How close do you have to be to a bullet to hear it go by?

[skydiver30960 0]

This is a question I've been carrying around for a long time but never thought to ask, but I figure this is a perfect place for it.

This happened YEARS ago, at my first DZ, GCSPC in Bardstown Ky. It was a small piston DZ that consisted mostly of a T-hangar, a trailer, and a two hole outhouse. It was a cold, cloudy day (sometime during hunting season) and we were not jumping; I was walking from said trailer to said outhouse with appropriate business on my mind when in the distance I heard a shot fired and about a second or so later I heard ".......zzzzzzziziiiiipp......" of the shot flying through the air somewhere in my vicinity.

My first thought was "Heh. Whatever he was shooting at, he missed!" and then the second thought was "Shit! If he missed then he may try again, and send another one my way!" I double-timed it over to the outhouse, feeling somehow more protected behind a layer of 30 year old wood held up only by the layers of paint on it.

There was never a second shot. I'm reasonably comfortable they weren't shooting at me: back then, as with today, I'm not a very high-profile target. I figure someone took a shot at a deer or something, missed completely, and I found myself unfortunately downrange.

SO: assuming a typical hunting rifle and load, how close was that round to me when it went by if I was able to hear it clearly? It was a windless day (no jumpy due to low clouds).

Elvisio "thanks!" Rodriguez

[freethefly 6]

I took a round off of the left side of my head back in '86. I was about 6' from the guy when he leveled his gun on me and pulled the trigger. I never even heard the gun go off, but i sure as hell felt the impact as the round grazed my skull. Wasn't much of a wound, but it was a hell of a bleeder.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[mnealtx 0]

How did you hear the gunshot before the bullet going past?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Amazon 7]

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How did you hear the gunshot before the bullet going past?

Yup.. not happenin

[vanair 0]

Not all weapons fire at supersonic speed. meaning the projectile is going slower than the sound of the gun firing.

[stevebabin 0]

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How did you hear the gunshot before the bullet going past?

Yup.. not happenin

It could with subsonic bullets...

"Science, logic and reason will fly you to the moon. Religion will fly you into buildings."
"Because figuring things out is always better than making shit up."

[fossg 0]

you may have heard a group of shooters. The bullet that went by our head was supersonic. You heard the bullet not the shot. You probably heard the gunshot(s) of the others in the group. In both civilian and military experience I have had rounds go by me that I heard within 4 ft

[Darius11 12]

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How did you hear the gunshot before the bullet going past?

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Yup.. not happenin

ricochet maybe?


Unless you have people using suppressors for very selective work you are not going to use a subsonic round. Well I guess some low power shot gun shells would be sub sonic as well but he did say rifle.


I stay with my first guess ricochet.



Edit to add: Oh and distance is too close.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[wsd 0]

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Not all weapons fire at supersonic speed. meaning the projectile is going slower than the sound of the gun firing.

In theory yes but

[wsd 0]

If the round were subsonic you would not have heard it at all.

The air being moved around it would not produce enough of a noise.

Do you hear a golf ball flying through the air?

[rushmc 23]

Do you hear a golf ball flying through the air?

[stevebabin 0]

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If the round were subsonic you would not have heard it at all.

The air being moved around it would not produce enough of a noise.

Do you hear a golf ball flying through the air?

Yes, absolutely. You can also hear a .45 come past you after you hear the the round get fired.

"Science, logic and reason will fly you to the moon. Religion will fly you into buildings."
"Because figuring things out is always better than making shit up."

[steve1 5]

In the army we practiced hearing the sound of the bullet whiz over head and then counting the seconds to the sound of the boom.

For example if it was three seconds between the whiz and the boom you would multiply the speed of sound (per second) times three.

You could then calculate about how far away the shooter is. You could then call in fire support to blow up the sniper.

Most grunts, during Vietnam era, got this training.

[NewGuy2005 53]

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If the round were subsonic you would not have heard it at all.

