Questions about wounds

[V4Vendetta]

I was just thinking. For those of you who have ever shot someone or been shot, is it usually very gorey? Does it depend on the caliber? Would you describe it like "Big Jake" gorey or "True Grit" gorey? I ask because I'm not a gore person. I don't even watch modern suspense movies because their just trying to show all the blood they can. I watch old movies like "Rear Window". I apologize if it's a dumb question.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

I was just thinking. For those of you who have ever shot someone or been shot, is it usually very gorey? Does it depend on the caliber? Would you describe it like "Big Jake" gorey or "True Grit" gorey? I ask because I'm not a gore person. I don't even watch modern suspense movies because their just trying to show all the blood they can. I watch old movies like "Rear Window". I apologize if it's a dumb question.

I have only ever seen one person up close that I have personaly shot. It was with a 9mm and I hit him right in the adams apple. It was not very gorey. I have seen many others that have been shot and it is usually not even obvious what they died from until you look for a bullet wound. Bombs are the gorey things. I have seen some damage by them that turned my stomach. I also saw my uncle Gary "accidently" kill himself with a shotgun right in front of his two small children (ages 4 & 6). That was gorey.

 

[noresttill]

I hear that a 45acp will disintergrate a human.

Ive seen a video of a man shooting himself in the head (side style) and there was no "brain splatter" or anything, just blood pouring out, so I assume that from a "gore" standpoint handguns are not very effective.

A rifle is capable of hydrostatic shock though, so it would probably look pretty bad at the exit. Ask a hunter.

Grenades (or gernades) and land mines are pretty bad I hear, too.

 

['Card]

There's no single answer to that question. The amount of blood loss and 'yuck factor' depend on where the victim is hit, what they got hit with, and what body part(s) or organ(s) got damaged/destroyed in the process.

One thing that I've found surprises a lot of people is that wounded victims can make a much bigger mess than dead victims - even if the wounded's injuries aren't as serious, just because dead people stop pumping blood. Wounded people don't.

The 'yuck factor' isn't really something you need to worry about in advance, though. I've found that when the crap has hit the fan, your heart is pounding and the adrenaline is pumping, you barely even notice it. It will be pretty vivid in your memories, but not really at the time.

 

[Stickjockey]

The only gunshot wounds I've ever seen have been in game animals. The one that stuck with me was the first deer I shot. Not huge, just a forkhorn. We got it dressed, home, and hung up, then started to skin it out. The entrance wound was about three inches below the base of the skull, a little over 1/3 inch; exit wound about the size of a golf ball. However, when we got to skinning the neck area around the bullet wound, at one point the head fell off. Surprising, for sure. Rifle was a Winchester 94 in .30-30, stoked with 150-grain remington Core-lokt softpoints.

 

[Beav]

I've never personally seen a gunshot wound but you can find pictures on the net and from what I've seen, yes it can be gory and gruesome.

 

[Byron Quick]

I haven't personally shot anyone.

However, I'm an emergency nurse and a hunter.

I've never seen a gun shot wound from a pistol that I would describe as gory. As previously stated, there is minimal blood with dead people. Most wounded people don't have as much bleeding as you would think. A young man shot it the leg with a small caliber handgun had serious arterial damage. However, the bleeding was largely contained within his leg. A woman shot in the buttock with a .22LR. Exit wound in the middle of her pubic hair. Luckily she had urinated immediately before she was shot so her bladder was deflated. She walked into the ED. There wasn't a teaspoon of blood on her clothes.

Even hunting deer, there's not that much gore with most shots. Even with larger caliber rifles such as the .300 Winchester Magnum or the .35 Whelen.

Most of the damage is to internal organs and most of the bleeding is into body cavities on a properly delivered shot. The worst shot I've ever had as far as gore is concerned was a badly delivered shot. The buck was close to me (twenty yards), had just become aware that something wasn't right, and moved just as I pulled the trigger. The shot was supposed to hit his short ribs and come out the opposite shoulder. He moved just far enough to the right that the bullet just hit his left shoulder instead. It blew the shoulder joint completely out of his body. I found the ball of the leg bone on the ground.

 

[James T Thomas]

eye of the beholder

The goriness of gunshot, or other; mechanical means of death for a human being, to me, lies in the recognition that there lies a fellow man, a living, breathing person who formerly had walked upon this earth just as I had, and now the spirit of life is gone. Even when it is now a dead enemy.
They have now become, instead of something beautiful; God's creation, now just an animal corpse. Cold, dead, and to decay.
If you had known the person, you will know that they have family who loves them, and they loved. They had dreams and aspirations and hopes, all of which have now ended abruptly. It is truly sad and somber.
We are supposed to be the pinnacle of God's creation, and to see a human; one who has been killed may strike you as to the significance of that.

