Hear sonic crack if bullet does not pass

[Blancoalex]

Question, is the sonic crac heard if bullet does not pass by or overhead? Example does the sonic crack stop at first animal once it impacts it and the others animals 25ft further back do they hear the crack??

 

[jessej]

That sonic crack is some puzzling stuff.
Try this. Get in a big open field, shoot a suppressed rifle with supersonic ammo, straight up. (In a safe manner of course).
No sonic crack to be heard.

 

[jessej]

The best example of this is a 17hmr. Lots of sound coming from the tearing of the sound barrier, but in the open shooting up, it's eerily quiet. Repeat this closer to a tall tree and you hear the crack bounce back off the tree.

 

[Blancoalex]

Jessej, so lets say i shoot the closet pig to me does the others further back hear anything? Or are they only seeing the reaction of first pig dropping?

 

[jessej]

Easy enough to test this. Stand past the target backstop while someone you trust fires.

 

[TRnCO]

I'd say anything near the area will hear the crack, and if really near your original target, in this case a pig, the others will hear the meat report.

I've had two coyotes standing side by side and shot one and the other just stood there and looked at the dead coyote without any reaction, and I've had them react much like a shot was fired un-suppressed. I think how the other animals in the area react has a lot to do with any past experience they've had with gun shots. If they've been shot at before they have a more negative reaction then if they've never been around gun shots.

 

[Terry Lightle]

Same as above,had coyotes just sort of look around after shooting the first one here in Okla,BUT in New Mexico last week they would kick in the afterburner and get some gone real fast so who knows?

 

[1mechanic]

Sound can do some weird things depending on the environment. Wind, acoustic shadows, moisture content of the air and other various things I can't remember this early this morning lol. Here's an article on some things about sound and some of the effects it had on the civil war.

The Acoustic Shadow and the American Civil War

Where sound goes to die, acoustic shadows are areas where sounds, from a certain direction and on a given day, will not penetrate; these acoustic phenomena occur either because the sound waves are absorbed, refracted or simply blown in a different direction. Relatively unnoticed in our modern...

www.todayifoundout.com

 

[Blancoalex]

Update, So I did LOW Tech test other day with my son as Jessej suggested. I had son shoot into our 50yd dirt backstop while I was down at the 100yd back stop and off to the left 25yd behind some trees. There was sound but no sonic crack. What I did heard I would compare to what you hear from a shot a long ways off. If I hadn't know the original direction I would have not been able to tell you where the sound came from.

 

[cohunt]

Real world implications of this--- just last week in colorado there were 2 police officers inside their patrol car- windows up-- they claimed to have heard a pistol bullet "pass their car" --- I'm not 100% convinced of their story

 

[cohunt]

Update, So I did LOW Tech test other day with my son as Jessej suggested. I had son shoot into our 50yd dirt backstop while I was down at the 100yd back stop and off to the left 25yd behind some trees. There was sound but no sonic crack. What I did heard I would compare to what you hear from a shot a long ways off. If I hadn't know the original direction I would have not been able to tell you where the sound came from.

Suppressors mask direction even more than bare muzzle-- one of the reasons military use them on supersonic rifles. It's very hard to pinpoint the direction of a suppressed shot.

 

[Blancoalex]

1mechanic, that is very good article not only the technical part , but also for how it affected the Civil War and other battles over the years.

 

[cohunt]

Same as above,had coyotes just sort of look around after shooting the first one here in Okla,BUT in New Mexico last week they would kick in the afterburner and get some gone real fast so who knows?

Animals aren't all that different from humans (other than they are often smarter)-- different reactions based on situations they have been in or learned, or lack of.

Some people would run, some would hide, some will stand there and try to figure out what just happened--- others would whip out their cell phone and try to video for YouTube ( this is where animals really show their intelligence over humans)

 

[QuietTexan]

Real world implications of this--- just last week in colorado there were 2 police officers inside their patrol car- windows up-- they claimed to have heard a pistol bullet "pass their car" --- I'm not 100% convinced of their story

If it was a ricochet I'd believe them easily. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeee..................

It seems all the louder if the bullet is subsonic when it hits first like a 45 or a heavy 40. Or a 220gn .308 that sounds like an angry two stroke running hot.