head shots

[armedindy]

People love arguing about 9mm, .40, .45......soo, ive heard that a .22 will not penetrate an average mans skull, and ive also heard that a 9mm is a gamble when it comes to head shots (the distance obviously matters) but what do you guys think?

 

[SideArmed]

Center mass. The head is too small a target in a high stress situation.

I have also been working on shooting the zipper. Practice putting four shots down in a straight line from the neck to the belly button. Your chances of hitting something important go up if you spread your shots out a little bit.

It's nice to be able to shoot clover leafs at the range all day, but when it comes down to it, shot placement and hitting something important is going to save your life.

 

[7.62-5.56Plinker]

im thinkin a .22 will penetrate a human skull, but not go all the way through. im figuring the reason i woulld take a .22 as a SHTF because it would go through the first part and not have enough kinetic energy to fully go through and it would just bounce around in the skull turning the brain into mush. IMO

 

[UncleMike]

People love arguing about 9mm, .40, .45......soo, ive heard that a .22 will not penetrate an average mans skull, and ive also heard that a 9mm is a gamble when it comes to head shots (the distance obviously matters) but what do you guys think?

It depends on the distance involved.
The last murder I worked was the result of a .22 LR fired from a 2" bbl handgun that penetrated the male victims skull and lodged near the cerebral cortex.
The shot was fired from approximately 18 inches away.
According to the Coroner, the victim was instantly brain dead.

 

[Sailor]

I think about any round to the head is a showstopper. Not sure I would base my decision on what gun to use on the bounce around the inside of the head theory.

.308 is not going to bounce around, works well.

The upper chest has most of your vital blood vessels. If you wear armor get it up higher vs lower.

I think the zipper drill was in response to those wearing vests. A vertical string will eventually go above or below the vest.

 

[shooter1054]

The 22 works on a head shot....ask the mafia. At least thats what works on the TV shows.

 

[Booya]

Center mass. The head is too small a target in a high stress situation.

It's nice to be able to shoot clover leafs at the range all day, but when it comes down to it, shot placement and hitting something important is going to save your life.

^^ This. Failure to stop and hammer pair drills all day long. Once I'm done shouting and begin firing, I'm going 2 to the chest 1 to the head. The head shot will be muscle memory, I'm not overly concerned if I hit or not because my target will already have 2 holes in the chest.

*edit* If I'm intentionally taking sole head shot's it's because I have time and distance on my side.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

lots of variables...

.22 short from a short barreled pistol from close range...

.22 mag from a rifle from 100 yards...

And anything in between. Muzzle and terminal energies vary WIDELY between the weakest .22 Short and the hottest .22 Mag. And even given the same exact ammo, velocities can change depending on the barrel length and even, to a small extent, between a revolver and a non-revolving firearm. (cylinder gap = gas loss = velocity loss)

What else comes in to play: Location on the skull where the bullet strikes. A normal human skull isn't the same thickness over every square inch. It's rather thin & brittle near the temples, for example. It's also very thin in behind the eyes and ears. There are a few more little thin layers behind the nose (sinuses).

The frontal bone, especially the area that makes up the "forehead" is by far the thickest and strongest area of the normal human skull. There are cases of folks taking headshots from up-caliber handgun rounds and surviving.

Dozens upon dozens of variables...

-J-

 

[brutalone]

9mm will work just fine...
Practice your Mozambique Drill.....
Anything worth shooting is worth shooting 3 times.....

 

[revsaxon]

22 is still a dangerous round. A lot of people look down on it, but its still a hunk of metal moving quickly.

Don't aim for the head if you shooting at someone with a pistol, aim for center mass where your likely to actually hit...

 

[Plinkuh]

Hit the pleural cavity and it's over, be it 9mm or .45

 

[Kutnupe14]

im thinkin a .22 will penetrate a human skull, but not go all the way through. im figuring the reason i woulld take a .22 as a SHTF because it would go through the first part and not have enough kinetic energy to fully go through and it would just bounce around in the skull turning the brain into mush. IMO

This, bouncing .22 in the skull FTW!

 

[Jack Burton]

A little .22 almost took out four guys on the Mr. Reagan assassination attempt...

At 2:27pm Eastern Time,[6]:82 as Reagan walked out of the hotel's T Street NW exit toward his waiting limousine, Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers. While the Secret Service extensively screened those attending the president's speech, in a "colossal mistake" the agency allowed an unscreened group to stand within 15 feet of him, behind a rope line.[6]:80-81,225 Unexpectedly, Reagan passed right in front of Hinckley. Knowing he would never get a better chance,[6]:81 Hinckley fired a Röhm RG-14 .22 cal.[18] blue steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds,[6]:82[15] missing the president with all six shots.[19][17] The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second hit District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back of his neck as he turned to protect Reagan.[6]:82[20][21][22][23] Hinckley now had a clear shot at the president,[6]:81 but the third overshot him and hit the window of a building across the street. As Special Agent In Charge Jerry Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, the fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen[20][21] as he spread his body over Reagan to make himself a target.[6]:81[10] The fifth hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open side door of the limousine. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in his left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, stopping nearly an inch from his heart;[24][10][13] had Parr hesitated for a moment, the president would likely have been hit in the head.[6]:224

 

[JoshuaW]

^^ This. Failure to stop and hammer pair drills all day long. Once I'm done shouting and begin firing, I'm going 2 to the chest 1 to the head. The head shot will be muscle memory, I'm not overly concerned if I hit or not because my target will already have 2 holes in the chest.

*edit* If I'm intentionally taking sole head shot's it's because I have time and distance on my side.

Until you shoot someone standing a hundred yards or so behind your assailant. At least starting in the chest and working towards the zipper keeps stray rounds closer to the ground, because lets face it, there is a huge chance of missing in a stressful situation, no matter the distance.

 

[the1kidd03]

as recently as the late 80's live slaughter house testing was still ok......animals skulls were similar in density to that of a humans......the consistent results of the .22 were that it may penetrate the skull however it didn't do much more penetrating and resulted in a second follow up shot with a larger caliber to finish the job and prevent suffering....however if the round does penetrate the brain (cerebellum, medulla oblongata) it results in an instant drop(like a sac of potatoes) .........same testing of the 9mm and above was consistently one shot drops as well as in combat, field reports, recorded suicides

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

Ask Joseph Christopher how it works. He made big news when I was in grade school in WNY.

 

[ShootinDave]

Head shots seem too iffy in most cases-the head is a small,moving target and a high miss like that is asking for trouble unless the bad guy is standing in front of a brick wall or tree or something

 

[lrahm]

You shoot to stop the aggression. Center body mass.

 

[MiCo]

Head shots of lower calibers, and in rarer cases with larger pistol calibers, have been known to strike the skull and travel around (under the skin) exiting the other side. It will give the appearance of a thru and thru at first.

 

[g+16]

Center mass. The head is too small a target in a high stress situation.

I have also been working on shooting the zipper. Practice putting four shots down in a straight line from the neck to the belly button. Your chances of hitting something important go up if you spread your shots out a little bit.

It's nice to be able to shoot clover leafs at the range all day, but when it comes down to it, shot placement and hitting something important is going to save your life.

I've always trained for the head shot, because anybody can buy a bulletproof vest, even the bad guys, look at the L.A. bank robbery