# How many bullets can a person survive being hit by? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093 "2003-08-09T22:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/1 "2003-08-09T22:08:58Z")
Now, rifle bullets, to me, seem rather lethal in nature with high muzzle velocity, greater mass, accuracy, etc. However, I am curious as to how many bullets a person can survive from a small-caliber submachine gun. I know the location of the bullet has a large factor in a person’s mortality, but let’s say someone gets hit at close range by someone wildly spraying out bullets from a submachinegun. How likely is their survival? Does a three-round burst from an assault rifle have that much more potential killing power than a magazine of submachinegun rounds? I would imagine that in the case of multiple bullet wounds, a person is prone to bleeding to death quite quickly- even if none of the bullets hit any vital organs/major blood vessels, the sheer number of open wounds must add up. I’ve never heard of someone _surviving_ 10+ bullet wounds at once- perhaps they survived getting hit by 3 or 4, but usually when someone uses the adjetive ‘bullet-riddled’ they immediately follow it with the noun ‘copse’ ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/2 "2003-08-09T22:16:20Z")
This question is bound to have some answers from all over the map of possibilities. Guinness type stuff would be the place to check for maximum number of wounds sustained that were not lethal. Surely there’s somebody walking around today who got shot more than anybody else. I would guess the number to be fairly large. Say over 50. That’s just a hunch with nothing to back it up. Flesh wounds, extremity wounds, no vital organs hit, possibly some broken bones, but I could imagine 5-10 wounds per arm/leg and a few to the non-critical areas of the torso. Interesting question. ---
**Author:** ![BrianS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c6cbf5/32.png) [@BrianS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianS)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/3 "2003-08-09T22:25:32Z")
This question is just about impossible to answer. I could shoot myself 100 times in each foot, and as long as I staunch the bleeding, I’d be fine. I’d just be foot-less. ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/4 "2003-08-09T22:26:38Z")
This question can only be answered in a speculative manner, meaning that it can never truly be answered beyond “having ventured a guess”. You are however, right on the money regarding a connection between bullet riddled bodies and corpses. My guess is “somewhere and 3.5 and 7.2”, depending on who’s doing the spraying of course. Next. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/5 "2003-08-09T22:59:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Incubus \* > I’ve never heard of someone _surviving_ 10+ bullet wounds at once- perhaps they survived getting hit by 3 or 4, but usually when someone uses the adjetive ‘bullet-riddled’ they immediately follow it with the noun ‘copse’ \*\* One of the first episodes of “Rescue 911” was a robbery outside of Fresno, Ca. The owner of a small store was sprayed with a submachine gun of some kind and hit by 11 or 13 bullets IIRC. He survived. I guy I worked with, his GF was shot 7 times, she survived, but has boatloads of medical problems related to the damage she took. Both of these were pre-internet, late 80’s early 90’s, unable to find cites. ---
**Author:** ![Alabaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Alabaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alabaster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/6 "2003-08-09T23:32:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrianS \* > **I could shoot myself 100 times in each foot, and as long as I staunch the bleeding, I’d be fine.** Yes, and less than one time in the heart. ---
**Author:** ![RotorHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@RotorHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RotorHead)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/7 "2003-08-09T23:44:37Z")
I heard about a guy who was shot something like 20 times, and survived. Don’t recall where I heard it, but I’ll look for a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/8 "2003-08-10T03:29:25Z")
Wasn´t Uday or Qusay Hussein shot something like 14 times once?, the SOB survived that one. As for looking in the Guinnes book of records, I doubt it will show up there, I recall there was this thing about not registering that sort of records, I guess in case someone would try to break them, let´s say, how high you can dive into an empty pool and survive?, or how many shots you can take and tell the story?. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/9 "2003-08-10T04:13:04Z")
