How long did it take you to realize you were being shot at?

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sacp81170a

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This question is for anyone who has had rounds coming at them, whether accidentally or in anger:

How long did it take you to realize that you were on the wrong side of a two-way range? :what: What was your first clue?

The reason I'm asking is that so many who have had this experience tend to start their stories with, "I *thought* something strange was happening" or some similar indication that they didn't at first key in to this vital little piece of information. One of my friends who is a Vietnam vet told me that the first time he was being shot at, he couldn't figure out why the dirt was "puffing" up in front of his feet for several seconds. Any similar stories?

(My first time was related in another thread, but briefly, I'd say there was about 5-10 seconds before I related that funny pop, pop, pop-pop noise to the sound of rounds impacting the aircraft I was guarding. I'm sure my reaction would have made America's Funniest Home Videos.) :D​
 
I had just come off the roof post of a house my platoon was in in Iraq and had gone down to the first level for a couple hours of rack-ops when we started hearing loud explosions right outside the house (enemy mortars). Right after that, we heard a lot of automatic gunfire open up and heard rounds start hitting the brick walls. Everyone started screaming, and at that point, it was a pretty good indicator we were getting shot at ;)
 
Shot at countless times while in combat (1967-1968) and during 31 years in law enforcement (1971-2002).
Number of times hit? A bit ZERO!

I can only guess-timate that it took as long as 2 seconds for it to register that I was being shot at, if the shooter was fairly close (within 50 yards). At greater distances, the strike of the bullet as it kicks up dirt, water or hits something solid near you is an indicator, but those "silent" bullet strikes take a bit longer to register that you're being shot at. Quite often, by the time you are proning out, the distant sound of the gun being fired at you will reach your ears....probably up to about a 4 or 5 second reaction time.

One of the strangest that I encountered wasn't someone shooting AT me, and there was absolutely NO sound of a firearm being fired, so it had to have been done from a LONG distance. I was standing on the sidewalk and heard a dull thud in front of me.
I saw the bullet when it bounced off of the concrete. It looked like it was possibly a .45 cailber FMJ bullet, and it wasn't all that deformed after striking the concrete. Probably some jerk getting ready for New Year's Eve!
 
Immediately. I found myself in the direction of someone's targets once. They weren't using a sufficient backstop, and I was rabbit hunting in a dry wash. I yelled, but that didn't stop the incoming rounds. Stayed low and ran out of there.
 
not long

when i heard the bullets "whizzing" overhead i was concerned,
when i heard them "thumping" into the ground near by i new that i was in the wrong place at the wrong time!
 
It took me a second, maybe two, to realize I got shot at. I actually thought my car backfired, so I was looking at my gauges when I heard the sound of broken safety glass behind me.

I checked my rearveiw to find the back glass of my hotrod shattered, and before I knew it I was in second gear with my foot on the floorboard. I actually dont think I noticed that I had my car wound up until I saw that turn coming at me at a high rate of speed.

And to be perfectly honest, I dont think it sank it until I called 911 to report it.
 
Maybe a couple of tenths of a second

It was unexpected and accidental - a big fat 12 ga. slug (we later found the empty casings) passed right up the middle of our group. Dad and I ducked for cover while everyone else just stared at us like we were idiots. Dad says, rather calmly, "We're getting shot at" and then everyone hits the dirt.

We heard the "boom" of a shotgun up in front of us and an instant later I could actually see the slug flying toward us. I knew before it ever passed we were being shot at and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't MOVE fast enough to get out of the line of fire. It seemed like a minute passed from the time I heard the report and the time I got behind cover but I know it could not have been more than a couple of seconds.

I was 10.
 
I've never been shot at in anger, but I have been hit.

Once, while pheasant hunting here in the Commonwealth, I thought one of my buddies threw a handful of gravel at me. When I picked the lead shot out of my hair, I realized that wasn't the case.

There lesson here is: Never go hunting at Bolton Flats (any Mass hunters that have been there will know what I mean).
 
I would just like to say how happy I am to NOT have an answer to your question. I would be perfectly happy to go through my entire life without ever having an answer to that question.

For all you folks who do have an answer, thanks for doing what you do because I surely could not.

Chris
 
The first shot felt like 20 to 30 bee stings...

