The first time I fired my ex-father-in-law’s desert eagle I was impressed at how quiet it was compared to the kick (there was no BANG, just a sort of dull thud), until I realized that everything else was now quiet as well. My hearing returned to normal a few minutes later but, damn, that was loud. I had a .380 and a .25 that I used to plink around with and the .25 was almost quiet enough on it’s own to hear the action (either that or the action was abnormally loud, it was a pretty cheap and crappy piece).
I would second the idea of finding a local gun shop with a range that will let you test different calipers/suppressors. Not only would the research be well worth the cost and effort of finding the range and buying the ammo, it would be fun research as well. Don’s Guns in Indianapolis will rent whatever you want to fire and sell you as much ammo as you need to have a good time. Suppressors, full-auto, whatever you wish. Maybe there’s something like this in your area.
Why does your protagonist need to fake a suicide with a silenced weapon? Why not simply shoot the target with an non-silenced weapon and walk away - after all, the gun is going to get found, as is the guy?
Don’t forget one basic rule, as well - one shot is usually ignored, as most people simply won’t believe a gun is being fired and will chalk it up to lots of things - dropped pan, car backfire, whatever. Multiple shots is gunplay - it’s kinda hard to dismiss so easily.
So I’d recommend for the point of your story to ditch the silencer and simply have your target whacked with a single close-range shot to the head then have the bad guys put the gun into his hand and simply walk away.
All of these common and standard cartridges come in well below the speed of sound at 1130fps.
I don’t know where those who say subsonic cartridges are uncommon are getting their information but it is apparently wrong. Two of the most common shells (the S&W .38 and the Colt .45) are both subsonic and I can guarantee that, combined, they make up more than their fair share of handgun ammo sales.
Just in case you are lumping me in with the fubaya crowd, all I was pointing out was that the statement “Handgun ammo is usually subsonic.” is false. It is not usually subsonic. Some are, some aren’t. If one is told only that a particular round is a handgun cartridge, one couldn’t make any assumptions with respect to its velocity.
Saying “Cars are usually gaseoline powered,” is true. Saying “pistol rounds are usually subsonic” is not true.
No, I just picked some calibers that sounded fairly common. For citable commonality here is the ATF list of top 10 guns used in a crime in 2000. 9 of these are handguns, all but the 357 are on my list (note the .357 ranks below the top 5, my list was only 5). Projectile speed is listed next to each gun as reference; note that I added the speeds, they were not on the original list from Time.
Smith and Wesson .38 revolver – 767 fps
Ruger 9 mm semiautomatic – 1000 fps
Lorcin Engineering .380 semiautomatic – 1000 fps
Raven Arms .25 semiautomatic – 760 fps
Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun – not a handgun
Smith and Wesson 9mm semiautomatic – 1000 fps
Smith and Wesson .357 revolver – 1410 fps
Bryco Arms 9mm semiautomatic – 1000 fps
Bryco Arms .380 semiautomatic – 1000 fps
Davis Industries .380 semiautomatic – 1000 fps
So really only one out of nine of the most common firearms used in crimes is supersonic, the other 8 are subsonic. I figure the odds of running into a subsonic firearm would be 8:9 or 88.9% based on this list. Granted, there are higher load/lighter projectile carts available for some of these (especially the 9mm) but the speed listed seems to be the most common per the Wiki pages I referenced earlier.
At 88.9% I think “Usually subsonic” is as applicable to handguns as “Usually gasoline” is to automobiles, although “Often” would probably be better in both cases.
Sidenote - the Davis .380 is the gun referenced in my earlier posts, I don’t remember what the .25 was but I don’t think it was a Raven Arms. Whatever it was, it was on sale at Don’s Guns for $9.00 with the purchase of another firearm. I picked both of them up in 1993 for $200 US.
