# Could one see a fired bullet pass in front of their eyes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687 "2008-09-15T12:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![survineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@survineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survineer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/1 "2008-09-15T12:41:17Z")
Say one is looking at a white background and the bullet passes 1 foot in front of his eyes. Lets use a 9mm for this example. Say it is fired in such a manner that our observer does not hear, see, or feel the actual firing of the gun. Would the observer see something go by? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/2 "2008-09-15T13:35:53Z")
> [@survineer](#): > > Say one is looking at a white background and the bullet passes 1 foot in front of his eyes. Lets use a 9mm for this example. Say it is fired in such a manner that our observer does not hear, see, or feel the actual firing of the gun. > > Would the observer see something go by? Assuming a “Standard” 9mm bullet (115gr FMJ), you’re looking at a velocity of 1200 feet per second or so. You’d basically see a blurry, indistinct object flash past you almost instantaneously. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/3 "2008-09-15T13:43:03Z")
No ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/4 "2008-09-15T13:48:16Z")
I don’t know about a bullet moving perpendicularly to the viewer’s POV, but any experience shooter will tell you that one can see pistol bullets moving toward the target when lighting is correct. One can even see high speed rifle bullets through a spotting scope when light and atmospheric conditions are right. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/5 "2008-09-15T14:18:39Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I don’t know about a bullet moving perpendicularly to the viewer’s POV, but any experience shooter will tell you that one can see pistol bullets moving toward the target when lighting is correct. One can even see high speed rifle bullets through a spotting scope when light and atmospheric conditions are right. I’ll second that. At an indoor range, one can easily see pistol rounds heading down range if the lighting is correct. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/6 "2008-09-15T14:37:05Z")
If it’s a tracer round, sure. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/7 "2008-09-15T16:07:35Z")
Back of the enveloping it a little: Assume the average human field of view is 120 degrees horizontally. At a distance of one foot this gives a total viewing area of about 42 inches across. Using **Martini Enfield** ’s velocity of 1200 feet/sec, your 9mm bullet (about the size of a halved peanut) will traverse the observer’s sight in just under .003 seconds. At such an extreme range I find it unlikely that it would be possible to visually notice anything, considering you can only _just_ make out rounds in the proper lighting - and that’s on a shooting range where the rounds are traveling away from you on a predictable trajectory. You’d definitely hear the bullet go by, though. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/8 "2008-09-15T16:15:05Z")
The velocity of the round would have a great deal to do with the visibility, my old Daisy lever-action pump BB gun I had as a child was so anemic I could see each BB fired arc towards the target I recently tried out a 500 FPS pellet gun, and I could see the pellet travel from that one as far as my centerfire handguns go, I’d imagine with the right lighting and atmospheric conditions, a round fired from my Glock 21 .45 ACP pistol would stand a better chance of being seen than a round from my Taurus PT-99 AF 9mm a 9mm generally speeds along at about 1200 FPS or so and is a small, fast and light projectile a .45 ACP is a bit slower, in the 875+ FPS range and is a large, heavy and slow projectile ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/9 "2008-09-15T16:33:05Z")
With the proper lighting and against a featureless dark background, I think a jacketed bullet might be perceived as a brief gold streak or flash, but not as a distinct bullet. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/10 "2008-09-15T18:17:47Z")
I would not care about quality of what I saw, heard, or felt, I’d be firing back… ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/11 "2008-09-15T18:19:51Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > I would not care about quality of what I saw, heard, or felt, I’d be firing back… You may be firing back, I’d be huddled in a heap whimpering and crapping myself:cool: ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/12 "2008-09-15T19:29:26Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > With the proper lighting and against a featureless dark background, I think a jacketed bullet might be perceived as a brief gold streak or flash, but not as a distinct bullet. I doubt it. Using interconnected series of tubes’ estimate of 0.003, I don’t think you’d see anything. We learned in school that the eye “takes pictures” at 0.1 second intervals. Even if that’s a rough/over-simplified number, it’s far from 0.003. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/13 "2008-09-15T19:40:27Z")
