Injuries and deaths resulting from gun shot wounds should be of vital interest to every one, since at the present time over half of the world is engaged in war and the peace of the rest of the world hangs by a thread. Perforating gun shot wounds of the abdomen should be of special interest to the general surgeon because the mortality rate has not been greatly lowered during the past twenty-five years and, therefore, this type of injury remains the most effective method of killing. Although surgical judgment and technic have improved, there has also been a corresponding increase of 20 per cent in the velocity of the bullet, which causes more damage to the abdominal organs. Fortunately, the incidence in civil practice is rare. MATERIAL REVIEWED This paper is based on a study of 292 cases of gun shot wounds of the abdomen with visceral perforations which occurred