What does a gunshot sound like?
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sarahsugs (
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September 20th, 2008
I teach in a school in a neighborhood with an unfortunate level of gun violence. After school the other day I was working in my classroom and there were two loud bangs from outside, sort of like the sound two wooden boards might make if you clapped them together really hard, only louder. No one else (eg, the other teachers inside or people out on the street) seemed worried, so I figured it was just a car backfiring or something. But it was loud enough to make me wonder.
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14 Answers
What you’re explaining sounds more like a cherry-bomb or fire cracker. A gun shot is deeper.
Pop, pop. Not blam, blam as you hear on television or in the movies.
could be a firecracker or a gunshot depending on the gun the particular firecracker. gunsots however are usually more…I want to say resonant? because of the power behind them. whereas firecrackers are weaker, don’t sound as far off usually and the sound is sent off in all directions?
p.s. sorry about the atrocious punctuation! my phone is made of fail.
listen to MIA paper planes and you will get a good idea of it. It’s a pop more than a blam indeed. And off in the distance, you can’t recognize it from a regular firework.
It sounds more like a firecracker, like a pop pop. I used to work in a neighborhood where I heard guns go off regularly.
It depends on how close to it you are. If you are holding the rifle, you don’t hear it so much. If it is a shot gun, or black powder rifle, you hear a “blam” noise. From a regular rifle it is a “pop” noise if it is from a distance. I live in hunting country and my favorite season is “bow season”. :)
It really depends on the caliber of the gun. It can very from a clack to a pow or even a boom if it’s a large enough gun. Usually gun fire in a school area is followed by hysteria, and if there was none, it was probably just a car or something similar. If it was harmful, like a firework, gun or bomb, then there wold more than likely be some fast reactions.
A gunshot sounds more surpressed and deep than two wooden boards being slapped together.
Can’t say that I’ve actually heard one myself, but I had a friend whose family was held hostage in their house by a heavily armed fugitive, which resulted in their house getting pretty shot up (as well as her father and sister, though they survived without much permanent injury). After that, she would always freak out when she heard firecrackers and the like. Since then, I’ve assumed that there is a similarity in the sounds.
it’s a pop sound if its gunfire
I feel the need to add that when a bullet passes close by you, it does indeed sound just like two boards being slapped together. It’s the sound barrier cracking as the bullet passes. I have been shot at, and as long as you hear that….they missed.
It can sound like a “Bapp Bapp” if it is a high speed .22. “Bawoomm” if it’s 12 gauge. Bamm if it’s a .380 auto. I live in a rural community. Not a day goes by that there are not at least a few shots going off somewhere. Hunting, practice, or just playing.
@jholler Thanks!
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