Originally Posted by Andy W
Back to shot placement. Is it possible that not all head shots have the effect of immediate incapacitation? I'm not talking about a shot that glances off the skull or goes through the jaw and misses the brain. What I mean is can a bullet go through certain parts of the brain and not immediately kill or incapacitate someone. I've seen diagrams and targets where there is a triangle That goes roughly from just above the eye sockets and tapers down, ending around the base of the nose. Does this mean you can hit them in the brain but outside this area they may not go down immediately and therefore continue to fight for a time?
If you want *immediate* incapacitation, you need to sever the brain stem. "Immediate" as in it is not possible for the person to even pull the trigger if they have a cocked gun to the head of a hostage. Having grown up on a ranch, periodically, we might have to put down a cow due to illness or whatever. It is entirely possible to accomplish this with a .22LR at extremely close range by aiming between the eyes and towards the back of the skull where the brain connects to the spinal column. It is like turning off a light switch. At worst, you get a slight shudder and then the head drops.
Just poking a hole through the brain does not stop a person. There have been people who have walked into the emergency room at a hospital after having shot themselves with a nail gun. There are parts of the brain that do not control motor functions and putting a hole through those parts of the brain will not necessarily kill a person or even stop them from doing whatever they are doing.