Boom! Headshot!: Difference between revisions
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The [[Trope Namer|trope name]] comes [[Memetic Mutation|from a line spoken by]] "pro gamer" FPS_Doug on the ''[[Pure Pwnage]]'' [[Web Video|web TV series]].
In [[Real Life]], while being shot in the head is seldom a ''good'' thing, the actual effects may vary significantly from the usual [[Instant Death Bullet]] depiction; the brain doesn't take up the entire head, after all, and bullets can fail to penetrate or deflect off the skull. Even if the brain is hit, it [[Reality Is Unrealistic|might not be fatal]]; everyone who watches the news for a while has seen some story about someone [['Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain|surviving a wound to the head]] with a ridiculously large object, be it a masonry nail, tool blade or even a scaffolding pole. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070626133520/http://www.thegunzone.com/11april86.html In fact, sometimes people even carry on fighting with such wounds]. In real life, a sniper has to aim at a ''specific'' part of the head if he's trying for a quick takedown; this is the medulla oblongata in the brainstem at the base of the brain, known as the "sweet spot" or "apricot", and it controls vital involuntary functions, most prominently breathing and heartbeat. Other military and police would only normally try for a headshot if there was some pressing reason they couldn't aim for the centre of mass (probability of an explosive vest detonating, preceding shot failed to put the target down, etc; in the latter case, a shooter is still more likely to aim for the target's ''legs'' as per Ned Kelly).
There is also a common technique known as the Mozambique Drill (also occasionally called the Failure Drill), wherein two shots are quickly placed at center of mass, followed by (if the target still seems to be a threat) a third, more carefully aimed shot to the head (This is [[Michael Mann]]'s trademark execution technique in almost all of his movies, from ''[[Heat]]'' to ''[[Public Enemies]]''). However, this is mostly employed in combat ''pistol'' shooting, and requires a semi-automatic weapon, which sniper rifles generally aren't.
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