The small arms wounds I saw were for the most part simply punctures; the FMJ military rounds effect human flesh like a metal rod had been pushed into the skin, the skin being depressed into a cavity; a cone, and the ugly hole in the center. However, when bones are struck, a, dangly, and shreded limb, or grotesquely deformed face or skull is repulsive. Shrapnel from grenades and especially artillery is horrendeous and the avulsion wounds from them can produce images that will never leave your mind.

I concur with you on the "wholesome," but old movies that emphasized the story line and human quality that the current computer graphic images miss.
It seems the TV series -all specialize in gore, for instance the CSI episodes.
I've been accused of being an old foggie, and I'll admit to some of that, but trying to be objective as I can; the current entertainment has lost something with all the emphasis on visual effects and little or no substantive story to tell.

Maybe I will change my pseudonym to "Gabby Hayes."

 

[ball3006]

Gunshots in real life are usually....

not near as gory as Hollywood shows........chris3

 

[Biker]

James T Thomas...

Thanks for that first paragraph. Hopefully, it will be read by all that carry a gun.
Real life ain't Hollywood...
Biker

 

[Jim March]

The subject came up here in some detail:

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=182980

 

[Braden]

If you use Extreme Shock ammo then it will be VERY gory. In fact, there may not be anything left but splatter and matter.

This is because "E-Shock rounds are engineered to expend maximum energy into soft targets, turning the density mass into an expanding rotational cone of NyTrilium matrix particles, causing neurological collapse to the central nervous system." Those expanding NyTrilium matrix particles are NASTY!!

 

[magnum62]

it was bad to me, .40 cal Hydoshock(head).

 

[Hot brass]

It all depends on the size of the womb.

 

[f4t9r]

I have only ever seen one person up close that I have personaly shot. It was with a 9mm and I hit him right in the adams apple. It was not very gorey. I have seen many others that have been shot and it is usually not even obvious what they died from until you look for a bullet wound. Bombs are the gorey things. I have seen some damage by them that turned my stomach. I also saw my uncle Gary "accidently" kill himself with a shotgun right in front of his two small children (ages 4 & 6). That was gorey.

you have seen alot , what the heck do you do for a living (police) ?

 

[phoglund]

I have no first hand experience of gunshot wounds to humans. I'm a hunter and have seen many to animals. They tend to be punctures with little external blood. The worst I've seen are wounds to small animals such as squirrels and rabbits. This is because of the relatively large bullets compared to the size of the game. Large rending wounds with intestines and internal organs hanging out or brain tissue exposed. I'd imagine these are somewhat like the injuries found from large pieces of shrapanel on the battlefield. It should be noted that wounds and injuries on small animals would not be nearly as traumatic as seeing humans injured.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

you have seen alot , what the heck do you do for a living (police) ?

US ARMY veteran. Outside that I was a police officer for like 2 weeks before getting activated and sent to Iraq but never went back to it and never saw any real violence as an LEO.

 

[rero360]

goriest thing i ever saw was a doe my cousin shot in the head at two foot distance. half the head was gone and as I walked up he kicked what was left of the head and it made a sound like a wet drum, made my stomache turn. nothing else had ever bothered me though. A .50 cal round from a M2 does a ton of destruction to the human body, haven't seen it in person but in pictures that my squad leader brought back from Iraq.

 

[444]

I have never shot anyone, but I have seen quite a few gunshot wounds (Hundreds ?). Byron Quick's answer pretty much mimics mine. Handgun wounds are usually a small hole with blood leaking out. Most don't exit, but not all. I have seen a decent number of suicides that were done with handguns and they were very gory. Wounds at contact or very short range cause the high velocity gases from the muzzle to cause significant damage as well as the bullet.
Rifle wounds are another matter. ALL of the rifle wounds I have seen were horrific. Big huge gaping holes. I always get a laugh out of reading the posts by the armchair commandos concerning the M16. I have seen a half dozen people that have been shot with M16 varients and the damage was amazing. These same guys debate endlessly the best handgun bullet for self defense and then in the next breath, they put down a 5.56 RIFLE. This is a sure sign that they have never seen anyone shot with either. Those magic handgun loads they are using are like a pin prick compared to ANY rifle.
Same goes for a shotgun. I have seen only a couple people shot with a shotgun, but all but one was very dramatic. That one was shot at extremly long range and just had pellets under the skin. He is the only person I ever saw that had been hit with a shotgun that lived. The specific load or shot size was not an issue. They were TU.

 

[TallPine]

My experience is just from hunting deer and killing predators (4-legged only)

Entrance wounds are sometimes hard to find on hairy critters, exit wounds vary from a jagged hole to somewhat gory with organs hanging out. The real damage though is inside which you see when you field dress the deer: internal organs turned to mush and body cavity full of blood. It's pretty sobering the first time you see it to realize what that little bitty bullet can do.

