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Thread: Neck Shot Placement

  1. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by dove View Post
    The neck on the other hand is extremely uniform and symmetric. The center of the neck is a target that remains in the same spot and equally unprotected regardless of what perspective you're shooting from...
    Dove has the right of it.

  2. #12
    THE THIRST MUTILATOR Nephrology's Avatar
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    For the purposes of using a firearm in self-defense, the neck is not a superior target vs the upper thorax or the head. Let's take a look at the anatomy:



    As you can see, the vital structures in the neck (cervical spine, carotid as and jugular vs) are actually relatively small compared to the non-essential anatomy of the muscles, trachea/esophagus & connective tissue.

    Compare this to the upper thorax:

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    or the head:



    Where in both cases the target is densely packed with either vital cardiovascular or CNS anatomical structures. Plus, as should be intuitive to everyone, the neck is smaller in size than either the head or the chest. In sum, the neck has less life-supporting anatomy by % volume and presents overall a much smaller target to the shooter. Obviously, if by some stroke of fate that is the only target available to you, then you should shoot it.

    Anecdotally, the only GSW to the neck that I have seen was a 9mm fired within contact distances that hit the cervical spine, deviated inferiorly after it hit the cervical spine & travelled laterally & posteriorly to exit just over the L. shoulder blade. The patient was hemodynamically intact and talking when he came in, but likely will not walk (or eat, piss, shit without assistance) for the rest of his life.

    It is a great target for unarmed grappling/striking because it is soft and fleshy (unlike the head, chest) and because it contains the airway, blood supply to the brain, & is dense with nervous tissue like the phrenic & vagus nerves. Bullets usually aren't as limited by bony intermediates, particularly if they come in multiples of 2.
    Last edited by Nephrology; 05-23-2017 at 12:11 PM.

  3. #13
    Member JHC's Avatar
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    Funny, one hears the same caution about choosing the neck over the chest for hunting shots on deer.

    But when one is presented and it is truly centerpunched, it's pretty conclusive.
    “Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais

  4. #14
    Site Supporter Hambo's Avatar
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    So you want to shoot the stick out from under the bowling ball? This sounds ridiculous to me.
    Last edited by Hambo; 05-23-2017 at 02:32 PM.
    "Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA

  5. #15
    Member JHC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hambo View Post
    So you want to shoot the stick out from under the bowling ball? This sounds ridiculous to me.
    No I just want credit for a alpha if I hit centerline on it.
    “Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais

  6. #16
    Site Supporter Hambo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JHC View Post
    No I just want credit for a alpha if I hit centerline on it.
    Baller.
    "Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA

  7. #17
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    The green army and police taught me to aim for centre of mass - the biggest area a bad shot is likely to hit.

    A Navy SEAL I met told me that they go for the head as it is pretty much an argument stopper.

    Someone involved in UKSF shooting doctrine development told me that they teach to shoot into the triangle created by drawing imaginary lines connecting the nose and nipples.

    I practice using 3x5 index cards and 6 inch paper plates to, as an ideal solution, practice for head shots, or body as a secondary if necessary. Body was really precluded some time ago as the bad men can buy body armour nowadays and shooting someone squarely in the chest only to have him drop you instead is embarrassing.
    Last edited by Chuteur; 05-23-2017 at 05:44 PM.

  8. #18
    Site Supporter Odin Bravo One's Avatar
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    Thank you for not texting me this question.
    You can get much more of what you want with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.

  9. #19
    From what I've seen, neck as a primary target doesn't make much sense to me.
    Last edited by YVK; 05-23-2017 at 10:54 PM.

  10. #20
    Site Supporter DocGKR's Avatar
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    I know a LE officer who took a through-and-through shot laterally through the neck with a .45 Auto 230 gr FMJ fired from a 1911; he didn't even know he was hit for several minutes and suffered no long lasting deficits...
    Facts matter...Feelings Can Lie

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