ZoneIII

"Abraham Lincoln lingered for several days as a result of the brain injury cause by a low-caliber bullet that didn't exit his skull after being shot at close range from the back. " I realize that this is an old thread but it will be new to someone just finding it so I want to correct some misinformation posted here. Lincoln did not live for several days after being shot. He was shot around 10:30 P.M. on April the 14, 1965 and died the following morning at 7:22 A.M. He lived about nine hours after being shot. Also, he was not shot with a small caliber weapon. He was shot with a .44 caliber Philadelphia Derringer. .44 is certainly not a small caliber and, in fact, it is considered to be a large caliber. However, it did not have high muzzle velocity or muzzle energy so the bullet did not pass all the way through Lincoln's head. "'A revolver also produces more damage than a pistol." I have to make one more correction. I mean absolutley no disprespect but the above quote is pure nonsense. In fact, I'm bewildered that someone would post such a thing on a site devoted to science. Three factors affect the damage a bullet will do: 1) Bullet size 2) Muzzle velocity, and 3) Muzzle energy. (Bullet size can be depend on not only the caliber but also on the type of bullet, e.g. hollow-point, etc. The type of gun the round is fired from makes no difference whatsoever if the above variables are the same. In either case, the bullet is fired from a barrel. The mechanism used to cock and fire the weapon has no effect at all on the damage a bullet does. There are very large caliber pistols even up to .50. Also, the person who I quoted said that a 44 magnum would do more damage than, presumably, a smaller caliber weapon. That is not necessarily true even though it has more MV and ME than most smaller caliber weapons. That's because, in the case of shooting someone in the head, a .44 magnum bullet would pass right through the head and waste most of it's energy. As a matter of fact, it is well known that the weak .22 caliber round can actually do more damage than large caliber bullets when fired into the brain. A .22 caliber bullet, having less ME, will generally not pass through the head so it tends to bounce around inside of the skull, in effect, scrambling the brain. This is one reason why mafia hit men often used .22s in their work. The two handgun rounds that have the greatest one-stop shot rate are the .357 magnum and the .40 S&W (a pistol cartridge). They are both smaller and less powerful than the .44 magnum, of course. One stop shot rates do not necessarily mean the person shot dies, however. It means that it stops the person and removes him or her as a threat but it must do severe damage to do that. This just goes to show that very large and powerful cartridges do not necessary cause more damage, depending on what they hit. Again when a bullet passes all the way through something, the rest of it's energy is simply wasted. A .44 magnum would certainly be a better weapon to stop a bear, for example, but no necessarily the best choice when fired into a human head. As to the original question: A friend of mine is a retired policeman , S.W.A.T. member, and a combat veteran (Vietnam) who saw horrendous action. He has been involved in and seen many shootings. He said that a shot to the base of the brain will stop someone instantly and usually sudden death because it shuts down the most fundamental signals from the brain. This is consistent with reports that Mafia hit men prefer to shoot their victims behind an ear. In fact, my friend was trained to aim for the base of the brain in his S.W.A.T. training when the goal is to cause sudden death. By the way, I should mention that I am a life-long shooter myself.