"This wound's too big. This person was shot from six to seven feet away."

The pathologist in the CSI pilot.

Gunshot wounds…the stuff of westerns and cop shows, M7 and CSI. Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn't always bother to get it right. There are some glaring and common errors that occur on film and/or in books, and rather than paraphrase lengthy texts on the subject, I'll just correct a few urban (and not-so-urban) legends.

If there is a good aspect of gunshot wounds, it's that they can be very useful for writers. Once a bullet enters a body, all bets are off. They do very strange things once they enter flesh. They can pierce the shoulder and wind up in the face, they can deflect off ribs or the skull-giving the appearance of a fatal wound without causing a serious injury, and they can even travel though blood vessels (bullet embolism) if they are small enough. There's no end to what you can do with a gunshot wound. Be that as it may…..

In the above example from CSI, it is suggested that the size of the entrance wound can help determine the distance of the shot. The reality is that if you are shot from one inch or a thousand yards away, the size of the hole will be the same. Bullets make holes the size of their diameter, sometimes even smaller (due to the elasticity of skin). They can be larger and irregularly shaped if the bullet tumbles or passes through something first--like a window or wall. It is also virtually impossible to determine caliber by entrance holes in flesh or bone. Josiah says the hole in the cowboy's skull was probably made by a .44, but since it was assumed that a handgun fired the shot, it could just as easily have been a .45--the holes would be indistinguishable.

Yes, exit wounds are often larger than entrance wounds, but they can also be smaller. They can be round, slit, oval, and irregularly shaped. Handgun bullets in the OW didn't usually exit and, when they did, they left no gaping holes. High-powered rifles can make nasty exit holes but, generally speaking, handguns don't. Even when the wound is to the head, an exit wound isn't necessarily large.

Almost any night of the week you can turn on your TV and see someone get shot in the arm or leg and fall to the ground, dropping their weapon and clutching their wounded limb. Would that this was true. It can be, of course, but it is certainly not a given.

The only sure way to incapacitate a person is to shoot them in the central nervous system (CNS) which requires a shot along a "T" that runs from temple to temple and down to the top of the breastbone. A shot elsewhere and the person can conceivably shoot back. Hence the cops preferring head shots in hostage situations. Even with their heart destroyed a person has ten to fifteen seconds of time where they can act-they can run, curse their assailant, or shoot back. There are numerous examples of fatally wounded individuals continuing to fire as they bled out.

Wild Bill Hickok understood something that modern doctors are at a loss to explain, but have verified--a gut shot ends a persons ability to fight back. A shot to the heart may prove fatal to both parties, but placing a bullet two inches above the navel tends to put an end to hostilities.

There are two Mag7 scenes that come to mind--Chris' statement (Inmate 78) to the Lawless brothers that he should have winged their nephew and Vin's decision (Serpents) to shoot the would-be assassin in the leg rather than the head, even though the man had a hostage. Shooting to wound is a dangerous proposition.

Nathan was intent on removing any and all bullets from his patients but, in the time period the show was set in, a good number of shooting victims died of old age still carrying around their piece, or pieces, of lead. Unless they were easy to remove or posing a threat, bullets were often best left in place. Lead poisoning only occurs if the bullet is lodged where sinovial fluid can act upon it--the spinal column, for example.

In the 19th century, any shot could be fatal--infection was commonplace after a gunshot wound. A shot to the heart guaranteed a funeral and bullets to the brain, abdomen, and lungs were usually, but not always, fatal.

Wounds to the legs could cripple and a nerve-damaged arm could become useless. If gangrene set in, amputation was the only way to save the patient's life. There are examples of very hardy individuals who survived incredible injuries, but there are also accounts of men who died from tetanus after a minor flesh wound.

Mag7 got it right most of the time. In "One Day out West," Josiah was still recovering from his injuries in the pilot (although Buck seemed fine). JD was in a wheelchair after being gutshot in "Lady Killers." Chris was definitely in recovery mode in "Obsession," although it's unclear where in his torso he was shot.