What did it feel like? I’m just wondering… I remember Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks saying it felt like someone dropping a bowling ball onto your chest from twelve feet. I guess maybe that depends on the kind of gun.
I have a feeling that if I got shot I’d pass out pretty quick, even from a minor flesh wound. Are there really people who can take hits and keep coming? Is that because of adrenalin or less natural substances? What do I do if I get shot?
And the movies. In Full Metal Jacket people always sprayed blackcurrant juice all over the place. In Enemy at the Gates they went down like they’d been hit with a brick. Different ammo or a director’s favourite special effect?
Actually the OP has a lot more questions than the ones answered in the other thread.
I’ve never been shot, and I’ve never seen anyone been shot. But I’ve been beaned by a few fastballs, and cut myself real good a few times… Pain doesn’t come right away. In fact, my baseball coach used to deal with split lips and scalp lacs all the time due to accidents at practice and his saying was “it doesn’t hurt until you see the blood.” I think it just takes time for the brain to register the pain. The nerves that carry pain are wired differently than the sensory and motor nerves.
I’m sure someone will come along and remind us how the .44 was invented by the Colonial Brits when they encountered some aboriginals who didn’t appreciate being subjugated, and had access to some nice herbal supplements that allowed them to ignore being shot with smaller caliber weapons for long enough to close to melee range and get in a few whacks.
As for the Hollywood SFX, well, I suspect your latter guess is correct, but a combat vet could probably lend some useful observations.
You have to realize that this is like asking, have you ever been in a car crash and what did it feel like etc.
Its very unpredictable. Caliber makes a big differencer, rifles and shotguns generally do more damage than handguns, and hollowponts (which expand on impact) do more damage than ordinary bullets. And of course it depends on where you get hit.
Many people do get shot and not even realize it for a minute. Being hit in a muscle of fatty area with a lowpowered pistol round which doesn’t expand may not be much worse than being stabbed with an icepick. I’ve heard of people getting hit in the skull with a .22 and it just glanced off. On the other hand, a shotgun or high powered rifle can literally blow your head apart.
It generally requires a hit to the head or chest to incapacitate someone, and even then they are likely to remain conscious long enough to shoot back if they are armed. This is why most people who expect to use a firearm for self defense practice “double taps”, that is, firing two quick shots.
I have never been shot, but a friend of mine got hit by a ricochet. I think it was a .223 caliber (that’s a medium power rifle, like an M16). It went through his bicep and lodged in his chest muscle. His friends put pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding and drove him to the hospital. He said it stung pretty bad, and he felt woozy, but he was able to walk into the hospital and give his info to the recetionist etc.
Don’t believe anything you see about firearms in the movies or on tv.