# Which gun goes "bang"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423 "2009-11-30T02:55:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cat\_In\_A\_Top\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Cat\_In\_A\_Top\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_In_A_Top_Hat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/1 "2009-11-30T02:55:53Z")
Yahtzee asked this question at the end of the most recent Zero Punctuation review [(the one on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2)](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1118-Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare-2), and I’m curious if those of you out there who know guns know the answer: Which gun out there makes a sound, when fired, that most closely approximates the word “Bang”? Or is there a gun that does that? I’ve heard “boom”, “pfft”, and a couple other onomatopoeia, but i’ve yet to run across a clear “bang”. Thoughts, oh ye gun-wise dopers? Thankee, –CiaTH ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/2 "2009-11-30T03:02:57Z")
You’ve heard a gun make a noise that approximates the word “boom”? ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/3 "2009-11-30T04:16:24Z")
[The model 1922 Bang rifle.](http://www.nps.gov/spar/historyculture/exper-semi-auto-rifles-1919-31.htm)? Seriously, if memory serves me right, the 7.62 rifles in my Army days had more of a very loud “Knack” sound rather than a proper “Bang”. I’ve forgotten earplugs once (just once) when standing 50 feet from an 84 mm Carl Gustav. “Boom” covers it. Well, that and 3 days of ringing ears. The closest to “Bang” seems to be a 9mm SMG firing a single round, IME. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/4 "2009-11-30T05:41:22Z")
I would guess one of the higher powered, piston operated air rifles. There’s an aspirated "B’ sound as the cylinder empties, followed rapidly by a distinct “clang” of the piston hitting the stops. It always sounds like a “bang” to me. As others have noted, actual firearms tend to make sounds ranging from a “pop” (22 short) to a “crack” (22 LR and most 5.56) through to a “boom” (most larger calibres). ---
**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:** [November 30, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/5 "2009-11-30T05:45:50Z")
Most of the .303 rifles make a sound that’s pretty close to “BANG!” when fired, IME. ---
**Author:** ![kaiwik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaiwik/32/3978_2.png) [@kaiwik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaiwik)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/6 "2009-11-30T05:50:20Z")
The guys in the kitchen opine it is a .38 Special. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/7 "2009-11-30T14:01:25Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > You’ve heard a gun make a noise that approximates the word “boom”? Muskets? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/8 "2009-11-30T14:04:21Z")
Any gun fired indoors (especially if you don’t have hearing protection) will go bang, sort of like a firecracker exploded 2 inches from your ear. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/9 "2009-11-30T14:52:21Z")
Everything I’ve ever shot went more like “crack!” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/10 "2009-11-30T15:12:20Z")
[This one, of course](http://shop.wizardschest.com/prodimg/701078.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/11 "2009-11-30T16:18:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [This one, of course](http://shop.wizardschest.com/prodimg/701078.jpg) That took a good seven posts more than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/12 "2009-11-30T16:27:29Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > You’ve heard a gun make a noise that approximates the word “boom”? Someone already provided part but smoothbore muskets make a sound very close to “boom” with a standard service load - say 75 grains of FFg and a .725 roundball in the case of the Brown Bess. “Bang” I relate more to some of the early smokeless/blackpowder cross-over loads like the .45-70 or .44-40. In smokeless that sound is more a bang than a boom without the “crack” of something like an .30-06 ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/13 "2009-11-30T17:49:09Z")
I’d think you’d get more of a “bang” from subsonic rounds, that “crack” is going to be characteristic of supersonic projectile speeds. My shotgun goes “Thoom!” when I’m loaded with #8 light target. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/14 "2009-11-30T18:00:33Z")
I thought Bang and Boom were just words. Kinda like how a rooster never really makes anything close to “Cocka-doodle-doo” and frogs don’t really go “ribbet”. Different languages have different words for noises. What English speakers label a noise is different than what the same noise is called in another languange. In Korea, guns go “Tong, Tong” not “Bang, Bang”. I can’t say that any gun actually sounds like “Bang” more than “Boom” or vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/15 "2009-11-30T19:14:19Z")
1911 springfield arms 45 cal sounds like bang to me, when fired indoors. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-gun-goes-bang/519423/16 "2009-11-30T20:28:29Z")
My dog says “bark”.