IN THE FIRING LINE
Iu the firiug-liue it has often been noticed that bulle'S travelling at high spsed produce two sounds. A man fired at from about 400 yards hears
first a vicious crash. Tear, is the bullet passing. A little later the rcpo<t of the rifle comes along. The speed of sound has, iD fact, been beaten by the 'speed of r fie-bnHat®. Modern military r fb bullets, whin fired, travel at from 2,000't to 3,000 ft in one second. Sound can only travel alorg at I,looft per saemd. So it happens that when a man who has been fired at hears the report of a riff j , he knotvs he is safe—-at least, from the particu'ar shot. It is naturally at long ranges that the two distinct sounds are most noticeable. At a range of 1000 yards a billet arrives at least a second, and sometimes more, in advance of the report.
The sound of the flying bullet is caused by a vacuum at its rear. The air thrown fiercely back from the nose of the projectile travels round aud round rushes to the rear, as water to the stern of a fast-moving beat.
, Thus a crash is produced—or, in certain oases, a kind of whining snail, like no other sound on earth.
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Bibliographic details
Hokitika Guardian, 16 March 1917, Page 4
Word Count
215IN THE FIRING LINE Hokitika Guardian, 16 March 1917, Page 4
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