FREE FIRE CARTRIDGE: A bullet is shot into the head of the animal. Use of this technique is rare, and only occurs in facilities where the head meat is condemned as unfit for consumption.
PENETRATING BOLT STUNNER: Either an exploding cartridge, in a pneumatic stun gun, a blast of air from an air line, drives forward a piston and an attached penetrating rod that enters the skull and brain of the animal and then retracts into the gun.
CONCUSSION STUNNER: This device operates like a penetrating bolt stunner, but a short, mushroom shaped knob strikes the skull producing unconsciousness without entering the brain.
Penetrating the bolt or concussion stunners are normally used, at both small and large slaughterhouses, to stun cattle. These stunner, also, are usually used when goats and sheep are slaughtered at small slaughterhouses, while the larger plants more often use electric devices on these smaller species.
One type of electrical stunner takes the form of large tongs with round disks on the ends, which carry an electrical charge through the brain when placed on either side of the head.
