I figured that if there was any BS in the article someone would detect it.
BTW, from a physics point of view, if a bullet is traveling at supersonic velocity any sound made by its passing would be heard by those the bullet passes by closely before the bang reaches them. (Whether a bullet makes a sound as it passes by I don’t know; never been on that end of a gun.)
Yes, bullets make noise passing by and you hear that noise before you hear the report from the shell. I haven’t been in combat, but have been downrange in the middle of nowhere when someone else lit off.
That was scary as hell, but not near as bad as when an A-10 snuck up and that minigun went off within a 1/4 mile—serious brown pants day! And yes, an area the size of a football field is swiss cheese before your mind catches up to your ears.
Pilots think it’s funny as hell to mess with range personnel. Ba$tardz!
Explosions do the same thing—shrapnel can travel far ahead of the sound wave. A half casing from a 2000 pounder makes a distinctive sound when headed toward you. The worst part is you know that by the time you hear something, it’s too late to do anything—you automatically run and try to hide, but there’s no way to outrun it or get behind something quickly enough. Lol
The shock wave around the bullet is what makes that bang when it goes by. The bullet also makes a loud bang when it hits something or someone. There are actually three bangs: one at the muzzle, one from the shock wave, one from the impact. I’ll never forget the first time I heard a machinegun firing some distance away and being puzzled by the “echoes” which were there three noises from each shot fired. I had only the impression from movies - and they use blanks in movies.
While hunting I heard a couple of 7mm mag rounds go past me. You could hear a weird sound go past you, which I thought was the air closing behind the bullet, followed by the report from the rifle. Bullet first, bang second.
Yeah, as a couple other replies said, the cracking of the sound barrier, actually the air rushing back into the gap, I think. It is a sharp crack.
The centers of each target were maybe 8-10 feet away from each other at the USMC range. They told us in the pits as target crew we’d be able to tell by the sound if it was thru (or even a near miss of) our target, apart from another nearby. I thought they were fulla... well, you know... but eventually I could tell ours apart from shots on other targets.
A silencer/suppressor on a weapon works in conjunction with ammo designed to travel slower than the speed of sound. Otherwise there’s still gonna be that *crack* but not very directionally helpful at detecting your shooter’s hide.
Hope your would-be sniper prematurely evacuates (LOL) and creates movement that draws your attention, or cycles the action or overloaded oil into the breech, creating a tiny wisp of smoke. Highly unlikely, but I could imagine the panic of someone who never contemplated, let alone practiced, the post-sniping exfil. Fun problem to think about if oh no here come the guys with the butterfly nets oh nooooooooooooo