How likely is death by firearm to fail

[Beyond_Repair]

I think one of my biggest fears, I'm sure it's the same for a lot of people here, is to fail in my attempt and be rendered paralyzed or mentally handicapped (more than I already am, haha). I can't think of any fate worse than making a mistake and ending up a vegetable.

Firearms are supposedly the most effective and lethal method, but I'm just wondering if there is anyone more knowledgeable than me who can share how likely it would be to survive a self-inflicted gunshot wound?

 

[oofuf]

it depends on the gun and type of ammo used. best bet is a shotgun with buckshot 00 ammo which has a very high success rate (I think it was around 97% but Im not sure). worst case would be low caliber pistol.
overall pistols are worse because you need to aim them right compared to a shotgun that does a ton of damage.

 

[Eudaimonic]

It depends on the firearm, the caliber, the bullets (e.g. buckshot > birdshot), the angle/positioning, and any flinching.
Though, even if you failed to hit the brain stem, if you did it in a remote enough area, it's likely you'd just bleed out.
If I do it, I plan to take blood thinners beforehand, do it in as remote an area as possible, and maybe combine it with a fall/drowning.

 

[soonatpeace777888]

One of the lowest, success rate is in the high 90%s. Doing it while standing in water or with a rope around your neck makes odds even higher. This is my preferred method.

 

[Lifeaffirmingchoice]

I think one of my biggest fears, I'm sure it's the same for a lot of people here, is to fail in my attempt and be rendered paralyzed or mentally handicapped (more than I already am, haha). I can't think of any fate worse than making a mistake and ending up a vegetable.

Firearms are supposedly the most effective and lethal method, but I'm just wondering if there is anyone more knowledgeable than me who can share how likely it would be to survive a self-inflicted gunshot wound?

I would use a shotgun and also combine it with some other known effective method like SN. I think that would be foolproof honestly. And peaceful and quick.

One of the lowest, success rate is in the high 90%s. Doing it while standing in water or with a rope around your neck makes odds even higher. This is my preferred method.

I could do shotgun with a rope around the neck standing in a large portable pool of several feet deep water with SN dissolved in it (it absorbs through the skin) plus take SN orally beforehand

 

[divinemistress36]

 

[Lifeaffirmingchoice]

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This chart should be a sticky.

 

[Beyond_Repair]

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I'm surprise that hanging has such a high agony score. I guess that's assuming you don't pass out right away?

 

[divinemistress36]

I'm surprise that hanging has such a high agony score. I guess that's assuming you don't pass out right away?

Ya when I saw that it made me think I wouldn't ever want to try hanging

 

[Eudaimonic]

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Not this lol
IIRC, the ratings are essentially arbitrary. I have no idea where they even got them. I found the original study, but it was not informative in the least.
I mean, why does a shotgun have an "agony" rating of 5.5? It makes no sense.
And why would a train take 17.92 minutes to kill you? I guess they're assuming you're bleeding out?
Also, why does jumping have an agony rating of 17.78? At what height?!

I'm surprise that hanging has such a high agony score. I guess that's assuming you don't pass out right away?

I suspect because they are assuming hanging = suffocation and not arterial compression.
To my knowledge, full suspension is of course not painless but it's not especially painful or slow if done correctly.

 

[Beyond_Repair]

it depends on the gun and type of ammo used. best bet is a shotgun with buckshot 00 ammo which has a very high success rate (I think it was around 97% but Im not sure). worst case would be low caliber pistol.
overall pistols are worse because you need to aim them right compared to a shotgun that does a ton of damage.

Good to know, thanks for the info!

Not this lol
IIRC, the ratings are essentially arbitrary. I have no idea where they even got them. I found the original study, but it was not informative in the least.
I mean, why does a shotgun have an "agony" rating of 5.5? It makes no sense.
And why would a train take 17.92 minutes to kill you? I guess they're assuming you're bleeding out?
Also, why does jumping have an agony rating of 17.78? At what height?!

I suspect because they are assuming hanging = suffocation and not arterial compression.
To my knowledge, full suspension is of course not painless but it's not especially painful or slow if done correctly.

Yeah now that you mention it, taking 17.92 minutes to die after being hit by a train, but only having an agony score of 7.08 doesn't make a whole lot of sense lol

 

[Lifeaffirmingchoice]

Not this lol
IIRC, the ratings are essentially arbitrary. I have no idea where they even got them. I found the original study, but it was not informative in the least.
I mean, why does a shotgun have an "agony" rating of 5.5? It makes no sense.
And why would a train take 17.92 minutes to kill you? I guess they're assuming you're bleeding out?
Also, why does jumping have an agony rating of 17.78? At what height?!

