted firmly or is unusually heavy.

If you look at film of U.S. Army firing squad executions of spies and war criminals during / after WW2, they drop like sacks of potatoes. You don't see them thrown backwards.

At the Cedar Creek re-enactment in 1991 a member of my unit got a triple charge. He was in the front rank, knocked him down, his file mate behind him, when we got back to camp we found the stock of his Enfield cracked. Recall pictures of Elmer Keith firing-from the standing position- a rifle chambered in 50 BMG, if someone who didn't have his experience firing big bore rifles had tried that....in WWII the British had their PIAT-Projector, Infantry Anti-Tank. It meant to be fired only from the prone or kneeling position. One Tommy fired one at a Panzer from the standing position. He got his tank, but it knocked him down.

There is one way for a gun to knock someone off their feet. Swing it like a baseball bat into some unsuspecting persons head as hard as you can.

LookAtYou said:

Because it clearly happens. Here is a (graphic) example. . .

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It's clear you didn't watch the video very carefully. The victim stepped backwards, and then fell over backwards. No knocking or flying is shown.

Forces sum to zero, just like they did in Statics 101.

Movie magic. I've even seen a haji take a hit to the melon from a .50 BMG in Iraq, and he didn't fly back. Just dropped like a bag of soup. Of course, he had a lower jaw, tongue, and that was it... but no dramatic TV recoil flying backwards...





Just kidding. He couldn't fly back. He was driving a VBIED at the time. My point is, a fast moving bullet will just tear it's way through, not push you backwards.

The guns of the spaghetti westerns have various effects on the human body. They can throw them back, spin them around. Usually they will make a human throw his arms in the air, and spin around while falling down. They are also capable of holding something around 20 cartridges per revolver. Most regular modern weapons will have no such powers. Perhaps the disruption of the right nerves, causing the tightening of specific muscles may apply to some strange reactions.

I thought this thread was going to be about recoil, not terminal ballistics. I was about knocked off the stool I was sitting on once by my little .303. I was surprised and a little embarrassed. Fortunately, I was the only one at the range. All I can figure is that I was woefully off balance when I let that shot go. I make sure I've got a stable position when shooting that rifle now.

mokin said:

I thought this thread was going to be about recoil, not terminal ballistics. I was about knocked off the stool I was sitting on once by my little .303. I was surprised and a little embarrassed. Fortunately, I was the only one at the range. All I can figure is that I was woefully off balance when I let that shot go. I make sure I've got a stable position when shooting that rifle now.

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Reminds me of the time my Yeti (insulated drink cup, not the sasquatch) ended up on the ground after a shot from my 300WM.

How Do Guns Knock People Off Their Feet?

Swing a heavy one like a baseball bat and make solid contact...

LookAtYou said:

Since it's not the force of the bullet itself knocking people over/making people seemingly almost fly a few feet from where they were standing, then what makes this happen? Because it clearly happens. Here is a (graphic) example (It happens within first 3 secs). This is a minor example, as other reports of shootings have witnesses that say the victim was blown from the sidewalk to a porch (so at least a couple feet).

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I can't see where anybody was knocked off their feet. He was shot and fell down. It would appear that he started to move (turned to run) and was shot in such a manner that paralyzed his legs as his legs never moved again on their own. He had a slight bit of momentum in the direction he was moving when he was shot and that was simply the direction he fell. He wasn't blown anywhere.

If you're already off balanced, it doesn't take much to bowl you over. If you catch someone off guard you can practically scare them out of their boots. I agree with the above posts.
The rest I blame on bad hollywood movies.

How do Yellow Jacket wasp's knock people down? The Yellow Jacket wasp has to be the strongest creature in the world, because whenever a Yellow Jacket bumps into animals, or people, the creature they bump into will move enormous distances, or fall down, and then get up and run like hell.

Since you asked, this is the most studied bullet impact in history. If your not a math person don’t let the formulas stop you, just skip over and keep reading at least through “2.2.2. Neuromuscular effect”.

This neuromuscular effect causes the large torso muscles to undergo a delayed involuntary contraction, straightening the torso and thus torquing the entire upper body backward…

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5934694/

New shooter getting smacked in the forehead with a lightly held .44 mag long barrel will do it . Also watched a guy with tc .411 JDJ do same.