Bizarre bullet wound

AFAIK the gruesome wounds from gun shots are where the bullet is going faster than the speed of sound and the flesh is sucked out of the _exit_ wound creating large ragged holes

This takes a rifle or large caliber hand gun to do and there is a small entry wound on the other side of the body

I'm not sure how you'd get a large wound on one side of the body only, might need a rethink or a different choice of weapon - axe wound to the spine for instance

I'm thinking shotgun blasts are more likely to give you those kinds of wounds than a bullet would.

What do you mean, Richard? I mean, shotguns fire bullets, right? Gun dummy here. What's the difference? Today 09:27 AM

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Shotguns can fire "bullets" - they'd be more likely called slugs, but shotguns usually fire pellets. Buck shot, bird shot, etc. 00 buck would leave a lot of small holes, and depending on how far away, might not go right on through.

Scroll down a little ways on this page to see OO (double ought) buckshot patterns. http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot20.htm

You can probably also find photos of real wounds, on animals and such, but I won't gross you out.

stuckupmyownera said:

Sorry if this is gruesome...

My character is kinda walking dead. He got shot twice in the back last night and died - now he's going round with these bullet holes still in his back but oblivious to them and his sad fate. It's important there are no holes in his front.

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Where did the action take place? A city, a warzone, a day care, a Goodwill store? That would help decided what weapons might be available for that area of operation.

stuckupmyownera said:

When the bullet holes are finally seen, they've got to be as dramatic and gruesome as possible. It's got to be obvious that it's 'impossible' that this man is walking and talking.

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Depends on the weapon used; but as others have suggested, a shotgun has a rather impressive impact effect.

Of course, depending on where the action takes place, the weapons available to that area could further expand your options. If your in lawless Russia you could be shot with a homemade shotgun type round modified for a grenade launcher that would be impressive.

stuckupmyownera said:

Can anyone help me out with how they might look? The more horrible the better. In my mind I'm seeing smashed rib and lung through a gaping hole, but I just don't know if that's likely/possible/realistic.

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RGBrown was spot on....exit wounds are more impressive than entry wounds. Go with the PC being shot in the chest with exit wound from the back. Entry wound is lipstick case size, exit wound is pancake size.

The caliber of weapon, range from target, and type of armor victim is wearing will all determine type of wound.

If your able to share a few details of what happens...who the shooter is, range of attack, type of weapon used....etc....we can probably extrapolate a better field of answers for ya.

If you want his front to be left undamaged, while his back is all chewed up and nasty, then perhaps you're looking at firearms to the exclusion of other - more showy - ways of messing up the character. A small explosive of some sort would make a nice and obvious hole, and you get the added character trait of him smelling like a barbecue everywhere he goes.

As I posted above, go to http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot20.htm and scroll down a short ways to the brown paper with the holes in it. Those shots were all fired from 12 feet (about 4 meters).

He would most likely die very quickly depending exactly where he was struck.

The first thought that comes to mind for a really nasty, entry exit wound to the back, that the character couldn't see, but would be obviously fatal would be one that went in shallow.

like they were trying to shoot him in the side as he was running and it ripped through his back. The entry and exit wounds being in his back.

Another that would work is a shotgun loaded with game shot at close range. The pellets give up their energy quickly to avoid having too much shot in the food, so it wouldn't go through, but at close range would leave a hole the size of his fist in him.

Your anti-virus software probably has a prejudiuce against guns... I'll see what I can do.

I hope that's coming through for you, if not I'll look for images on another site. Buckshot would be fine for your purposes, it would most likely not penetrate through to the front.

The other suggestion of being shot from the front and the exit wound appearing on the back would be ok, although some blood and the small hole would be apparent from the front. But this way you could have a rifle bullet, which would make a truely nasty exit wound.

I would think that a number of shotgun blasts like what hammerklavier posted would chew the skin up fairly thorougly, given that there are a lot of smaller entry wounds instead of only a single small one. That could look pretty horrible.
It wouldn't be like a massive, gaping hole though. That's reserved for exit wounds, I think.