Captive bolt pistol  

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A captive bolt pistol (also variously known as a cattle gun, stunbolt gun, bolt gun, or stunner) is a device used for stunning animals prior to slaughter.

Proper stunning is essential to prevent the pain and suffering of the animal during the bleeding (exsanguination) process (which is itself necessary to prevent meat spoilage) during butchering. The principle behind captive bolt stunning is a forceful strike on the forehead using a bolt to induce unconsciousness. The bolt may or may not destroy part of the brain.

The bolt itself is a heavy rod made of non-rusting alloys, such as stainless steel. It is held in position inside the barrel of the stunner by means of rubber washers. The bolt is usually not visible in a stunner in good condition. The bolt is actuated by a trigger pull and is propelled forward by compressed air or by the discharge of a blank round ignited by a firing pin. After striking a shallow but forceful blow on the forehead of the animal, spring tension causes the bolt to recoil back into the barrel. The use of penetrating captive bolts has been discontinued in the commercial arena.

The captive bolt pistol was invented in 1903 by Dr. Hugo Heiss, former director of a slaughterhouse in Straubing, Germany.

Popular culture

One of the earliest appearances of a captive bolt pistol in popular culture is in the 1976 French sadomasochism film Maîtresse, where the main character, played by Gérard Depardieu, visits a slaughterhouse and witnesses a horse being stunned by a captive bolt and then exsanguinated. It is also depicted in the 1992 film Benny's Video and later as Anton Chigurh's weapon-of-choice in Cormac McCarthy's novel No Country for Old Men and its 2007 film adaptation of the same name. It is also used as a murder weapon in the Derek Raymond novel The Devil's Home on Leave, where the British characters refer to it as a "humane killer." They have appeared on television in the seventh season episode of CSI: Miami, "And They're Offed", and the first season finale "Woman in Limbo" of Bones. Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is seen with this weapon in his music video "Bustin At 'Em" from his album Flockaveli. The bolt gun is the weapon of the Pariah in the multiplayer mode of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. It is also used by 1960s bank robber Cal Sweeney in episode four of season one of the TV show Alcatraz to kill a bank employee during the commission of a bank robbery in San Francisco in 2012.





Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Captive bolt pistol" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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