silencers on firearms

Factual Questions
1

When I was a kid, growing up in the 1960s, (I’m 43 now), the original James
Bond movies were popular. My father took me to see a couple of them, “You
Only Live Twice,” and “Goldfinger.” Being a young boy, I was certainly
impressed with the action and technology that was presented in these films.
My question is about the “silencers” that were used on the guns in these
movies. My pre-teen classmates, who were also impressed by the Bond flicks,
and I, would run around pretending to shoot each other, doing our best vocal
imitation of the silenced pistols that we had seen/heard. The sound was that
really cool, “foomph!” sound.
So, is there really such a thing as a “silencer?” I’m proud to say, that I
am anti-gun/handgun, and really know very little about how they work. I
understand that a hammer on the gun hits the shell, somehow ignites gunpowder
that explodes and blasts the bullet down the barrel. Maybe there’s not much
more to it than that. But where does the “bang” come from? Out the back end
of the gun, or out of the front/barrel? Or does the bang just reverberate
throughout the whole mechanism?

The silencer in the movies looked like some kind of extension to the barrel.
One of my childhood classmates said, “oh yeah, there are silencers, but they
slow down the bullet a lot.” Is this true also? And if so, would the shot
still be powerful enough to do the job, so to speak? And just how loud is
that “foomph” noise? Thanks. >>
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2

Welcome to the board, Lord, check out this thread, which answers your questions.

As an aside, it’s a good idea to educate yourself about firearms before making up your mind regarding your political beliefs.

3

Sound supressors are real but most aren’t as quiet as the “pfft” sound in the movies with any caliber bigger than .22 rimfire. A supresses .22 can be as quiet as the mechanical operation of the gun. I’ve heard some 9mm submachine guns and handguns fired with a supressor and the sound isn’t hollywood quiet, but quiet enough to not require hearing protection.

There are two sources of the “Bang.” The report is from the expanding gas coming out of the muzzle after the bullet. If the bullet is going faster than the speed of sound, in the neighborhood of 1,100 feet per second, it will make a sonic boom, a very sharp crack. A sound supressor can’t do anything about the sonic boom.

Revolvers have another source of sound, the small gap between the cylinder and barrel, usually around .008" A supressor won’t quiet that sound.

Supressors work like the muffler in a car, providing a place for gas to expand and for the sound to be diffused. The actual mechanics vary with some being filled with grease and some using consumable wipers that actually touch the bullet as it passes. Most better designs don’t touch the bullet so they have no effect on accuracy or velocity.

If you want I’ll dig up some links of various commercial supressor makers. Supressors aren’t illegal per se but have been heavily regulated since the 1934 national firearms act that also regulated things like machine guns, short barreled shotguns etc. To legally own a supressor one must pass an rgorous FBI background check and pay a $200 tranfer tax.

4

Thank you, friedo, and Padeye,

I didn’t expect to get responses and answers that quickly! Friedo, thanks for directing me to that in-depth thread. Sorry, I should have searched the threads first, but I’m new to the board. And thanks Padeye for your further explaination. I look forward to learning, and perhaps posting more here in the future.

Lord Ickenham

5

No problem, Lord! :slight_smile:

You seem like a pretty cool dude. I hope you stick around.

6

De nada Lord_Ickenham. Welcome to the SDMB.

7

I can vouch for the fact that guns do not sound the same live as they do on TV or in the movies.

I happened to be watching the tube late one night when someone decided to fire an Uzi not more than 100 yards from my open window. I certainly heard it, but at the time I thought it was nothing more than firecrackers being lit, and consequently never reported it.

It seems that the entertainment industry has a tendency to amplify the sound of an “unsilenced” weapon, while at the same time, exagerating the effects of a silencer.

8

Not long ago, when I went to a local shooting range, some folks near me fired a gun with a silencer attached. The silencer did greatly muffle the sound, but it was most certainly still loud enough to attract attention. Silencers aren’t exactly “stealth” articles; don’t expect to shoot someone in a crowd unnoticed or anything.

9

There is nothing quite like someone who is proud of their ignorance.

At least you have no pretensions about actually having anything to add.

10

Now, now, Freedom, let’s not cap’em 'til we see the whites in their eyes… :smiley:

11

I was going to add my two cents, but this statement left me “uninspired.”

12

Without going much further, I would guess being “anti-gun” means that his Lordship is against ownership by private citizens as opposed to being against the machines themselves. There are lots of things I like to read about, but wouldn’t want to own or have happen.