I suspect because they are assuming hanging = suffocation and not arterial compression.
To my knowledge, full suspension is of course not painless but it's not especially painful or slow if done correctly.

Could you please link the original study?

 

[Eudaimonic]

Could you please link the original study?

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1943-278X.1995.tb00959.x

(you have to use sci-hub)
Also, there's this: https://archive.ashspace.org/ashbusstop.org/lta_calc.html

 

[Lifeaffirmingchoice]

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1943-278X.1995.tb00959.x

(you have to use sci-hub)
Also, there's this: https://archive.ashspace.org/ashbusstop.org/lta_calc.html

Thanks so much; these are so interesting.

 

[Eudaimonic]

Thanks so much; these are so interesting.

Yes, that site in particular is quite informative.
I like how you can quantify the preferability of a method based on a few parameters with weights applied.

 

[BlockHammer]

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I think it can be a good refrence but there's some methode that needs to be review more like electrocution, set fire to yourself and also hit by a truck/car, jumping from a building, like how do they test this methode and in some case like jumping from height, how tall the building should've be to guarentee you a instant death or just a broken bone that makes your live more misserable, another thing is hit by vehicle like truck or car, how fast the car/truck should've move to make sure that you're going to die after getting hit by those vehicle if not like jumping from a building it can just cause you an fatal injury for life and there's other like explosive but i think you get what i mean

Regardless thanks for the refrence, eventhough i gave some critisicm about this data.

 

[Lifeaffirmingchoice]

I think one of my biggest fears, I'm sure it's the same for a lot of people here, is to fail in my attempt and be rendered paralyzed or mentally handicapped (more than I already am, haha). I can't think of any fate worse than making a mistake and ending up a vegetable.

Firearms are supposedly the most effective and lethal method, but I'm just wondering if there is anyone more knowledgeable than me who can share how likely it would be to survive a self-inflicted gunshot wound?

Highly unlikely to survive a shotgun wound to the head, esp if it was combined with smth like taking SN beforehand, and maybe even doing it in the bathtub so you fall into the water and drown, worst case scenario. Even could dissolve SN in the h2o which is absorbed through the skin.

The fear of failure can be overcome with a foolproof plan.

 

[Unicr0n]

Not this lol
IIRC, the ratings are essentially arbitrary. I have no idea where they even got them. I found the original study, but it was not informative in the least.
I mean, why does a shotgun have an "agony" rating of 5.5? It makes no sense.
And why would a train take 17.92 minutes to kill you? I guess they're assuming you're bleeding out?
Also, why does jumping have an agony rating of 17.78? At what height?!

They're pretty informative on how much fear/suffering you'll be going through right after attempting it. Shotgun to head has the lowest at 5.5 because it usually obliterates your ability to sense anything [destroys your brain]. For those who don't completely destroy their brain, they usually lose most sensation of pain but might experience some agony whilst bleeding out.

A train doesn't immediately kill you on impact unless it crushes your head in. It's amazing how many subway jumpers don't immediately die. I remember one guy basically being cut in half but still alive because the subway train was applying pressure to his aorta to stop him from bleeding out immediately... but once they moved it it was a death sentence either way.

Jumping is terrifying if you don't pass out. Your SI kicks in and you're panicking. With shotgun, you don't have time to SI once you've shot yourself. GSW to the head has a higher agony because you don't always die immediately so suffering increases.

Self-immolation is the most painful thing you can do to yourself, and it's rightfully at 95 [there is only one thing more painful than being set on fire and that's having surgery done on you while you're awake and without anesthesia, which is required with some heart surgeries]. It screws up your pain meter forever and you will never be the same again lol.

I think it can be a good refrence but there's some methode that needs to be review more like electrocution, set fire to yourself and also hit by a truck/car, jumping from a building, like how do they test this methode and in some case like jumping from height, how tall the building should've be to guarentee you a instant death or just a broken bone that makes your live more misserable, another thing is hit by vehicle like truck or car, how fast the car/truck should've move to make sure that you're going to die after getting hit by those vehicle if not like jumping from a building it can just cause you an fatal injury for life and there's other like explosive but i think you get what i mean

Regardless thanks for the refrence, eventhough i gave some critisicm about this data.

Did you read the whole book? Just as with any method of killing yourself, there is no such thing as 100% guarantee for jumping off buildings. No height is guaranteed an instant death. There are stories of people surviving 48+story building jumping suicide attempts.

That agony list isn't arbitrary. It was devised by pathologists who are trained in this field. They know what they're talking about.

divinemistress36 would be great if you could repost the article. I would but my institution plasters its name all over every page watermarked so it would out where I am.

Anyway, shotgun is best. Nothing beats it.