History Main / YouAlwaysHearTheBullet

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare'' itself has a justified example. When Al-Fulani is executed, the scene cuts to black with the gunshot echoing; in this specific case this ''is'' possible, because the shot is point blank.

* Justified in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare''. When Al-Fulani is executed, the scene cuts to black with the gunshot echoing; in this specific case this ''is'' possible, because the shot is point blank.

* Nicely averted in an early episode of ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'', in which a villain is killed by a sniper while dining. The first indication of the shot is a glass shattering and a hiss sound. Everybody in the retaurant looks around in confusion for a beat before we see the victim with a hole in his face, and then the hole in the window, and the sniper a block away.

* Averted in the 1972 Clint Eastwood film ''Fim/JoeKidd'': when Kidd and a band of Mexican revolutionaries come under fire at extreme range by a sniper using a scoped buffalo rifle the sequence is shown in proper order (muzzle smoke - bullet sound - gunshot) reflecting the relative speeds (light, bullet, sound) involved.

* Averted in the 1972 Clint Eastwood film ''Joe Kidd'': when Kidd and a band of Mexican revolutionaries come under fire at extreme range by a sniper using a scoped buffalo rifle the sequence is shown in proper order (muzzle smoke - bullet sound - gunshot) reflecting the relative speeds (light, bullet, sound) involved.

--->'''Grimes:''' Why aren't you shooting?
--->'''Waddell:''' We're not being shot at yet.
--->'''Grimes:''' How can you tell?
--->'''Waddell:''' A hiss means it's close, a snap means-
--->*SNAP*
--->'''Waddell:''' Now they're shooting at us!

* Outrider's standard victory taunt in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps3'' mentions this - "One shot, one kill. Won't even hear it coming." The ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series otherwise plays this straight, however, where there is no sound traveling. If you're far away enough from someone that you can't hear their shots exactly when they're fired, you're not ''going'' to hear the bullets until the killcam shows you your death from their perspective (and that's assuming you're also not far enough that [[ArbitraryMaximumRange their bullets won't disappear mid-flight]], although unless they're using a [[ShortRangeShotgun shotgun]] that's generally rare in most maps).

* Averted in, of all things, ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''. [[http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a2505951ecafa5d011ecbd5fe8d00b5 Poor, poor Fumbles...]]

** In particularly bad examples, the gunshot will be accompanied by a ricochet sound, even when there is nothing for the bullet to ricochet off of. This has been frequently used in {{Bollywood}} and various [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherwoods Otherwood]] productions, to a point where many grow up thinking bullets ricochet when just fired from guns.

** In particularly bad examples, the gunshot will be accompanied by a ricochet sound, even when there is nothing for the bullet to ricochet off of. This has been frequently used in {{Bollywood}} and various [[TheOtherwoods Otherwood]] productions, to a point where many grow up thinking bullets ricochet when just fired from guns.

* Played Straight [[DependingOnTheWriter most of the time]] in the play by post RP SurvivalOfTheFittest.

* In PokeWars Dawn of a New Era, Dawn kills three Fearow with long range shots. It is explicitly stated that the sonic booms came after the fatal shots.

* Also averted in ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Battlefield 2]]''. Tested with an M82 .50cal AMR from somewhat 400m away. The bullet impacted half a second before the shot was heard. The bullet's initial speed was set to about 850m/s.

* Averted in, of all things, Robot Chicken. [[http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a2505951ecafa5d011ecbd5fe8d00b5 Poor, poor Fumbles...]]

* Despite what many people here think, not all bullets are supersonic. A .45 ACP (used in the Colt M1911 and the Thompson, among many others) is significantly slower. Even within a caliber, different manufacturers produce different loads. Special ammunition to fire bullets below the speed of sound are not uncommon; certain 9mm rounds are designed for subsonic speed, and are commonly used with silenced weapons. In short, some guns, especially older ones and handguns, will actually follow this trope.
** Of course, such subsonic rounds or firearms are often especially kept subsonic for use with a suppressor, meaning that there's almost no noise to go by (guns specifically chosen for their ability to perform quietly can actually get reasonably close to being a HollywoodSilencer). There's also the issue that while the rounds may not be supersonic, they still travel at a high subsonic speed; so while the sound may get to you before the bullet, it usually beats it to the mark by margin shorter than the human reaction time. Essentially, while this trope would be technically correct under such cases, its still of no real practical use.
* For clarification: the reason why subsonic bullets are used in silenced weapons is that supersonic bullets produce a quite significant sonic boom while travelling. No suppressor on earth do a thing about quieting that if it's already happened - the best one can do is restricting the velocity of the bullet before it leaves the barrel, so it never goes supersonic in the first place.