The air being moved around it would not produce enough of a noise.

Do you hear a golf ball flying through the air?

Yes, absolutely. You can also hear a .45 come past you after you hear the the round get fired.

Agreed. A .45 is really slow. However, the OP may have heard a different shot than the one that went past him.

The "zip" sound is also what I have heard in the past.

[wsd 0]

I know what you mean but many people would not even realize what that noise was.

It is not like the sonic crack, which we only hear as it is going away from us.

That is why when you are shot at with a suppressed weapon using high velocity ammo most people think the shot came from 180 degrees out of the firing point.

[wsd 0]

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In the army we practiced hearing the sound of the bullet whiz over head and then counting the seconds to the sound of the boom.

For example if it was three seconds between the whiz and the boom you would multiply the speed of sound (per second) times three.

You could then calculate about how far away the shooter is. You could then call in fire support to blow up the sniper.

Most grunts, during Vietnam era, got this training.

And you guys taught us that

[Skyrad 0]

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How close do you have to be to a bullet to hear it go by?

Funny enough I've never thought to get a ruler out

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[jgoose71 0]

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How did you hear the gunshot before the bullet going past?

Yup.. not happenin

You have obviously never been around a bunch of Iraqi's as they celebrate by shooting a bunch of rounds in the air....

What goes up must come down....

If the guy was shooting straight up into the air, it could happen. If you get hit by a round like that, it's usually not as lethal.

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Depends on a lot of factors. You can hear a 2500 fps .30 cal bullet from several yards, a .22 subsonic has to be DAMN close. Some rifled shotgun slugs make a very distinctive whizzing noise you really don't want to be close enough to hear.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[TriGirl 318]

while pulling targets on the rifle range, we could hear the rounds hitting the paper above our heads (about 8'), but never heard the rounds flying by. Consider at least a few dozen rifles are being fired at this point (slow fire portions).

In comparison, during a live-fire exercise, the guy directly to my left fired from behind me (yeah, the instructors went nuts). I actually heard that round pass by me about 5 feet away.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[wsd 0]

I have a rifle that you would hear the bullets breaking he sound barrier when you are in the pits.

Very small cartridge casing but still supersonic @ 1200m

[wsd 0]

Jamile, when you and I get too old to track animals down for a hunt I suggest we get a Pinzgauer and set up the top with a nice mat, a cooler full of lemonade and shoot them from a reasonable distance with a .338Lapua

No more than 2200m to be sporting about it.

We will take all our friends with on safari!
We could be hard of hearing and talk loud and blast music and they still won't know what hit them.

I could see it now, HEY, SHOOT THAT ONE!, WHAT ONE? THAT TASTY LOOKING ONE OVER THERE!, WHERE? OVER THERE YOU OLD GIT!

[jumpwally 0]

I could care less about the sound of the bullet,,,,i want to know the back story,,why did he do that ? what was the situation ?

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[mnealtx 0]

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How did you hear the gunshot before the bullet going past?

Yup.. not happenin

You have obviously never been around a bunch of Iraqi's as they celebrate by shooting a bunch of rounds in the air....

What goes up must come down....

If the guy was shooting straight up into the air, it could happen. If you get hit by a round like that, it's usually not as lethal.

You're not going to hear a subsonic bullet (which your example would be) - with a supersonic bullet (virtually every rifle round out there), you're going to hear the crack of the bullet going past before you hear the report of the rifle.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[steve1 5]

I'm guessing on this, but I'd say you could probably hear a high powered bullet at even sixty feet over head.

When I was a kid I was out shooting at targets. A truck stopped on the road behind me. I might add that this guy was an idiot....He started shooting at my targets. I guess he thought this was a joke or something. He was shooting well over my head. I'd say the bullets were whizzing over, at least 60 feet overhead. I could hear them clearly, (followed by the boom of his rifle).

I might add that this dip-stick missed all my targets, but I assume that is what he was shooting at.