# How many people can you kill with one bullet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760 "2016-05-14T15:32:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bomberswarm2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bomberswarm2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomberswarm2)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/1 "2016-05-14T15:32:05Z")
Say you line up a bunch of people’s heads in a line, all touching one another, and you put the gun on the first guy’s head, how many people will be killed when you fire? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/2 "2016-05-14T15:33:07Z")
Depends on the gun. 22? Not so many. 50 cal - a whole lot. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/3 "2016-05-14T15:34:14Z")
Depends on the gun and the specific cartridge you’re using. A .50 BMG will go through a lot more than a .22LR. ETA ninja’d by a think alike mind. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/4 "2016-05-14T15:37:22Z")
> [@bomberswarm2](#): > > Say you line up a bunch of people’s heads in a line, all touching one another, and you put the gun on the first guy’s head, how many people will be killed when you fire? If you’re referring to, say, a typical handgun - let’s go with a Glock as the example - I don’t think it would kill any more than 1 person. The bullet would be slowed down too much by the first person’s skull (bear in mind, the bullet has to pass through TWO layers of bone before it gets to the 2nd person) to cause death to the 2nd person. That’s not even taking into account the fact that the bullet may be deflected within the 1st person’s skull so that it might not even hit the 2nd person. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/5 "2016-05-14T15:42:21Z")
Shove the bullet down the first guy’s throat until he chokes to death. Then fish it out, and repeat with the second guy, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/6 "2016-05-14T15:48:18Z")
The skull is pretty thick, so you’re not going to go very far with a handgun that way. You’d have a much better chance of multiple kills if the bullets go through the chest and manage not to hit ribs along the way. Here’s a story of a sniper who killed six Taliban with one bullet. To be fair though, he hit a suicide bomber and his explosives detonated, taking out five of his Taliban buddies. That’s probably not what the OP intended. > **[The Greatest Sniper Shot in History: Six Taliban Killed With One Bullet](https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-greatest-sniper-shot-in-history-six-taliban-killed-with-one-bullet)** > > The British military said it believes a lance corporal surpassed all previous records with one pull of the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/7 "2016-05-14T15:53:37Z")
There’s a scene in Schindler’s List where a death squad lines prisoners up in single file and points a rifle point-blank range. . . maximizing carnage per bullet. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/8 "2016-05-14T15:54:09Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If you’re referring to, say, a typical handgun - let’s go with a Glock as the example - I don’t think it would kill any more than 1 person. The bullet would be slowed down too much by the first person’s skull (bear in mind, the bullet has to pass through TWO layers of bone before it gets to the 2nd person) to cause death to the 2nd person. > That’s not even taking into account the fact that the bullet may be deflected within the 1st person’s skull so that it might not even hit the 2nd person. A 9mm FMJ will easily go through one side of a skull and out the other, with plenty of **Velocity** left to do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/9 "2016-05-14T16:10:52Z")
* * * ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/10 "2016-05-14T16:23:05Z")
It would depend on the bullet type and power factor. A 9mm FMJ certainly can kill more than one person. On the other hand, a 308 solid steel bullet will pass many. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/11 "2016-05-14T16:29:08Z")
I suppose if you lined people up behind each other and had them open their mouths and had them lined up in such a way that you could shoot the first one in the mouth so the bullet went through the back of his head and into the next guys mouth and through his head and so on. Then I suppose you could kill more than 1 with a handgun. It would minimize how much skull material the bullet would have to travel through to kill them. The faster the bullet the more this would be successful is what I think. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/12 "2016-05-14T17:22:35Z")
First, how are you going to get people to line up for the experiment? Must we shoot heads? Seems sort of boneheaded to try to penetrate the most bone you can. Battle ships have big guns, you did not say which guns could be used so I will use one of them. As was said in a post above, this will kill a lot. Glad I passed my background check before I posted in this thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/13 "2016-05-14T20:50:49Z")
If you line up the heads sideways you will be shooting through the temporal bones which are thinner than most of the skull . I don’t know what this means in number of heads penetrated ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/14 "2016-05-14T21:09:03Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > Must we shoot heads? Seems sort of boneheaded to try to penetrate the most bone you can. Shooting through an open mouth so the bullet goes through the back of the head is shooting through a minimal amount of bone yet causing maximum damage. Plus, where else on the body could you shoot through one person to hit another with less resistance but still cause instant or near instant death? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/15 "2016-05-14T21:50:24Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Shooting through an open mouth so the bullet goes through the back of the head is shooting through a minimal amount of bone yet causing maximum damage. Plus, where else on the body could you shoot through one person to hit another with less resistance but still cause instant or near instant death? Eye. Higher probability of kill as its going into the brain easier than thru the teeth/roof of mouth. It’s a shame Arlen Specter isn’t alive anymore as he was an expertry on single bullets. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/16 "2016-05-14T23:57:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Shove the bullet down the first guy’s throat until he chokes to death. Then fish it out, and repeat with the second guy, and so on. I was going with the U-235 bullet in the Thin Man device exploded over Hiroshima … but I think you got me here … ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/17 "2016-05-15T00:30:48Z")
where are Mythbusters when we need them? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/18 "2016-05-15T01:27:06Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > I was going with the U-235 bullet in the Thin Man device exploded over Hiroshima … but I think you got me here … The Thin Man was a series of somewhat farcical detective films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. The bombs dropped on the Japanese cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” respectively. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/19 "2016-05-15T01:31:50Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The Thin Man was a series of somewhat farcical detective films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. The bombs dropped on the Japanese cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” respectively. > > Stranger Thanx for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/20 "2016-05-15T02:33:09Z")
> [@bomberswarm2](#): > > Say you line up a bunch of people’s heads in a line, all touching one another, and you put the gun on the first guy’s head, how many people will be killed when you fire? The Navy has a fairly new laser gun that is so powerful that they claim, if you put a line of thin people standing closely together they can shoot through 2200 people per mile for a distance of aprox. 900 miles. Adapting for the curvature of the Earth would be necessary. The Laser Weapon System would not really hurt them with hard nasty projectiles, rather, when shot, it would just put a one foot circular hole in each of their bodies and would just keep moving through. The NRA is petitioning the US govt to allow the manufacture of, and public gun show sales in the South, and in Chicago. This human carnage is fast and painless (almost humane), too. This very effective high-energy device can strike “this line of peeps” at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second)! The cost? Less than a dollar per shot. My math is suspect…what would therefor be the cost per kill with this weapon? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760.md?page=2)