This is a PURELY hypothetical question, as I don’t own a gun and have no intention of ever owning one, but the discussions over in other forums about shooting people in self defense got me wondering…
Suppose I have a handgun for self defense (assume whatever the most common make/model/caliber). Someone breaks into my house. I point my gun at their center of mass (as I’ve heard is the “correct” thing to do in that situation). They charge at me or do something else threatening, I shoot them. (Assume for the hypothetical that I know how to aim and fire a gun competently but not expertly.)
The moment I’m satisfied that I’m not in immediate danger, I call an ambulance, which gets there in 10 minutes.
Another variable for the mix is the type of bullet. A steel jacketed one may go through clean and do the least amount of damage beyond the actual path. A hollow point is designed to mushroom and impart a more forceful impact. Then there are the ones that look like little saw blades once they hit a mass and are designed to tumble and tear through flesh, blood vessels, etc.
I think it might be possible to do this without even hurting them. If a slender person bends at the hips and lower back, they might be able to get their center of mass into the gap between their thighs and chest.
Sorry, I appreciate that this isn’t what the OP was getting at, but it’s still interesting speculation.
I don’t think there’s a factual answer even to what the most common caliber is. When you buy a gun you aren’t required to tell anyone what you want to use it for, so there’s no source of hard data, and what kind of gun you buy isn’t just whether you want it for home defense or not, but other variables like if it has to double as a carry piece or a weekend plinker, how much power you can control , whether overpenetration is a potential issue, if you prefer revolvers or semi-automatics.
My WAG is an average shot with an average hangun would not be fatal the majority of the time. The lack of stopping power from an easily controllable hangun is a factor in in why people demand high capacity magazines (multiple shots to hit * multiple hits to kill * multiple intruders could exceed 10) or go with rifles or shotguns, where the perp probably isn’t getting back up with even a single hit.
Just to touch on this, it’s the correct thing to do because if you aim at the center of the target and miss, you are still more likely to hit something in the periphery than if you were aiming for a leg or something equally small.
On the other end of things, is it even theoretically possible to survive a center of mass hit from a high powered rifle like a 30-06? The M1 Carbine wasn’t really designed for front lline combat but was used as such, and a common complaint was enemy didn’t always stay down, a problem the M1 “Garand” did not have. What about a medium powered round like are used in assault rifles?
I’m guessing you’re probably toast if you get hit with an assault rifle and most assuredly toast from anything more powerful.
According to a study 70% of people survive non-self inflicting gun wounds. That includes rifles, shots to the head, and multiple bullets. According to this article in cracked if you make it to the hospital with a beating heart you have a 95% chance of surviving a gun shot wound.
Assault rifles are based on military weapons which are designed to wound and not kill. It would depend on what ammo you use but if you are using the full metal jacket type like the military an abdomen wound would be very survivable if you got to the hospital in time.
Something like a 30-06 and other hunting rifles which are designed to kill would be a different story. I would imagine you would have to be very lucky to survive a wound from a high powered rifle.