Most common bullets travel roughly between 600 and 2,000 mph, depending on the type of gun and ammunition. Very fast rifle rounds can approach or slightly exceed about 2,700 mph at the muzzle.

Typical speed ranges

• Handgun bullets are usually in the hundreds of mph, roughly around 600–1,400 mph (for example, a typical 9 mm or .45 ACP).

• Common rifle bullets are much faster, often around 1,800–2,700 mph at the muzzle (such as .223 Remington/5.56 NATO or similar rounds).

Simple rule of thumb

• A rough “average bullet” speed is often quoted around 1,700 mph, but this varies a lot with caliber, barrel length, and load.

• To convert from feet per second to mph, multiply fps by about 0.682 (since 1 mph ≈ 1.4667 fps).