Gunshot

Gunshot (band)

Gunshot was a British hip hop group, formed by MC Mercury, MC Alkaline, Q-Roc, DJ White Child Rix and DJ/MC Barry Blue in the area of Leyton in east London.-Career:...

 is also a British hip hop

British hip hop

British hip hop is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of urban music...

 group.

A gunshot is the discharge of a firearm

Firearm

A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...

, producing a mechanical sound effect

Sound effect

For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...

 and a chemical gunshot residue

Gunshot residue

Gunshot residue is principally composed of burnt and unburnt particles from the explosive primer, the propellant, as well as components from the bullet, the cartridge case and the firearm used...

. The term can also refer to a gunshot wound caused by such a discharge. Multiple discharges of a firearm or firearms are referred to as gunfire. The word can connotate either the sound of a gun firing, the projectiles that were fired, or both. For example, the statement "gunfire came from the next street" could either mean the sound of discharge, or it could mean the bullets themselves. It is better to be a bit more specific while writing however. "The sound of gunfire" or "we came under gunfire" would be better. In the latter phrase, in particular, "fire" is more commonly used (i.e. "under fire"), as both words hold the same general meaning within the proper context.

Gunfire characteristics

There are three primary attributes that characterize gunfire and hence enable the detection and location of gunfire and similar weapon discharges:

1. An optical flash that occurs when an explosive charge is ignited to propel a projectile from the chamber of the weapon
2. A muzzle blast that occurs when an explosive charge is ignited to propel a projectile from the chamber of the weapon. A typical muzzle blast generates an impulse sound wave with a sound pressure level (SPL) that ranges from 120 dB to 160 dB
3. A “snap” or “crack” caused by the sonic boom
   Sonic boom
   A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion...
   
    that occurs as a projectile moves through the air at supersonic speeds

Gunfire can be confused with other sounds that can sound similar, such as firework explosions and cars backfiring.

Urban areas typically exhibit diurnal noise patterns where background noise is higher during the daytime and lower at night, where the noise floor directly correlated to urban activity (e.g., automobile traffic, airplane traffic, construction, and so on). During the day, when the noise floor is higher, a typical handgun muzzle blast may propagate as much as a mile. During the night, when the noise floor is lower, a typical handgun muzzle blast may propagate as much as 2 miles.

An attachment commonly mis-named a silencer can be attached to the muzzle of a firearm to decreast the audio signature of firing the weapon. The sound of firing is only decreased and is still considerable. The FBI estimates that 1% or fewer of crimes that involve gunfire are committed with silenced gunfire.

See also

• Gunfight
• Gunshot residue
  Gunshot residue
  Gunshot residue is principally composed of burnt and unburnt particles from the explosive primer, the propellant, as well as components from the bullet, the cartridge case and the firearm used...
  
  
• Gun crime
• Warning shot
  Warning shot
  A warning shot is a military term describing harmless artillery shot or gunshot intended to call attention and demand some action of compliance...
  
  
• Ballistic trauma
  Ballistic trauma
  The term ballistic trauma refers to a form of physical trauma sustained from the discharge of arms or munitions. The most common forms of ballistic trauma stem from firearms used in armed conflicts, civilian sporting and recreational pursuits, and criminal activity.-Destructive effects:The degree...
  
  
• Stopping power
  Stopping power
  Stopping power is a colloquial term used to describe the ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands....
  
  
• Hydrostatic shock
  Hydrostatic shock
  Hydrostatic shock or hydraulic shock describes the observation that a penetrating projectile can produce remote wounding and incapacitating effects in living targets through a hydraulic effect in their liquid-filled tissues, in addition to local effects in tissue caused by direct impact...
  
  
• Wound ballistics
  Wound ballistics
  The field of wound ballistics largely comprises the study of the physiology and medical effects of projectile weapons on humans or animals...
  
  
• Terminal ballistics
  Terminal ballistics
  Terminal ballistics, a sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior of a projectile when it hits its target. It is often referred to as stopping power when dealing with human or other living targets. Terminal ballistics is relevant both for small caliber projectiles as well as for large...
  
  
• List of celebrities who were shot and lived

External links

• Introduction to Firearm Suppressor Technology
• Detailed measurements of the sound of a .308 rifle firing