Persons hit by bullets feel as if they have been punched - pain comes later if the victim survives long enough to feel it. Those giving evidence to the Commission frequently emphasised their belief that execution should be rapid, clean and dignified. When all goes well shooting can provide a quick death but there are many recorded instances of it failing to kill the condemned person immediately. There are also instances of people surviving their execution. It would seem that one of the problems of the firing squad is that it is, typically, composed of volunteers rather than professional executioners and it is a task that many people would not find easy to perform when the time comes to actually squeeze the trigger.
Shooting is always a gruesome and bloody death.