Discussion Main / PrettyLittleHeadShots

Brain damage from a gun shot wound to the head can be instantly fatal. If the bullet strikes or severs the brain stem death is instant. Police Snipers are trained to only aim for this shot in certain situations where twitching muscle might result in accidental injury or death say someone with a gun to someones head. This is also why snipers are trained to if possible fire right between the eyes. Other then an angle or back of the head shot this is the most direct line of fire to the brain stem.

"Red Dead Redemption subverts this trope by making any headshot actually create an in-game "model" of an exit and entry wound appear on the head with very grotesque results. This applies to all NP Cs, even women."

Even women? That crosses the line twice but killing men or boys doesn't?!

The trope is rather justified in the case of small caliber/low velocity rounds. When the shot is through-and-through, majority of the splatter is directed away from the shooter. Furthermore, there are no major arteries in the frontal lobe area (occipital area is another story), so unless a high hydrostatic shock is involved, bleeding from such shot will be nothing close to arterial spray from, say, severed carotid artery.