I remember reading a column by Mas Ayoob in a gun magazine in the early 90’s where he described Winchester Silver Tip 9mm bullets perceived by witnesses and participants as leaving a tracer-like streak from reflected light during some police shooting incident or another. The circumstances involved shooting at night with high intensity directional illumination from automobile headlights. I think it’s possible to replicate that and be able to see a conventional jacketed bullet. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/14 "2008-09-15T19:56:39Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I doubt it. Using interconnected series of tubes’ estimate of 0.003, I don’t think you’d see anything. We learned in school that the eye “takes pictures” at 0.1 second intervals. Even if that’s a rough/over-simplified number, it’s far from 0.003. Clearly incorrect. One can easily see the flash from a camera strobe, and those can have flashes as short as 1/50,000 second (.00002 seconds). So, a brightly lit bullet streaking in front of a dark background should be visible. As others have mentioned, I have personally seen by bullets streaking downrange at an indoor range. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/15 "2008-09-15T20:31:50Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Clearly incorrect. > One can easily see the flash from a camera strobe, and those can have flashes as short as 1/50,000 second (.00002 seconds). So, a brightly lit bullet streaking in front of a dark background should be visible. As others have mentioned, I have personally seen by bullets streaking downrange at an indoor range. The OP was talking about watching one pass perpendicular to one’s line of sight without seeing or hearing the source. That is much, much harder than watching a round go downrange where your line of sight is basically aligned with the trajectory and you have a visual/audible signal of when the round is fired. Somewhat OT but I’ve always been fascinated that you can see artillery rounds go downrange for quite a distance if the angle and charge are both relatively low. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/16 "2008-09-15T20:33:28Z")
I was at an open gun range during the day and was standing off to the side. A shooter was firing a .45 caliber pistol and I could see the bullet pass by. I certainly couldn’t track it but it was evident that I was seeing the bullet. Same range, same time, I never saw anything from any gun of a different caliber. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/17 "2008-09-15T20:34:14Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > The OP was talking about watching one pass perpendicular to one’s line of sight without seeing or hearing the source. That is much, much harder than watching a round go downrange where your line of sight is basically aligned with the trajectory and you have a visual/audible signal of when the round is fired. > > Somewhat OT but I’ve always been fascinated that you can see artillery rounds go downrange for quite a distance if the angle and charge are both relatively low. I read the OP. In the right lighting conditions, it think one could see a bullet streak by with no problem. (Might be hard to see a foot in front of your face, but your would sure hear it.) ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/18 "2008-09-15T20:53:39Z")
I’m not questioning anybody’s testimony, here - but everybody describing having seen bullets in flight are doing so at an oblique angle (a gun range, where everybody is presumably shooting in the same direction) with a known trajectory. Additionally the stimulus of sound (which is received and processed faster than vision), full view of the gun being fired and accompanying flash/smoke all lend themselves towards watching a round travel _because you know where’s it’s going to go, and when it was fired._ I would venture it nearly impossible, once isolated from all those factors, to detect a bullet’s traverse of your field of view. You’re not going to have your eyes focused properly, for starters. It could be possible to momentarily detect a reflection of strong light off the round, perhaps, but that’s different than seeing “a fired bullet pass” in front of you. Even paintballs, which are .68 caliber, travel at a maximum of 300 fps (and generally closer to 220-260 when it reaches you) and are brightly pigmented barely register as blurred flashes of color when moving laterally across you. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/19 "2008-09-15T20:57:53Z")
> [@](#): > > It could be possible to momentarily detect a reflection of strong light off the round, perhaps, but that’s different than seeing “a fired bullet pass” in front of you. Now you’re redefining the terms of the question to support the conclusion you reached earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687/20 "2008-09-15T21:40:54Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Now you’re redefining the terms of the question to support the conclusion you reached earlier. If you like. The OP specifically asked whether you’d see “something go by,” it’s really up to you whether you consider a single reflection as it passes satisfactory for the criteria mentioned. I’m still highly skeptical that anybody’s going to see something pass at a 90\* deflection. Or not - whatever - I don’t have an axe to grind in this fight. Maybe you could produce more concrete information than what you _think_ might happen, or something you read in this column once upon a time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-one-see-a-fired-bullet-pass-in-front-of-their-eyes/463687.md?page=2)