In their last bank robbery in Northfield, MN, the Younger brothers were shot up pretty badly and survived. Cole took 11 rounds, but I don’t know where. (A lot of stories from the American West include shotguns, and the victims are frequently identified as having suffered _x_ wounds, with each shotgun pellet indicating a wound, but I believe that all of Cole’s wounds were from pistols and rifles of .44 and .45 caliber.) ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/10 "2003-08-10T06:21:23Z")
My grandfather was hit 17 times, at once in WWII, by submachine gun fire and survived. Nitpick: pistol bullets typically are bigger and heavier than rifle bullets, but due to higher rifle velocity, the rifle has more energy. An AR-15/M-16, may use a 55 grain .22" in diameter bullet that has about 1,300 foot pounds of energy and travel 3,200fps. Whereas a Thompson submachine gun may fire a 230 grain, .45", 450 ft lb energy, 700fps bullet. Lets hope that we only use these things to put holes in paper not people. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/11 "2003-08-10T06:25:51Z")
At Columbine lots of people were shot [4 or 5 times](http://www.jsonline.com/news/may99/0503wounds.asp) and survived. Yvette Rodier, in a famous case, survived multiple head shots as well as one to her shoulder, one to her leg, and two to her torso before crawling several hundred feet to get help. Saranda Bogujevci an Albanian survived a Serb massacre with 16 bullet wounds to the back, leg and arm. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/12 "2003-08-10T06:53:23Z")
I know of a soldier who was shot about 40 times in one leg. He got caught in a firefight behind some really bad cover with the leg exposed, and the enemy just kept on peppering it with machine gun and AK-47 fire. God knows how he survived the blood loss. He lost the leg, of course, but he lived. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/13 "2003-08-10T11:54:30Z")
BrianS has the correct answer. A bullet kills you because of loss of blood, or because a vital organ can no longer function. If a vital organ is not damaged and you dont lose enough blood, you can be shot many times. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I\_Brian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Brian)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/14 "2003-08-10T11:59:13Z")
If I remember rightly, high veloty actually increases the chances of survival, doesn’t it? Due to a smaller, cleaner exit wound? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/15 "2003-08-10T15:02:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by I, Brian \* > \*\*If I remember rightly, high veloty actually increases the chances of survival, doesn’t it? Due to a smaller, cleaner exit wound? \*\* According to [The Perfect Master](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_203b.html), no: > [@](#): > > Large bullets, and small bullets that travel very fast, such as those from an M-16 rifle, can kill almost instantly, mainly by reducing the region of impact literally to hamburger. They also generate something known as “hydrostatic shock.” The body is composed largely of water and as such may be viewed as a hydraulic system. Liquid being noncompressible, the shock caused by the high-velocity entry of a large projectile (don’t you love this technobabble?) is transmitted throughout the body, causing widespread organ damage and disruption of nervous functions. Even a wound to an arm or leg can be fatal in some instances. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harrison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Harrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Harrison)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/16 "2003-08-10T17:31:18Z")
The master isn’t exactly fighting ignorance with that statement about hydrostatic shock. While the body is composed largely of water, it has lots of little internal surfaces and changes in density, etc. It is very heterogeneous. All those little differences will break up any kind of shockwave before it moved very far. Plus the body is very elastic which would reduce any damage further. Neither do hits from .223 rounds kill almost instantly, and the only time an arm or leg wound would be fatal is from blood loss, not from a deadly shock wave travelling through the body. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bb73d2/32.png) [@Wolfrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfrick)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/17 "2003-08-10T17:52:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blown & Injected \* > \*\*Nitpick: > pistol bullets typically are bigger and heavier than rifle bullets… > \*\* Careful with the facts here. There are lots of different rifle and pistol bullets, and very few of them are “typical” so it depends on what you’re talking about. My .45 ACP ‘Golden Saber’ defensive loads are 185 grains (about 12 grams) which is only slightly heavier than my .308 rifle’s 180 grain hunting bullets. A 9mm defensive pistol load is 124 grains (9mm Golden Sabers) which is practically identical to the weight of the Russian 7.62 x 39mm round which the AK47 fires, at 123 grains (both about 8 grams). The NATO 5.56 round which the M16 family fires is 55 grains, or about 3.5 grams. