People Shot Describe The Bullet's Impact

User czulu reported getting shot in the calf with a .22 LR while landscaping about a decade ago. It felt like a push-pinch, like someone pushed a wasp stinger into the skin. The user thought the weed whacker picked something up and threw it against the leg. It went numb. Looking at the wound, it bled too much for random debris. The pain only started after the user started messing with it to stop the bleeding. If you get shot, do not look at the wound if you can avoid it.czulu:

"Got shot in the calf with a .22 LR while landscaping about a decade ago. It just felt like a push-pinch, like if someone pushed a wasp stinger into my skin and since I was using a weed whacker at the time, I thought it had picked something up and thrown it against my leg. It went numb, and when I looked at the wound, it was bleeding way too much to be from random debris. It really only hurt after I started f*cking with it to stop the bleeding. If you get shot, don't look at the wound if at all possible."

The shooter was a German foreign exchange student. He had surprisingly poor muzzle awareness and trigger safety. Because the damage was minor, everyone laughed it off. Honestly, it did not hurt that much. Being shot by a smaller caliber helped the user build immunity for larger bullets.

Usersidneywidney:

“My brother promoted parties and hung out with questionable people. My parents knew they could not stop him since he was in his twenties, so my dad got him a vest. My mom thought my dad was being ridiculous. A couple of months later, on the night before Mother's Day, he was shot point-blank in the back with a .38 hollow point. My brother said it felt like he was punched in the back. Those vests do save lives..."

UserTia_Jamon

"The shot was surprisingly painless compared to what you expect. The user is not one of those people who 'didn't even realize they were shot,' though the user understands that feeling. The first thing felt was a sudden impact with no sensation. Numbness washed over the area. If the user had not known they were about to be shot, they might have been too distracted to notice this immediate reaction.

That feeling shifted to a horrible burning sensation. It is a very 'hot' pain. It feels like a flushed face or a blister, but intense and painful. After some time, the area developed an achy pain, feeling more like being hit with a bat than being shot. The user cannot rank how painful it actually was. The feeling of being shot mixed with the adrenaline and wooziness of realizing they were shot and knowing they could not afford to get shot again. These three feelings mixed, masked, and intensified each other.

For a few moments, the user forgot they were shot, but attention returned with much pain. The user has never had to describe it before; words seem inadequate. It is a bizarre series of sensations that people in a clear state of mind rarely experience. The user cannot downplay the psychological effect it had on them at that moment, which distorted how they processed physical sensation.

From userGangrel13:

Gangrel13 got shot in the foot about two years ago with a .45. It went in one side and out the other, pulverizing some bone. There was no pain. I only knew I was shot from the blood. About half an hour later at the hospital, it started hurting a little. The doctor was surprised; I rated the pain a four out of 10. It hurt a fair bit in the days and weeks after, but never too much.

From userJigur0:

Jigur0 was struck by four rounds from machine gun fire about four years ago. One round skipped off my body armor and hit my left bicep. I did not feel pain when hit; I just felt a weird wave of hot, wet feeling on my left side. The pain came only after a tourniquet was applied.

From userKtojongolt:

Ktojongolt was shot with an AK-47 in the leg. It felt like a baseball bat hit me, but there was no pain. This was followed by a buzzing feeling for five to ten seconds, then severe achy pain started. Afterward, I got a spiral fracture. It hurt less than I expected, but it stayed there.

From usersecondhand_organs:

I took a bullet in the cheek that made a curved path and exited the back of my thigh. I did not feel the impact, but my leg felt heavy and wet (I was on a bicycle then).

Getting shot did not hurt, but treatment did. The finger at the hospital did not help much.

From userjnips:

I got shotthrough the thigh with a .45, and it burned like hell. The bullet went through the bone completely, and the tendons pulled everything out of place. That leg became four inches shorter than the other. Moving it caused absolute agony; I prayed to pass out, but I never did.

From userZoklett:

We sat on my front steps when the gunfight started. We stood up to run inside, and I never heard the gun fire. It just felt like someone punched or slapped me hard in the face. I fell off the steps and crawled (quickly) inside. Inside, my friend screamed I was shot, but I felt nothing until I looked in the mirror and saw bleeding from a burn that went from my cheek through the top of my ear. I felt nothing, honestly. Just stinging and ringing ears. The burn lasted MONTHS. I became famous in school as the tough girl who almost got shot in the face.

From usereradicATErs:

At seventeen, I was shot in the left foot. First, I thought it was a bee sting because it sounded like bees. Two seconds later, I knew something was wrong. The bee noises were bullets flying by. A hot fire poker felt along the bullet's path. We camped. We were an hour and a half from a hospital. The burning lasted until morphine took effect. I wore a walking boot for months because of tendon and nerve damage. No bones broke. Still, my foot stays numb on top from nerve damage, and it always hurts. I feel it. If anything hits the entry, exit, or the scar from removing bullet fragments, weird tingles shoot up my leg. This definitely changed my life.

User reported: 'It felt like my hand was slammed between a textbook and a desk.'Cowboychimps:

My right hand got clipped by a .223 ricochet while shooting targets on a friend's property. It felt like my hand got slammed between a large math textbook and a wooden desk, followed by intense burning. After the impact, I did not think much about the injury right away. I checked my firearm still worked. I did not stop firing until I felt blood dripping down my arm.

User reported: 'It felt like a tight pressure on my arm, but there was no pain.'BBBBrendan:

Shot in the arm when I was young, during a drive-by shooting.

Movies show a sudden shock on a victim's face after a gunshot before they see the wound. That is accurate. I felt no pain. I heard the gunshot and felt tight pressure in my arm. I looked at the wound and the blood loss. Then I was in the hospital.

User reported: 'It felt like being continuously poked by something sharp—but pushing, not stabbing.'Transam96:

The main feeling is a burning sensation. The quick pierce into your body hurts badly. I describe it best as feeling continuously poked. Someone holds multiple sharp pricks to you, pushing in, not stabbing.

The pain is awful. But it is not so much pain that you cannot handle it if it is in a non-important area, like the arm or shoulder.

User reported: 'It felt like something blasted into me and was very noisy.'Idiputchko:

I did not know I was shot. I felt the blast and the noise. I did not realize until liquid gushed onto my chest since I was shot in the head.shot in the head/face, I worried about brain damage and kept doing multiplication in my head. It was not too bad. I was lucky. It did not affect my hearing or sight. I only have a small circular scar that looks like a dimple.