I can say that some folks shooting near me at a local shooting range once fired a silenced gun. I believe it was a .45, but I’m not certain. Anyway, relevant information to this discussion:[ul]
[li]the silencer was very large, almost as big as a 2-liter Coke bottle;[/li][li]the sound it made was substantially less than an unsilenced shot, but still not at all silent. It made a loud “WHUMP”, like hitting a pillow with a sledgehammer.[/li][/ul]
On the other issue, I’ve just noticed that, although it appears from what’s been posted that the most popular pistol cartridges are subsonic, the only stuff I own and shoot is supersonic. That’d be a .40 S&W (usually shoot 155gr, which is 1275 fps) and .357 SIG (125gr, 1475 fps, and loud as the dickens). I thought the .40 S&W was more popular; it seems popular with cops, anyway.
Well I will just point out that the most common firearms used in crimes are by no means the most common or most popular pistols or calibers. I mean c’mon… Lorcen?? Raven Arms?
The pistols on that list are simply a Who’s Who of the cheapest crap out on the streets. Typical 9mm rounds are supersonic. Usually they are 115 or 124 grain bullets traveling at around 1200 fps. Anyone who intends to actually use his pistol for something other than shooting paper–and who is not a gang banger with a 100 dollar pistol and whatever ammo was in it when it was stolen–will be using +P or +P+ rounds upward in the 1400 fps range.
Anyone who’s ever worked at a gun range (like myself) will tell you that 1200 fps is pretty typical of the 9mm pistols and ammunition that most Americans use.
9mm is not usually subsonic. It is generally considered a supersonic cartridge–though subsonic is available.
Without doing any research whatsoever (except for glancing in my safe and realizing I’m a snob), I’d say the “most common” handgun rounds in the US would be .22, .45acp and 9mm (recently replacing .38/.357), so with the bigger calibers there’s a 50/50 sub/supersonic. I don’t think 10 or .40 really took off like they were hoping, and the sub .38 stuff just isn’t that popular among enthusiasts. I admit that I have no idea what criminals prefer, but the assorted gun boards rarely have .380 vs. 9mm Makarov threads, nor .25 vs .32 (although it’s certainly a non-zero number of them).
AFAIK, the laws on suppressors are the same for .22 as they are for .223. .22’s may come with threaded barrels occasionally just because they are so good to suppress. Anyone that’s shot a handgun indoors (even a .22) would appreciate a reduction in sound. It seems to me that the Walther P22 is currently the favorite destination for suppressors due to it’s interchangeability. I may be biased, having a P22 myself, and I sure wouldn’t want to mess up the barrel of my Ruger MkI or any other highly accurate pistol that lacks easily interchangeable barrels.
A couple hundred bucks, a visit with the Sheriff, a mountain of paperwork, plenty of time waiting, and living in the right state will get you a legal suppressor of your very own to experiment with.
I guess it’s for alibi. Off the rich uncle using silencer, plant gun without silencer, put tape with nothing recorded sans loud BANG at 10:00 and merrily join rest of cast partying downstairs. Then, ten minutes later after gunshot sound coming from uncles’ study upstairs run with everybody and, when everybody is crying ‘oh my god, he shot himself’ discreetly turn off tape recorder behind their backs…
Well, of my handguns, the only one that fires supersonic ammunition is my .22LR revolver (6" Taurus Tracker), but that’s mainly because I’m a big fan of .45.
I’m planning on picking up a 9mm and a .357 in the near future, though, so I guess that won’t hold for long.
My wife is not a gun person at all. She doesn’t like playing with them, or going shooting when I go out back in the fields with friends…One day my BIL was in town and he had his supressor for his Sig. 40 and P32. She thought we were shooting my bb gun. She walked right up to us to say hello I handed her the P32 supressed and she fired off a couple rounds before looking at it and looking at us saying, "That’s not a BB-GUN it was funny stuff. i.e the supressors are very quiet like others have said .
Thanks for pointing that out. I may just address it by building up as many factors as possible in favor of suicide so that the authorities will be more inclined to ignore/dismiss the ones that point away from it. But it’s certainly something to keep in mind!
Trust me, there’s a good reason. It’s not the kind of mystery you’re assuming it is, so it’s necessary.
it was funny stuff. i.e the supressors are very quiet like others have said .