* For clarification: the reason why subsonic bullets are used in silenced weapons is that supersonic bullets produce a quite significant sonic boom while travelling.

* [[IncrediblyLamePun Soundly]] averted in the tactical first-person shooter game ''OperationFlashpoint'', in which sound travel time is simulated, so it's entirely possible to be killed by a bullet before the report of the rifle that fired it reaches you. All other sounds follow the same rules, so if a huge explosion takes place a few kilometers away from, the sound reaches you several seconds later.

* Also averted in ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Battlefield 2]]'' . Tested with an M82 .50cal AMR from somewhat 400m away. The bullet impacted half a second before the shot is heard. The bullet's initial speed was set to about 850m/s...
* Speaking of the Barrett, this is also averted in one portion of ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare3'' - at one point halfway through, you are treated to a flashback to ''Call of Duty 4'', specifically the mission where the player as Captain Price shot at Zakhaev from a mile away, with the player now viewing from someone who was within the target area. If you pay attention to the hotel, you can see the muzzle flash from Price's rifle a full three seconds before Zakhaev's arm flies off, followed about half a second later by the actual firing sound.
* ''Arma 2'' and its famous mod, ''Day Z''.

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* Intensely averted in the final episode of ''Series/TheSopranos''.
* A noted early episode of ''[[Series/{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'' called "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet" has an old friend of Hawkeye writing a book from the soldier's perspective, which he will call "You Never Hear the Bullet." When he later is shot and the bullet turns out not an [[InstantDeathBullet Instant Death one]], he tells Hawkeye with some irony, "I heard the bullet," and then dies, leaving Hawkeye shattered. This episode is noteworthy as being the first in the series to examine the serious consequences of war (and in a much less [[{{Anvilicious}} heavy-handed way]] than would be commonplace in later years).

* Quite deliberately averted in the ''DresdenFiles''. Kincaid once stated that if he wanted to kill Dresden, he'd use a supersonic round from a sniper rifle to do it, so that Dresden would die before he heard the bullet and realized he needed to ready a death curse. At the end of ''Changes'', [[spoiler: Dresden is shot and killed by a supersonic sniper bullet]].

** In particularly bad examples, the gunshot will be accompanied by a ricochet sound, even when there is nothing for the bullet to ricochet off of.

* Speaking of the Barrett, this is also averted in one portion of ''ModernWarfare 3'' - at one point halfway through, you are treated to a flashback to ''Call of Duty 4'', specifically the mission where the player as Captain Price shot at Zakhaev from a mile away, with the player now viewing from someone who was within the target area. If you pay attention to the hotel, you can see the muzzle flash from Price's rifle a full three seconds before Zakhaev's arm flies off, followed about half a second later by the actual firing sound.

* Nicely averted in an early episode of ''BoardwalkEmpire'', in which a villain is killed by a sniper while dining. The first indication of the shot is a glass shattering and a hiss sound. Everybody in the retaurant looks around in confusion for a beat before we see the victim with a hole in his face, and then the hole in the window, and the sniper a block away.

** True. Also, despite this trope's name, ''hearing the bullet traveling through the air'' and ''hearing the report of the gun that fired it'' are two different things. In reality you do hear bullets "whiz by" when they pass nearby, even if the sound of the actual gunshot hasn't reached you yet. As two characters said in ''BlackHawkDown'':
--->Grimes: Why aren't you shooting?
--->Waddell: We're not being shot at yet.
--->Grimes: How can you tell?
--->Waddell: A hiss means it's close, a snap means-

--->Waddell: Now they're shooting at us!

** Of course, such subsonic rounds or firearms are often especially kept subsonic for use with a silencer, meaning that theres almost no noise to go by (guns specifically chosen for their ability to preform quietly can actually get reasonably close to being a HollywoodSilencer). There's also the issue that while the rounds may not be supersonic, they still travel at a high subsonic speed; so while the sound may get to you before the bullet, it usually beats it to the mark by margin shorter than the human reaction time. Essentially, while this trope would be technically correct under such cases, its still of no real practical use.

* Averted in the first ''BrothersInArms'' game when [[spoiler: a soldier is shot in the head by a sniper while the squad is resting at the top of a church.]] The soldier's head simply blows open and he falls from the roof, with the distant sound of a gunshot following shortly after.

* Followed faithfully in ''Webcomic/CuantaVida'', a VideoGame/TeamFortress2 fancomic, to such a degree that even bladed weapons have a visible sound effect whenever employed. The only exception is the one story turnpoint shot.

* Averted in TheKillingJoke. The shot that paralyzes Barbara Gordon has no sound effect. It is never heard (although that's an artefact of the SignatureStyle of AlanMoore, which does away with onomatopoeia.)