From: n9020351@henson.cc.wwu.edu (James Douglas Del-Vecchio)
Subject: Re: Man Shot In Head Survives!
Organization: Western Washington University
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 17:15:33 GMT

cbarker@dxcern.cern.ch (Carl Barker) writes:

>One morning a man wakes up with a splitting headache and an upset stomach.
>Feeling a little concerned about this, he goes to the doctor. Subsequent test
>reveal that the man has a bullet in his stomach.  Aparently what had happened
>was that someone, probably a burglar, had shot the man in the back of the head
>during the night while he slept.  The bullet, instead of going straight 
>through his skull had bounced off a bone and lodged in his throat, then made
>its way into his stomach.  The impact had mildly concussed the man, so he was
>totally unaware of the incident. 

>Now I'm dubious about this for a number of reasons.  One of these is that
>surely there would have been blood on his pillow from the head shot, which 
>no kind of hangover would leave.  The man must surely have realised from 
>the blood that something was up.

Stuff like this does happen.   Most shootings are _not_ like on t.v.
("ya got me. ...aggg" -expires),  in that handgun bullet wounds are 
puncture wounds, like those from a knife or ice pick, and they bring 
about incapacitation from blood loss, which can take a great deal of
time, depending on the circumstances, especialy with smaller calibers.

	I've heard of many cases where the patient does not realize he 
has been perforated with a .22 or .25 inch slug for several hours, when
he starts to get sick or feel pain.   I remember one (UL) where a 
guy (read drunken scum idiot) gets popped with a .22 during a fight,
doesn't know it, goes home to bed, wakes up sick, then dies in hospital.
Reagan didn't know he was hit with a .22 until later.   Bleeding can
be internal only, or both internal and external.  
	I have also heard of all sorts
of weird ricochettes, especialy with .22 and .25 caliber, which I
would suspect in this story.   .22 is notorious for both tumbling and
taking weird bounces and turns within the body, exiting at right angles
or even more acute paths.   I heard of a case(s) with a .25, where it 
entered the man's forehead, curved around the skull under the scalp, and 
exited the back of the head.   The man gets hit, sees an enterance hole
in front and an exit in back, and thinks he's f*ucked.  Then at the hos-
pital they apply two bandages and say "you're fine" sending him home.
(kind of like the arrow through the head gag, but don't try this at home!)

The moral, is that .25 cal is designed for killing mice, and is _useless_ 
for dependable incapacitation of people.  .22 is better, but not by
much.

As for the weird angles, it can and does happen with .22 frequently and
I assume with other calibers also.   .32s are known for bouncing off
skulls, and a year or so ago a Vancouver BC cop shot some guy for looking
at him funny and the 9mm slug bounced off the top of his lucky skull and 
shot straight up through the roof of the victim's van.  This is a freak
thing for 9mm though.   ..38s _can_ bounce, but again, this is a freak
thing.   There was an (UL type) story where a man shot his sleeping wife
5 times in the back of the head with a .38, and not only did she fail
to die, she was normal after that.  I don't know if it was a bounce deal,
or if he just perforated parts of her brain that weren't too important.

(None of it was too important, in his opinion, apparently)  :-)

Jim "boss, I swear I popped him, ...he was dead when I left" Del Vecchio