This paper reviews successful & unsuccessful suicide attempts by use of a nail gun. The authors present an atypical case of suicide committed with a nail gun by a 46-year-old depressed male investigated by the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pennsylvania April 2002. This case reports for the first time a unique pathological finding of a ring of bone traveling with the nail, which has not been seen in wounds of the head caused by other types of projectiles. (18 refs)