# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**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 15, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/21 "2016-05-15T02:47:53Z")
> [@bonitahi2](#): > > 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. Oh, that’s ridiculous. This is GQ - so, “Cite?” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/22 "2016-05-15T02:50:51Z")
**How many people can you kill with one bullet?** How many ya got? ---
**Author:** ![TommySeven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@TommySeven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommySeven)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/23 "2016-05-15T02:52:23Z")
> [@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. In fairness, he was closer than the detective film. Thin Man was also a gun-type plutonium bomb, abandoned because plutonium-240 impurities made it unacceptably likely to start detonating before the two pieces were fully assembled, blowing the bomb apart with only a small fraction of full yield. ---
**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 15, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/24 "2016-05-15T02:54:12Z")
> [@bonitahi2](#): > > **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. > [@beowulff](#): > > Oh, that’s ridiculous. > > This is GQ - so, “Cite?” Does that seriously sound like a name the military would come up with? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/25 "2016-05-15T02:58:42Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > where are Mythbusters when we need them? The Mythbusters consistently got the result that handguns had more penetration, and more likelihood of going through multiple targets than a rifle. But then, each time they tried a new test they seemed to completely forget. ---
**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 15, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/26 "2016-05-15T03:00:27Z")
> [@bonitahi2](#): > > 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? [The thing exists](http://www.hexapolis.com/2015/01/24/6-of-the-most-advanced-weapons-systems-being-tested-by-us-military/)-for shooting at [UAVs](http://www.theuav.com/), not people. And that is it’s (disappointing) real name. ---
**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 15, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/27 "2016-05-15T03:54:48Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Eye. > Higher probability of kill as its going into the brain easier than thru the teeth/roof of mouth. WTF? No. I posted **OPEN MOUTH** (no teeth, etc) Shooting into the eye is fine for a good kill for 1 person (are we really talking about this? 😉 ) but did you read my post and consider the OP? If you shoot the eye it’s got a lot of “glop” to go through before getting out and hitting the next guy, which is what the OP is talking about. Lets get this straight before we attempt to pull this off, people!!! :D:p ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/28 "2016-05-15T04:29:17Z")
This all sounds like a useful discussion for the new President of the Philippine Islands, who has pledged to execute 100,000 criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/29 "2016-05-15T07:20:48Z")
16.5 Million if you’re Gavrilo Princip. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/30 "2016-05-15T07:58:26Z")
There were informal experiments on this performed by German SS Einsatzgruppen units during WWII on the Eastern Front. I doubt if any records were kept. I suspect by the time medical experimentation on human subjects began in their concentration and extermination camps, they had already bypassed gunfire in favour of gas chambers as the most efficient method of mass murder. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760/31 "2016-05-16T05:29:48Z")
In the late 1700s, Russian fur traders apparently settled a bet on this by lining up a dozen Aleuts and firing a large bore musket at them. Nine died. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-can-you-kill-with-one-bullet/754760.md?page=1)