Are you faster than a speeding bullet? | Eastern NC Now

   Some of the survival techniques that worked before are not so useful back in "The World."

   When I returned from Vietnam, I went back to work at my old company while still attending college.  I worked in the warehouse and every afternoon when the trucks came in to pick up the freight the driver for Brown Truck Line would come in the parking lot which was slightly downhill.  He would switch off the ignition, coast a bit and then switch it back on.  If you have never done that I do not recommend it as it could blow off your muffler. 

   When he switched back on the buildup gas would blow and make a huge backfire sound.  I would drop to the floor like a limp dishrag.  Everyone got a big laugh over the fact that I would hit the floor before whatever I was carrying hit the floor..  I took it in good humor and considered it just an adjustment back to civilian life.  The joke eventually grew old and he stopped but I will never forget him, my nickname for him was a$$holeJack.

   One of my workmates would take a book and slam it down on the packing bench.  It never failed to get the same reaction.  A salesmen that worked out of that office was a Korean War veteran. He told me not to worry the startle reaction would go away eventually. 

   For about a year, I would jump at every loud sound or pop that came unexpectedly.  My least favorite holiday was the Fourth of July.  The random fireworks would drive me crazy. 

    The psychological term is "hyper-vigilance" which is an exaggerated sensitivity to stimulus which causes an over reactive behavior.  I guess that is why they say to be careful when waking up a combat soldier. 

    The reaction to noise becomes instinctive but is no guarantee of safety. The AK47 has a muzzle velocity of about 2400 feet per second and a fire rate of about  600 rounds per minute (assuming unlimited ammo supply).  Using rounding off it takes about 3 or 4 seconds to empty a 30 round magazine on full rock and roll.  The speed of sound is about 1100 feet per second.  The bullet will reach you twice as fast as the sound.  If you are lucky, you will hear the zip of the bullet as it passes you before you will hear the muzzle blast.  Depending on how close "Sir Charles" is several bullets may pass before you hear the muzzle blast.  One of the training techniques used in infantry training back then was live fire practice.  You would get in a ditch with a stopwatch and they would fire an AK47 over you.  The idea was to time the sound and try to estimate the distance to the enemy. It was also to acclimate you to the sound of a bullet going over your head.   Sounds great in practice but in reality you do not need a stopwatch cause the last thing you are doing is trying to estimate how far away he is. The sounds are so close together you won't have time to count.  If the rifle is 100 yards away, that is 300 feet divided by 1100 FPS or .27  (1/4) second to hear the muzzle blast. (300/ 1100= 0.2727272727272727). I guess you could round off the decimal to two places. 

The simple fact is that if you hear the "snap / muzzle blast" say a prayer of thanks because several rounds have already missed you. About the only thing that you could depend on during a firefight, when there was plenty of muzzle noise around, was that if you heard the snap you knew they were shooting at you.

    Here is a video that demonstrates how fast you can unload a full 30 round magazine in an AK47 on burst and full auto. The full auto is 2.94 seconds to fire all 30 rounds.

   Here is bullet sound going over your head. It sounds like green bamboo crack followed by muzzle blast. What you hear is the crack of the bullet and then the muzzle fire, which is almost one sound at 110 yards.

    They say that Superman was faster than a speeding bullet but I think that several times I had him beat by a full second.  Would someone please pass the toilet paper?