Terminal Balistics

(My dearest mother, please don't read this one.)

Today before heading out to the range, the company filed into the class rooms here on base and received a class on the details of ballistics. One such class covered what is called "terminal ballistics" which cleared up a few myths about what happens when a bullet passes through a human being.

Some of them, I find quiet disturbing.


Myth 1: Bodies fly backward when shot

Although bullets fly with powerful speed, the round is too small and traveling too fast. The surface area of the round is not big enough to move a person. The Sergent teaching the class remarked that a marine was hit by a sniper in the head. He dropped backwards and fell to the ground. The marines reacted, assuming that because he fell backward that the shot came from the front. The sniper was able to kill 3 more as they looked the opposite direction of where the fire came from.

Myth 2: entrance wounds are huge

A round hits a human body much like a rock hits the surface of the water. First it breaks the water with a splash, then the water engulfs around it as it passes through. The skin itself is made mostly of water. As the round enters, the water is displaced away from the shot allowing the tissue to absorb the bullet as is passes through. The skin and muscles then retract around the bullet causing a temporary wound cavity. Usually entry wounds look no bigger than the size of an eraser at the end of a pencil. However, the damage within is beyond measure.

Myth 3: Bullets 'bounce around' in the body

This again is not true. Munition's made today are actually very fragile and easy to break apart. The reason being that when they enter a human and hit bone, they fragment. These fragments spread through out the body, causing damage to impact a larger area within the body. Round's made in the 1950's were much made with much harder material, and they would not break apart, making them easy to remove and the damage minimal. Today, getting all the shrapnel out from a bullet is near impossible.

Myth 4: all targets die when shot once

An impact directly to the heart will yield at-least 40 to 50 seconds of life after impact. A shot to the kidneys or the liver will take 2 to 3 hours for someone to die. Through the intestines and stomach, almost a full 24 hours. Despite heavy wounds, the chemicals in a persons body, such as adrenaline, dopamine, and cortisol, during combat can cause them to keep fighting despite devastating rounds to vital organs. The Sergent teaching the class remarked that a .50 caliber exploding round hit an Iraqi insurgent, taking the upper right half of his chest cavity off. He was still able to run 30 more yards before he fell to the ground. Only a shot to the medulla oblongata, found right in the front of the head, will put a person to the ground immediately.


Myth 5: Bigger bullets are always better

The fact is that a small bullet has a higher velocity than larger ones. So where assault rifles and bigger looking weapons look more powerful when fired, its actually the small arms, such as hand guns, that are more devastating to the human body at a close range.



My alarm sounded at 4am, prompting the 6 sleepy marines to roll out of their beds and into the next room to change. After getting my cammies on and putting my boots on, i donned the protective bullet proof vest with a high neck, throat, and groin protection. In my military backpack, the heavy Kevlar helmet sat waiting for me to wear it later when we hit the range. I looked at myself in the mirror wearing that vest at 0415 and remembered what the sergeant said that day.

I am fortunate to have such equipment to protect me from the terminal velocity of such rounds that might be fired in my direction some day. I am even more fortunate to have the training to use the rounds I fire in an efficient manner.

With this in mind, i have more respect for the ammunition I am using than i ever had.