HOWEVER, my understanding of the real-life use of silencers is that they are properly called “supressors” in that they only (as was pointed out) supress the sound, as opposed to silencing it altogether. I reckon this is why the thing on your car is a “muffler” instead of a “silencer”: it muffles the sound. (Unless you’re the jerk across the street from me with the equivalent of an exhaust megaphone, who warms up his car etensively when I need to sleep. I may resort to testing firearms supressors on him.)

Anyhow, slightly off this track but still of considerable technical interest is a small bit in the current American Rifleman magazine. A reader wrote in and asked about underwater guns made by the Soviets. There is both a pistol and an assault rifle (or sorts), made for the Spetsnaz (Soviet super-special forces). Apparently, they were intended for use against swimmers and divers. The article included a picture of the pistol but not the assault rifle. The pistol has 4 barrels, and the “bullets” are long things that look like knitting needles sticking out of rifle casings. They are stabilized by cavitation instead of rifling as in a regular gun. The range is around 100 feet, depending on water depth (=density). Weird!

13
      • If you’ve ever heard them, the gun noises used in the PC game Rainbow Six are pretty close to reality; your computer just don’t play 'em nearly loud enough. -And it sounds different if you’re firing the gun, or not. The Rainbow Six sounds are like you’re firing the gun. - MC
14

Just a reminder, all: Discussions of why a person is or is not opposed to guns, or why they should or should not be, belong in Great Debates, not in General Questions. Stick to the question, or don’t say anything.

15

It intrigues me that so many of you are claiming that the suppressors you’ve used or seen do not silence all the noise. I can only come to two conclusions:

1)These are not actually silencers but instead are ‘fake silencers’ sold mostly at gun shows and bought mostly by little peice_of_shits who think the “look cool”. They don’t look cool, and they don’t make you look cool for having them. The same goes for the crappy velcroed-on laser hanging from your trigger guard! geees :rolleyes:

or
2)It’s a real silencer, but it’s just shitty. Or maybe the loud noise you are hearing is just the supersonic ammo. ??
Just the other day I was shooting several fully suppressed HK subguns and the only two sounds we heard was the bolt moving and the bullet hitting the back stop. And this is an INDOOR range with no hearing protection. Also, these guns are designed to vent some of the gasses so that any round fired through them is automatically subsonic. Get a decent firearm and a decent supressor and it will actually SILENCE the weapon!! Trust me, if we were shooting 800 rounds a minute and heard nothing… the things work!
I would like to add that hollywood silencers make some kind of high pitch “pmfh” noise. I have yet to ever hear something like that in real life.

16

[good natured sarcasm]If you’re going to be that way about it Bear_Nenno, I’ll just take my Lorcin .380 with the 16oz Sprite bottle duct taped to the muzzle and classroom laser pointer super glued to the frame and go home! Velcro indeed. Hmph![/good natured sarcasm]

Disclaimer: I do not and will not own a crappy weapon as described above or any illegal items.

Was that the fully integrated suppressor Bear? I haven’t had a chance to hear one fired, just an add-on suppressor on a standard MP5K and a Beretta 9mm. I never said the noise was loud as gunfire goes, but louder than the hollywood version.

I don’t have much use for a suppressed centerfire but have been considering a suppressed barrel for a Buckmark. Might be useful for plinking where safety allows but noise otherwise doesn’t. Any suggestions?

17

You’re not going to get total with any screw-on silencer, but there have been integral silencers made that are almost completely silenced. Case in point: the De Lisle silent carbine. Specifically designed with silence in mind, bolt-action (user controls bolt noise), firing .45 ACP (subsonic). If it isn’t silent, it’s close enough. NB, they use ‘silent’ in the name, not ‘suppressed.’

18

“It seems that the entertainment industry has a tendency to amplify the sound of an ‘unsilenced’ weapon, while at the same time, exagerating the effects of a silencer.”

Try shooting a few rounds of .45 ACP without ear protection and you’ll see how much Hollywood exaggerates the sound. Ouch!

19

Can’t think of a silencer for a Buckmark off the top of my head, but if you are looking for a great a Ruger 10/22 or MK4 or MK6 with an integrated silencer, go to http://www.serbu.com! This guy works locally here in Tampa. I don’t think he is currently taking orders for the .22s because he is so busy making his super short 12GA Mossbergs with 6.5" barrel (I know!!! I will be buying one soon!!!) Keep checking back there, though.
You can here the gun being fired with the silencer at
http://www.serbu.com/sirispg.htm

I don’t think you can even get an idea through computer speakers though…