My interpretation of this based on HT's reply and my experience with Killshooter is that the "shot yourself X times" does not mean X number of bullets hit, but rather that "X parts" have taken damage.
That is why you can fire a single round from a heavy gun (like a 17 lber or 88 flak) and get a "shot yourself 3 times" message. That would suggest that the single round damaged 3 parts of that plane/vehicle.
So, in your example, I expect that it registered 4 hits (4 messages) and damaged 5 parts (the x times total). Since there were separate messages, you may have hit the same part more than once.
If this interpretation is incorrect, hopefully HT will let me know.
<S>
Kingpin
p.s. I have seen a copy of the Magna Carta in England. This is considerably shorter.