The paper was inspired by reports on the Russian-Ukrainian war in terms of the ammunition used by the Russian army despite the introduced restrictions in this regard. The aim of the paper was to analyse and describe phenomena that occur during soft tissue penetration by a bullet. The paper presents a synthetic description of the ongoing research and the development of the discipline of wound ballistics. The beginnings of experiments that provided the basis for the development of a research and numerical apparatus for the description of wound ballistics are discussed. Further parts of the paper describe the phenomena occurring in soft tissue during bullet penetration, discusses the process of creating a permanent channel and a temporary cavity, depending on the type and technical parameters of bullets used, as well as present sample images from the conducted experiments. The presented description concerns only the mechanism of the projectile-soft tissue interaction and does not take into account other destruction factors, such as fragments from artillery shells, rockets, grenades or mines. The severity and profile of injuries change as a result of bullet rotation. When the projectile rotates at a 90-degree angle, it crushes the tissue with its side surface. This also results in an increase in force. It should be borne in mind that the rate of energy transfer along the wound channel is not uniform throughout the body, as the projectile may change trajectory or undergo fragmentation during penetration. Additionally, human tissue is not homogeneous. A temporary cavity may develop depending on several factors, such as the shape, velocity, calibre of the projectile, the penetrated organs through or near which the trajectory of the projectile passes, and the pressure or shock wave that may cause both proximal and distal injuries.