interesting wound forensic article

[Grizz]

http://tribunist.com/science/a-marine-c ... so-deadly/

any input?

I've shot lots of deer in the head and they are dead before they hit the ground...

spiders too . . .

[AJMD429]

Anatomically it makes perfect sense. I don't think it is a HUMANE shot for hunting, though, because as the author says, anything even an inch or so off the 'T' zone will potentially be non-lethal, and only cause pain and suffering, whereas a thorax shot with a large-bore firearm will be almost always lethal, even though not as quickly.

Of course if the target is a human aggressor you are defending yourself from, any concern of being 'humane' goes out the window.

[Grizz]

did you miss my report? they are dead before they hit the ground. far less traumatic and less painful than blowing heart and lungs into the forest....

however if ya can't make the shot, don't take the shot .... ..

[Sixgun]

About 30 years ago my BIL was getting ready to shoot an angus beef cow in my inlaws butcher house. The cows are led through a door and behind an extremely strong metal gate. Standard procedure is to aim between the eyes and about an inch high. Guns used are .22 L.R. for most of them and sometimes a .22 magnum. I just happened to have a S & W Model 1950 Target 44 Spl. stoked with Elmer's heavy load of 17 grains of 2400 and a hard cast 260 Saeco SWC tucked in a shoulder holster.

I asked,"do you mind if I test out this 44?" He said go ahead. Well, aiming from 3' is not a hard thing to do but just as I squeezed the trigger the cow moved and I shot off to the side above the eye. The cow went berserk and smashed the gate open and proceeded to tear the shop up. I turned around and noticed the 4 or 5 people who were watching fly out the door and it was just me and my 17 year old nephew. My nephew, who today I despise grabbed the butcher shop .22, jumped on the meat table and calmly waited for the right moment and shot the cow where it was supposed to be shot. It dropped instantly and we cut the throat to bleed it out.

After butchering, we found my slug had entered above and to the far side of the eye, traversed through the head and we found it in buried in the neck. I still have it and it looks like it could be reloaded. That was the first and last animal in the butcher shop I shot. My BIL said my bullet missed the part of the brain that was supposed to knock it out......funny thing....the little .22 did what my 44 did not.---6

[HawkCreek]

Sixgun posted them same sort of thing I was going to. That T box is a small target, hard for a lot of guys to hit on the range against a paper target. It gets a whole lot harder when the target is moving and not politely holding still for you to take your shot. Thankfully 4 legged critters dont shoot back!

[FWiedner]

I don't disagree with the author's assessment of his preferred shot, but he is less than thorough in his examination. The facial "T" is not the only "dead before they his the ground" shot available. A penetrating straight shot placed from either side in the vicinity of ear-canal, or from the rear to the base of the cranium will accomplish exactly the same result.

In my experience, the "ear-canal shot" also works on game species, assuming the creature doesn't 'duck' when/if they hear the hammer fall.

[crs]

The top of the T aiming point works well on hog and cattle also.

[mohavesam]

Mall ninja stuff?
Military killers get specialized training - its academic for the rest of us. Few bad guys IRL stand around waiting fr you to get a kill shot on their face. I'd be more concerned with the knees jerking in the jury box when those 8x10 glossy pics start getting passed around...

[Paladin]

True information for the most part. We never called it a "T" shot but were trained for a "DELTA" shot the area between the tip of the nose and the pupils of the eyes and the area from the soft spot behind the lower ear and about 1 inch behind that. With this, "CNS" shot the recipient of the metal injection would not be able to pull a trigger if their finger was on it or press a button. Preferred was.30 cal or larger causing the most reliable damage and stopping. It works on animals with a much smaller area to aim at. With .338 and up to the .50 it really didn't matter as people operate like meat balloons. Was witness to a doe shot one time with an Armalite bolt action .50 at a little over 700 yards (by laser) and the only thing left intact was the skin.

[hondo1892]

I shot a deer in the head a few years ago. I could see brain matter on the ground and thought it was dead. When I grabbed its back leg the deer tried to stand up and I just about got a face full of hoof. So, no just because you blow part of an animals brains out the side of its head necessarily means its dead before it hits the ground. I never grab a deer now before I shove a barrel or a stick into the things eye, even when brains are hanging out the side of its head.

[Old Ironsights]

Heads are small targets surrounded by "slow death".

In 2015 I shot a buck that was slowly starving/dehydrating to death from lack of a lower jaw. Easy/slow target for me, but much pre-heart/lung hit suffering for the critter.

Will I take a head/neck shot if solid and perfectly presented? Sure. But that's a 1℅ chance. Otherwise, it's all about hitting the pump.