A contact shot is a gunshot wound incurred while the muzzle of the firearm is in direct contact with the body at the moment of discharge. Contact shots are often the result of close range gunfights,

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

, or

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Terminal effects

Wounds caused by contact shots are devastating, as the body absorbs the entire discharge of the cartridge, not just the

projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found i ...

. In this case the injection of rapidly expanding

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the ...

gasses may cause significantly more damage than the bullet itself. Even a blank cartridge can very easily cause lethal wounds if fired in contact with the body, so powerheads, which are intended to fire at contact range, are still very effective when loaded with blanks, while being relatively safe if accidentally discharged from a distance. Firearms such as

muzzleloader A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) des ...

s and

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- p ...

s often have additional materials in the shot, such as a patch or wadding. While they are generally too lightweight to penetrate at longer ranges, they will penetrate in a contact shot. Since these are often made of porous materials such as

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

and

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...

, there is a significantly elevated risk of

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable d ...

from the wound.

Characteristics

In the field of forensic ballistics, the characteristics of a contact shot are often an important part of recreating a shooting. A contact shot produces a distinctive wound, with extensive tissue damage from the burning

. Unlike a shot from point-blank range, the powder burns will cover a very small area right around the entry wound; often there will be a distinct pattern, called ''tattooing''. Star-shaped tattooing is often caused by the

rifling In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize ...

in the gun barrel, and distinct patterns may also be made by flash suppressors or

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwant ...

s. The shape of the tattooing may help identify the firearm used. In many cases, the body's absorption of the muzzle blast will act as a silencer, trapping the propellant gases under the skin and muffling the sound of the shot.

References

* * * {{cite journal , vauthors=Rothschild MA, Maxeiner H , title=Unusual findings in a case of suicide with a gas weapon , journal=Int. J. Legal Med. , volume=106 , issue=5 , pages=274–6 , year=1994 , pmid=8068574 , doi=10.1007/BF01225420 , s2cid=22841782
Chest Injury in Close-Range Shot by Muzzle Loader Gun: Report of Two Cases
Ballistics Firearm terminology

Terminal effects

Characteristics

See also

References