Devastating rifle wound to the head

This 52-year-old man sustained an intermediate range rifle wound to the left side of his head from a .243 Winchester rifle. As this weapon has a very high muzzle velocity (~3000 feet per second), it is often used to hunt deer. In fig.2, note the stippling and seared skin around the entrance wound, in addition to the caved-in appearance afforded by this lateral view. Fig.1 demonstrates the extensive scalp tears and calvarial fractures. Examination of the brain revealed that the cerebral hemispheres had been sheared off at the level of the midbrain and were extruded from the skull; only the cerebellum remained in place. This amount of destruction is typical of high velocity rifle wounds. There was no mention of if this was self inflicted gunshot wound.

Wounds from rifles are often devastating, largely due to their high muzzle velocities. Recall basic principles of physics which state that kinetic energy, such as that imparted onto a projectile as it leaves a weapon, is a function of one half the object’s mass, multiplied by the square of its velocity (KE=1/2mv2). Therefore, a relatively small increase in the velocity of a projectile will lead to a large increase in the amount of energy imparted to the tissues.