Would a flare gun shot in the mouth be fatal?

Factual Questions
1

The title says it all. How likely would death be, or would it definately be fatal or non-fatal?

2

Very highly likely

If we are talking the large distress flares used in maritime operations.

You are looking at a largeish projectile that can be propelled a couple of hundred feet, and that needs quite a large explosive propellant charge.

If you look at the cartridge end of a flare charge, it’s very much like a shotgun cartridge, and you are using this to fire a mass several times greater than a shotgun load.

This is not taking into accout the flare material buring a hole in what is left of the stump on the top of your neck.

3

Interesting. Have you fired these things? How hard do they kick?

4

About as hard as a high powered 30cal rifle or 4.10 shotgun. IOW it’s quite noticable but no danger of knocking it out of your hands.

5

I have a wartime copy of Tee Emm [flight safety bulletin] here detailing an accident in which one of these was fired accidentally hitting a WAAF in the mouth causing fatal burns

6

Considering that even ‘blanks’ from a firearm have been known to cause serious injury and you are aiming it at the back of your throat, I’d say yeah, definitely going to ruin your day.

7
      • At first I was going to say that it wouldn’t immediately be fatal, just burn like all-h377–but then I have only fired the cheapo civilian ones, not any of the military stuff–some of which I know are monstrous by comparison. So it would rather depend on exactly what one you decided to use.

  • The civilian ones sold for small-boat use are very-light projectiles, and they don’t go but maybe 50 ft when fired straight up. The projectile they shoot is very-much like a Roman candle ball, it really isn’t heavy at all. The shells they use are about the same size as a 12-gauge shotgun shell, but they are fired from pistols made of cheap plastic, that have barrels only about an inch or so longer than the shell itself so there’s obviously not a lot of power involved here. As a comparison, I’d guess that the flare-ball’s mass would be about the same as a hard-packed ball of aluminum foil.
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