• Liome@pawb.social
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    10 months ago

    I just realized, that as a European, I never even heard an actual gunshot.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      As an American, how do y’all know to up the intensity on your cardio then? Nothing gets the blood pumping like being out on a bike ride and hearing that crack

      • DearOldGrandma@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        They do. In fact, guns were initially invented by modifying fireworks. Obviously some guns and some fireworks are very distinctive, but generally they sound very similar

        • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          I would assume they sound similar because they both use quantities of what is commonly referred to as “gun powder” as an accelerant. Aka "black powder, aka saltpeter+sulfur+charcoal.

          It’s just a highly combustible material combined with an oxidizer… Same as per much anything we burn, just in powder form. Give it a spark and kaboom!

          I’m pretty sure that’s very similar in nature to TNT, though different chemicals are used in a different process. Black powder is really very simple by comparison. The big thing with TNT is that there’s quite a lot of it in a single tube of the explosive. With black powder, it’s simply combining the dry ingredients carefully, until thoroughly mixed, not dissimilar to how you would mix flour, sugar, and baking powder to make a cake… Though, if your cake explodes, you probably did it wrong.

          Volatile substances are fascinating!

          • throwwyacc@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Fun fact for you. Modern firearms haven’t used black powder for a very long time, that’s why when people fire rifles you don’t see huge clouds of smoke

            There are also many kinds of gunpowder, rifles use different powders to say shotguns or pistols. Although often times shotgun and pistol ammunition uses the same class of powder (slower burn rate iirc)

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        When I was in Basic Training, one guy quoted a movie constantly; and the relevant line was like “IT MAKES A DISTINCTIVE SOUND.”

        I’m surprised that many Europeans don’t have compulsory service in their ‘gap’ year.

    • wieson@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I do occasionally hear gun shots, but it’s a hunter getting s wild boar or something.

    • DessertStorms@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Out in the country in the UK you definitely hear them, the only reason the meme wouldn’t apply here is because there would never be shooting at night so I wouldn’t confuse it with fireworks, instead they start really early on both Saturday and Sunday mornings (there is a place within earshot that does clay pigeon shooting and I’m pretty sure hunting too, most weekends). I hate it.

      • Damage
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        10 months ago

        You have to go to the woods for that

          • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            I didn’t say it didn’t exist. It’s just that here in North America, it’s actually difficult to find a place that you won’t hear gunshots at all, unless you move 50 to 100 miles into the middle of nowhere in the large western states.

    • pelletbucket@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      The funniest thing is watching British footage of people using guns to commit crimes because it’s almost always grandad’s Webley service revolver