The first shot felt like a 20 to 30 bee stings...the second shot felt lie 20 or 30 shotgun pellets nailing my body head-to-toe. They did NOT fully penetrate the skin, but they did break the skin and bled quite a bit. The ones that didn't break the skin left BIG whelts! It took a fellow target shooter to tell me what the heck was happening. Some dork was that the clays range with 3" full loads (hunting loads). :what: If I had not been wearing my Carhartt pants and shirt, I have NO DOUBT that some of those pellets WOULD have penetrated. Edited to add, The pellets that broke the skin DID, DID fully penetrate the Carhartt pants and shirt.

Doc2005
 
i heard 'pop pop pop pop' from my left. i think to myself 'hey that sounds like what i hear at the range'.
i hear from left to right in true THX style "HIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS".
i think to myself 'hey i've never heard THAT at the range before.'
i hear 'thud thud thud' behind me and to my right.

about then rational thought left my mind. i say 'oh crap!' i see two people walking into the gas station in front of me hesitate. i think 'run for cover!' i hide behind a light pole. my subconscious slaps me in the back of the head: 'thats not cover you dumbass! MOVE!!!!'
i run to the other side of the gas station.

that all happened within about five seconds from 'pops' to 'MOVE!!!!', but it took waaay too long after i thought about it.
 
never been on the wrong end of small arms fire but every time haji lobs a couple rockets or mortars there are a few seconds spent trying to decide if it was our 105s or 81s or the bad guys. we all look at eachother and probably about five seconds later we realize it's not ours. i'm not particularly sure about the time it takes but one thing i know is that no matter how quickly you react it's never fast enough.
 
Does getting 'rained on' with No. 7 1/2 birdshot count?
Many years ago, a buddy and I were out decoying for pigeons over a wheat field. We were in 2 hides maybe 200 yards apart and were getting an occasional pigeon, when I discovered that if I fired into the air at just the correct angle, I could rain birdshot on him :evil:
Needless to say, after the second or third 'accident,' fire was returned :D

For the rest of the day, every bird got at least 1 more cartridge than was strictly necessary. Amazingly enough, that last shot was ALWAYS in the direction of the other hide :evil:

7 1/2 shot really does sound like rain in the field around you, and is pretty harmless provided you shield you eyes and don't look up with your mouth open.

.
 
I can tell you that a 12ga slug going past sounds a lot different than a .22 going overhead. In the first instance I was in a tree stand and a group of hunters were below me at the bottom of a hill when they jumped a doe. I seriously thought about returning fire then maturity prevailed.

In the second instance neighbor kids were shooting at birds in a tree and the bullets were going over the machine shed I was hiding behind. I believe their father got a chat from the land owner I was shooting on.
 
inbounds

Two short stories for y'all:
a. Inbound rockets and mortar fire at Mosul...tended to sound like the 4th of July...you could clearly hear the whoosh and explosion, whereas Anaconda was so big, all you could hear was the rocket explosions, then the mourn of the siren!
b. Many moons ago in Korea, we participated in a live fire on one of the old 600 meter bermed ranges. Anyhow, the object was for the platoon to lie on the downrange side of the final berm, and then strategically placed gunners fired grazing fire over your heads...object was to attempt to identify what type weapon, caliber and direction....it was all the same from the whizzing overhead, until the M2's opened up....that and the old M3 grease guns...because they were so slow shooting! Learned to respect the sound of incoming at a young age!
 
about a half of a nano second after i watched the hammer fall on the dirt wads cheap 38. I still remember that at night. watching the hammer fall.



thank goodness for crappy RG handguns, his gun just blew up, and the bullet hit me with only about 1/3 of the force it might have had, went thru three layers of leather, hit my chest, broke my sternum.


latter getting hit with bird shot another time i watched it coming. just a grey cloud of bird shot. i was ducking and turning. ended up getting lots of pellets in my back, shoulders, and neck.
 
I was out walking in the woods one day, along the edge of a lake, when mud flew up a few feet in front of me, then I heard the report. I was sure it was an accident, so I yelled loudly in the direction of the shot. Then mud flew up all over me and I saw a gaping hole in the mud about a six inches in front of me. I ran in a crouched zig zag pattern for about two minutes in the opposite direction. I just went home and never mentioned it to anyone - I rarely called the police in those days - never even crossed my mind for some reason.
 
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