What does a gunshot wound feel like?

I hope never to find out. Good question though.

Make a large deep gash in your skin, then fill it with Tabasco, that would be close. And if the bullet stays in you can enjoy lead poisoning.

The pain is so sever most people lose consciousness.

I don’t know and I’m not really eager to be a victim of this either.

I had kidney stones a few years back and I would guess that the pain from a gunshot wound might be comparable to that.

Remember, guns don’t kill people.
It’s those bullets ripping through the body.

The feeling is really hard to describe… and it’s been 17 years… but here goes. First and foremost, it burns. I’m not talking like sunburn, or even a burn from touching the stove or something. If you can imagine what it would be like for, hm, a billiard ball coated with gasoline and burning being pushed out of your skin (out, not in), that’s what it feels like.

Here’s another tidbit you might not know (or want to know, but most people find it interesting)... when you look at the wound, it looks like the navel on an orange.

And I didn’t lose consciousness, but there were, uh… some unpleasant things my body decided to do in response to the pain. I’ll stop there.

@poofandmook – Wow, that’s a pretty vivid description. Thank you for sharing. Why were you in that situation? (Only if you feel like sharing)

Yeah.. when I was 8 years old, I was shot with a .22 rifle. In short, I didn’t ask a kid to play frisbee so he tried to kill me. Honest. The positioning of my arm (I was twirling the frisbee on my finger in the air) caused the bullet to go into my arm and out, but then back in and out again. 4 scars, one shot… two on the lower part below the elbow, two above. Interestingly, there is no side of my arm you could look at where you would not see a scar.

@poofandmook – Holy crap! What a crazy kid! Did your family end up pressing charges against him?

Meh, we went to court and I got a paltry 20k settlement that I couldn’t touch until I was 18 (by this time I’d turned 10). I actually don’t know what the original amount was, but by the time I could touch it, there was 20k. It was gone by the time I turned 19, no surprise. I hate admitting that, but it’s true.

I’ll second that motion… it burns like hell. I don’t know about @poofandmook but for me it took a good minute or two to feel the pain (maybe it was seconds but it felt like minutes).. but when I did.. yes.. unpleasant.

@poofandmook- Isn’t this really your fault since you wouldn’t play frisbee with the kid?

Yes. Of course I’m joking.

@Astro: He called me a bitch! That’s awfully powerful for an 8 year old. LOL

Geez, that kid had issues! lol

@Natural: You know something, I think it did take a bit before it really sunk in. Truthfully, I think the adrenaline was so powerful that’s all my body could process was the rush. Then it processed the pain. Seriously, any adrenaline junkie could shoot themselves somewhere, because you’ll never get a rush like that ever again in your lifetime from any other source.

But the other kid may have been lonely. AstroChuck as a point there. I mean, poor thing. Everyone has a different way of making friends. Maybe that was just his way of breaking the ice. Growing up is tough.

@poofandmook How old was the other kid?

Man, I think Chuckie’s right. [sigh] BACK to the therapist…

11. 12 by the time it went to court… 14 for the civil suit.

Wow. A kid pushed me once…

@NaturalMineralWater If you don’t mind me asking, what situation were you in when you got shot?

@DrasticDreamer Just another patrol.

Funny, I got shot in the thigh, and it was nothing compared to the above. I knew I was shot, and I expected exactly that described burn, but instead my leg just went completely numb. Like, lifeless numb.

It felt like getting kicked by a mule or something, clubbed, anything like that, but it never burned.

Lucky me I guess.

@TaoSan – What was the situation? Only if you feel like sharing.

Coast Guard, drug and alien migrant interdiction off the coast of Mexico.

This guy I work with was accidently shot with bird shot from a shotgun when he was young and hunting with some friends. He said that he didn’t realize he was shot, he just remembers hearing the gun fire and then waking up in the hospital. He has trouble to this day doing pretty much anything because of all the tiny pellets that the doctors couldn’t get out.

@Randy – Whoa, ouch!

I got shot a week ago in the thigh with a .38 special at close range >>It went all the way through>> Other than a little pressure, I have not had any real pain! I thought when it happened the result would be aweful, but I haven’t missed out on anything. I spent one night in the hospital and thats all folks. I would like to state that when it happened I felt unstoppable. I would also like to state that when your in the E.R. and they give you morphine it should be standard procedure to take your cell phone away from you. I said some pretty crazy SH##!

@mojo1817 How did you get shot? And welcome to Fluther!

I shot myself !!!

WHY?the I shot myself is I write!

I got shot a few days ago and when the bullet hit me it felt like a million hot pokers full of the hottest fire you have ever experienced was ripping through my skin then burning through my leg. It hurt like a bitch and i am not going to lie to you, while in the er i said some rather unpleasant things that made even the doctors look at me strangely. Out of this whole experience though i have come to one conclusion and it is that life is short and you never know when you will run out of time and even though my wound was and still is not that bad it makes you think of your future and the fragile lifespan the human being

@jmaines3 Ouch! Hope you heal quickly.

Maybe how it would feel all depends on where on the body you’re shot??? My cousin committed suicide with a gun and I am restless until now I have been trying to find out how he must have felt like. Oh God bless his soul.

In my case i was shot w/ a 45 hollow point and i was runing. It hit the back of my leg and a huge hole in the front the size of a grapefruit. At first it felt like i was grazed and it burnt then my husband put me in the car and it all set it and it was worst pain ever in my life. I cant even describe the pain. I have a high tolerance for pain. So take the worst pain ever in ur life then x100 . Even now i have a rod from ankle to my knee a plate and 8 screws and i even got addicted to pain pills b.c of it. Now i just deal with the pain day by day. The non narcartic doesnt even touch the pain. Plus i gain 100lbs from it having to sit on my ass for a year and a half. Plus i was 2 month pregnant. Please avoid drug dealing and dumb shit. Guns dont kill people people kill people.

The feelings not pleasant i can tell you that now, i got shot twice at the age of 17 from a drug transaction! One bullet hit me in my side close to the rib and came out further towards the back(which this wound didnt hurt at all for sum reason, i guess because it came out) & once in my shin right above my ankle(which broke and shattered the bone instantly and yes, that shit hurt badly. It looked and felt like the only thing that was keeping my leg from splitting was skin). Short story short, guns are not toys or anything to look cool with! You use them only when needed, and it takes someone who has been shot before to realize that.

A gunshot wound is a very painful experience I don’t wish that on any1. I got shot when I was nineteen, my instructor in the army shot me at the back (an inch away from my spinal cord and close to my heart) because he wanted to tag me… it was like a fireball got stuck in my back and would not fall off or stop burning. It burns a lot and it could be devastating. I used to be a good kid but when I got shot I tot everything I was doing were all wrong and I started doing bad just to realize that I have been good since and only did bad when I got shot. Bottom line, its painful