# Can a bullet injure you if it doesn't hit you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301 "2012-10-10T12:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/41 "2012-10-15T15:53:22Z")
Yes, exactly what I was thinking. And fingers are squishier than tunnels. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/42 "2012-10-15T23:22:04Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > … [(and the nose of the train)](http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/03/japans-long-nosed-bullet-train-1.html) > … From your link: > [@](#): > > “We wanted to cultivate new fans by making trains that make people want to take a ride,” said one JR manager involved in the project. “I was encouraged by the cheers of female passengers at stations when Hayabusa trains passed through on test runs.” Given the nose-shape of the train pictured, I find it easy to imagine the type of “ride” those female passengers were picturing. And cheering. ;)😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/43 "2012-10-22T17:58:13Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I’ll provide a quick anecdote (and it’s _just_ an anecdote) while waiting for a more scientific answer. You may remember years back (80s) when some people with rifles were firing from an elevated cliff in Mexico across the Rio Grande down onto the US side at hikers, rafters, etc. This happened several times, one or more people were killed and they eventually caught and tried the culprits. > > A geology department classmate of mine was in one of the targeted groups and was pinned down for hours behind some boulders until dark when he and his group could escape. In the initial volley **one of the bullets passed through his shirt breast pocket** as it hung, albeit extremely close, to his body. I’m assuming then that a large caliber bullet traveling at near maximum velocity passed within a few inches of him near center mass but it did him no harm whatsoever, aside from the realization of just how close he had come to being terminally perforated. YNBEMV. > > near bullet experience > [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > WHOAH! > > I have noting to add about the thread but what was this story (the Mexicans shooting into US not the guy in your story as such)? Does it have a wikipedia article (daft as that sounds) that you can link me to? Sorry, just caught this as I was on vacation (hunting and shooting, ironically). [Here’s](http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1989_655948) a Houston Chronicle update on one of the Colorado Canyon shootings. Tough read, woman watched them kill her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/44 "2012-10-22T22:59:11Z")
Two anecdotes, not about people though. I was reading a book about the Boer War and there was a story on a boer guide with the Britsh forces who went out hunting one day with a rifle and came back with a brace of ducks that had no bullet holes in them. He claimed that by aiming at the point where the swimming ducks touched the water, the shockwave from the bullet (.303 or 7mm/8mm presumably) transmitted through the water was enough to kill the ducks through internal injuries. No idea if thats true or not. Out on the farm I shot at one of a pair of rabbits sitting close together at about 80 yards with a .223. When I went to pick it up I found two dead rabbits, one with no head & one with no injuries at all that I could see (we skun it for the dogs so I had a chance to examine it). The only thing I can think of is that the bullet passed close enough to the second rabbits’ head to kill it via shock. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/45 "2012-10-23T12:29:30Z")
[Collection](http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/what39s-happening/1989-colorado-canyon-shooting-recap/) of articles about the Colorado and San Vicente Canyon shootings. Russ’s experience is in the 4/1 article. ---
**Author:** ![dimmy\_derko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@dimmy\_derko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimmy_derko)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/46 "2012-10-23T12:36:38Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Out on the farm I shot at one of a pair of rabbits sitting close together at about 80 yards with a .223. When I went to pick it up I found two dead rabbits, one with no head & one with no injuries at all that I could see (we skun it for the dogs so I had a chance to examine it). > > The only thing I can think of is that the bullet passed close enough to the second rabbits’ head to kill it via shock. 😕 I had a rabbit that had a heart attack the first time it ever saw a proper garden, so it’d hardly surprise me if one had a heart attack if it was chomping grass with its pal and then next second his grass-chomping buddy’s head was exploding. It probably didn’t even hear the bang from the gun before it died. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/47 "2012-10-23T17:28:54Z")
> [@dimmy\_derko](#): > > I had a rabbit that had a heart attack the first time it ever saw a proper garden, so it’d hardly surprise me if one had a heart attack if it was chomping grass with its pal and then next second his grass-chomping buddy’s head was exploding. It probably didn’t even hear the bang from the gun before it died. Fair enough. I’ve never had a rabbit as a pet but I would have thought non-domesticated ones would be hardier. ---
**Author:** ![dimmy\_derko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@dimmy\_derko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimmy_derko)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/48 "2012-10-23T17:47:33Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Fair enough. I’ve never had a rabbit as a pet but I would have thought non-domesticated ones would be hardier. Wild rabbits are near enough designed to be fearful of everything, so if they can be scared enough into standing motionless, I’m sure if you ramped that fear up a little, you could easily get them to have a fatal heart attack. Should you be that way inclined. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhatWasISaying](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@WhatWasISaying](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhatWasISaying)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301/49 "2025-08-20T00:48:48Z")
I wonder if the shirt can disrupt the shock wave enough to be a confounding factor that would prevent any razor burn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-bullet-injure-you-if-it-doesnt-hit-you/637301.md?page=2)