I'm surprised that any human can ever survive a centerfire rifle wound to the torso.

 

[cosine]

Just curious:

What made you edit the thread title?

 

[Lupinus]

Never seen anyone shot in person, but have seen a few pictures and heard several second hand acounts-

Handgun- Not much, a smaller hole and some blood.

Rifle- Much larger exit hole and some gore

Shotgun- Very nasty and gorey

All depending of course on range and what part of the body was hit

 

[isp2605]

Gun shot wounds depend on where the person was hit, weapon used, and then the 'who knows why' factor.
Handled a murder-suicide where a Ruger Security Six loaded with 125 gr .357 rds. I forget the make of the rds now. She was sitting in the driver's seat. We figure he placed the gun behind her left ear. She was still sitting in the car and everything above the bottom jaw was gone. Well, 'gone' isn't entirely an accurate word. It just wasn't where it was before the shot. She looked like someone had taken a chain saw and removed everything above the lower jaw. Her lower teeth and tongue were in place. The rest of her head was dripping off the headliner of the car and spread around the inside of the car. He then placed the muzzle against his right temple. Entrance wound was about the size of a half dollar. Most of the left side was gone. We found chunks of skull over 30 ft away.
Is that gory enough for you?
If not, how about the guy taking a 12 ga slug rd? He had just killed one of our agents and wounded another when he was shot by a 3rd agent. The slug hit him in the upper arm almost completely removing the arm. The slug then entered his chest cavity taking out a rib. It traveled thru both lungs, clipped the top of the heart and hitting the aorta, took out a rib as it left the chest cavity, hit the upper arm and completely removed the muscle. When we opened him up at autopsy his chest cavity looked like it had been run thru a blender.
Worked a scene where a guy was hit in the upper forehead, contact wound, with a Federal 115 BPLE. The bullet traveled downward and came to rest in his spine in the neck. Entrance would was about the size of a golf ball.
Was at a shooting where the guy killed himself with a .380 Colt Mustang. The bullet entered his skull just in front of his upper right ear. It came out behind his upper left ear, went thru at an angle about 2" of dry wall, struck a 2X4 stud and lodged about 1/2 way in the stud. Entrance and exit wounds were about caliber size holes.
Handled a case where the guy took a load of #6 shot from a 20 ga from about 20 ft or so. Cut a jagged 1 hole center mass.
Was at a shooting where a guy shot his son in law with a load of 12 ga 00 buck at about 40 rds. Pellets hit the guy from the lower waist down. Just holes.
If all you are looking for is to appease your desire for blood and gore then let's talk traffic crashes.
Looking at pictures and hearing stories won't give you a true representation of a scene. You are missing the smells of body fluids. You don't get to hear the gurgling as the guy takes his last breath. You miss the dead guys family wailing and carrying on. You don't get to see the look in the guy's eyes as he knows he's dying and he knows there is nothing anyone can do. Is that the kind of gore you want?

 

[1911Tuner]

Gore

isp...Take a breath, bro. I understand your response completely, but V4 is a youngster and curious about gunshot wounds...nothing more. Once he actually sees "things" his curiosity won't be as keen.

V4...I've been shot. Took an unknown round through the calf of my leg.
Probably either .30 Carbine or 7.62X39. It hit water first, so much of the impact energy...and the destructiveness...was bled off. I didn't even know that I was hit until I tried to stand up and my leg was numb from mid-calf to my ankle. No bone was struck and there was very little blood. About 20 minutes later the burning set in...then the throbbing. The entry and exit looked like purple spots...the entry being the larger at about the size of a pencil eraser and depressed... and the exit standing slightly "proud" of the surface. I have a depressed, slightly discolored scar at the entry site, and
I have to look hard to find the exit.

 

[isp2605]

isp...Take a breath, bro. I understand your response completely, but V4 is a youngster and curious about gunshot wounds...nothing more. Once he actually sees "things" his curiosity won't be as keen.

There are far far too many internet commandos who think killing, shootings, etc are just like TV or their silly computer games. They don't realize that when someone is shot there are a lot of things going on at the scene, and afterwards, that their video games don't show. Their panties get wet sitting in the dark wondering what it's like to shoot someone. They need to understand that it's not TV and it's not video games, it's permanent. They also need to realize that the person being shot is in all likelihood trying their very best to kill them and it might be them laying there with no hope of ever drawing another breath. It might be V4 or one of the other "gore wonderers" and not the bad guy who will be laid out on the slab as they slice him open to find out just where the bullet went and what damage it caused.
That's my heartburn with these "wonderers". I've seen enough of the gore. Like you, I've friends who aren't here today, who laid there wondering why them, and wondering why no one can help. That's the real gore.