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blown & Injected \* > **but due to higher rifle velocity, the rifle has more energy. An AR-15/M-16, may use a 55 grain .22" in diameter bullet that has about 1,300 foot pounds of energy and travel 3,200fps. Whereas a Thompson submachine gun may fire a 230 grain, .45", 450 ft lb energy, 700fps bullet.** I agree with your point here; the difference in velocity is everything. Energy = velocity x mass. Much faster bullets transfer much more energy to the target. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blown & Injected \* > \*\*Lets hope that we only use these things to put holes in paper not people. \*\* Let’s instead hope that we have our guns handy if any bad people show up and try to hurt us or our families, and that we otherwise behave ourselves as befits civilized individuals. ~Wolfrick ---
**Author:** ![Wolfrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bb73d2/32.png) [@Wolfrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfrick)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/18 "2003-08-10T18:11:35Z")
There are several factors in evaluating wounds and trauma caused by bullets. First, there is a GIANT difference between administering a fatal wound and stopping someone from doing something instantly. If someone is doing something so bad that I am moved to shoot them, I want them to stop doing it instantly. Therefore, I want to transmit as much energy to their central nervous system and/or circulatory system as possible. The mechanism which produces **death** from gunshot is mainly blood loss. As a secondary possibility, massive disruption of body systems can incapacitate before blood loss is a factor. “Shocking power” or hydrostatic shock is highly debatable. If blood loss is stopped in time by medical treatment, even a “fatal” gunshot wound (or several) need not kill. However, infection from a non-sterile object pushing clothing, skin and whatever deep into the body is a very serious danger. Likewise, disruption or destruction of internal organs (the so-called “hamburger effect”) can cause the equivalent of a deady or fatal disease. These are the rules for gunfighting: 1: have a gun. 2: a hole is better than no hole 3: more holes are better than one hole 4: a hole that goes all the way through is two holes. The more energy a bullet has (ie, the faster it is going) the more energy the body absorbs in slowing that bullet down. The idea that fast bullets “go right through” causing less damage is plain wrong. So, unlike D&D, there’s no magic number of hit-points a person can absorb, or any certain number of bullets which a person can survive. In addition to previously mentioned reports of people surviving many hits with pistol ammunition, I’ve heard of a person surviving and recovering completely from a center-of-mass shot with a full-power battle rifle. I’ve also heard of a person dying from being shot with one .177 calibre pellet rifle.\* I am interested to know what prompted the original question. Can you explain? ~Wolfrick \*A teenage boy was being teased by neighborhood kids, when he was shot in the upper arm with a regular .177 caliber pellet rifle. The pellet entered a vein, was carried along by the blood flow, then lodged in his aorta, causing a blockage which was almost immediately fatal. Sorry, no cite. ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/19 "2003-08-10T18:38:38Z")
Wolfrick: I did mean typyical, as in most of the time. The 50 cal is an obvious exception and there are more. For the typical rifle I was thinking about 30.06 and other 30 cal, 7mm, 270, 222, 223…and for pistols: 357/38/9mm, 40, 44, 45. If the bullet does not penetrate, then the full energy is absorbed by the body but it still seems that if the bullet has enough energy to exit, it probably transfered lots of power. I did not read it fully, but check this out: [http://www.powernet.net/~eich1/sp.html](http://www.powernet.net/~eich1/sp.html) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093/20 "2003-08-10T19:27:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wolfrick \* > Energy = velocity x mass. \*\* Nitpick but Energy = Mass x Velocity **[sup]2[/sup]** In other words, a bullet the same mass traveling twice as fast delivers 4x as much whoopass. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-bullets-can-a-person-survive-being-hit-by/194093.md?page=2)