Bullet Deformation and other questions

Question
Okay I'll prefix this whole thing by stating I'm a complete newbie when it comes to firearms so I'm sorry if my distinct lack of knowledge irks you at all :)

Firstly a quick explanation.

I'm a scriptwriter. Amateur at present. A few things produced here and there.

I'm writing a particular sequence that relates to my question. i'll explain the sequence in it's most basic form.

Cornered by gunman at his home and with no way out, A man carves the password to a safety deposit box on the tip of the slug of a revolver bullet and fires it into his chest. Enroute to the morgue the coroners wagon is ambushed by the man's enemies, more gunmen who know of the bullet with the password on it. The police fire back. In the ensuing gun battle one of the gunmen performs a flick knife operation on the body (Don't ask) and pries the bullet from the wound. In a panic, gunfire raining down around him, he stashes the slug, for safe keeping, in the chamber of his revovler.

And now to the questions

1. What revolver should the man who shoots himself use to ensure the bullet imbeds inside of him and doesn't just fly out the other side? What type of bullet? Should he use another object over his body to slow it down?

2. Where should the password be carved to ensure it's still legible after deformation? How drastic is the deformation on average?

3. Is there a bullet or revolver in existence that is guaranteed not to deform the bullet at all? I'm worried about the plausibility of still being able to read something carved on the bullet afterwards.

4. Once a bullet is fired, is it possible to slide the slug part back into a revolvers chamber or would it have deformed too much to fit? Also would it slip comfortably and snuggly back or would it rattle around in the chamber?

5. Can a bullet be easily deconstructed and constructed just in case the man wanted to carve the password on the undeside of the slug having poured out the gun powder?

6. What happens if a revovler attempts to fire the post-fired slug mentioned above? I'm assuming nothing since the hammerpin has nothing to hit. Is there anything dangerous about pulling the trigger when just the slug is inside there with no gun powder or is it simply a case of CLICK, nothing happens?

Thanking you in advance. As you can see I'm a complete firearm noob hoping someone will take pity. Parts of the story hinge on the plausability of this sequence.

Thankin' ya kindly.

Answer
Well...I'll do my best to answer this one as accurately as I can.  If you like my answer, I'll gladly become your official adviser as I have a 'huge' problem with firearms inaccuracies on TV or in the movies.

OK...to the questions.

1.  The revolver should be a .38 special.  If the caliber is any larger, you are in some danger of over penetration, especially if it is a .357 magnum.  Those rounds penetrate engine blocks.  For a .38 special, he doesn't need to wear anything to slow it down.

2.  The bullet is going to be pretty deformed when it hits a target like the human body.  Not as bad as if it hit a concrete block wall, but still some deformation.  Think flattened or separated into pieces in the body.  If you ever need screen shots of fired rounds, let me know.

3.  The only place that anything might survive is on the base of the bullet.  Only problem, it is very difficult to do this with factory ammo and still get it to work later.  Maybe these should be 'reloads' that the victim has developed himself.  If he was a sport shooter and into reloading for the economics of it, this would be a good lead in for what you are looking for.  He engraves the bullet then reloads the round.  Perfect...

4.  Regarding the bullet back in the chamber or in the case of a revolver, it would be a 'cylinder'.  The whole thing is a non-starter for me.  When you fire a revolver, the bullet leaves the gun, but the brass stays in the cylinder.  You have an empty shell after you shoot.  To put the bullet back in the gun, you'd have to first remove the brass and then pray that the round didn't fall out of the cylinder.  Short version, it would either rattle around or fall out.

5.  Deconstruction of a factory round is not going to work well in real life unless you have high quality reloading equipment.  The only reasonable approach is to have the guy be a reloader (economics is the driver if he is an avid sport shooter).  If he is a reloader, he buys components (powder, primer, cartridges, bullets) and assembles them together into a live round.  It would be way easier and much more plausible to engrave the round and then load it.

6.  With no cartridge and primer in the cylinder, when you get to this point, the gun will go 'click' not 'bang'.  This will primarily be due to the fact that the original round would have to be taken out to accommodate the new 'bullets' that you wanted to move.  If you just put the 'bullet' component into cylinder, you will be trying to fire an 'unfireable' round.  It will be 'click' and nothing happens.

Hope this all helps...if you have more questions, please feel free to give me a call...if you like you can email em here or call 480-60-5144 between 8:30am and 10:30am Pacific.  I will call you back...

Best regards,

Doug