On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 00:59:12 GMT, "Bob Swinney" wrote:

Mark sez: "Notwithstanding Gunners report i would suggest that a bullet
falling
vertically is more likely to cause a head injury than one moving with a
lower
trajectory. The Army estimates for energy required to inflict a mortal
wound
were probably not specific to head wounds. If the bullet has enough energy
to
penetrate the skull, then it probably has enough energy to cause a fatal
wound."

Hmmnnnn? I wonder about that. Without doing the ballistic research thing,
it would seem that a bullet moving with any trajectory at all would still
have a remaining horizontal component of velocity. Thus, I believe the
lower trajectory bullet, i.e., stray bullet, would be the more dangerous.

Bob Swinney




The point I was trying to make was that it is possible that a head wound may
require much less energy than a torso wound to be fatal and that the higher
the trajectory is, the more likely a head wound is.

Mark Rand
RTFM