Silencers are NOT silent! This statement was even confirmed by the inventor of the firearm silencer in an ad from back in the early 1900s (it's hard to find but it's there).
My first experience with a suppressed 9mm pistol outdoors was disappointing. The report was disappointingly loud even with the Wolfman in the full size configuration. While I was using 124 grain NATO spec ammo from a 5 inch barrel, even subsonic ammunition has proved to be fairly loud. While neither tests left my ears ringing, the sound was no where near what I would call as quiet. It's not quiet enough that I could shoot in the back yard without the neighbors hearing it. Like I said, disappointing.
In an attempt to achieve the quietest possible shooting, I have resorted to testing the Wolfman on different weapons using different ammo. From longer 9mm barrels and heavy weight bullets up to 158 grain to 300 blk subsonic to bolt action rifles in 22 LR, I have found no configuration of ammo and weapon that really satisfied the idea of a powerful, silent weapon. This has everything to do with physics.
I've come to conclude that there are three factors to suppressed weapons; you can have a quiet gun, a powerful gun or a small gun but you cannot have all three.
Allow me elaborate. One of the quietest configurations I've been able to put together so far is my CZ 457 Scout with a suppressor and using Aguila Super Colibri 22 LR powder-less ammo. This weapon is the quietest to my ear so far. The 16 inch barrel of the rifle gives ample time for the extra primer in the case to burn off; there is no gun powder, only primer. The suppressor captures any excess gas exiting the barrel and the tiny, pointed, .22 caliber, 20 grain bullet moving around 600 fps makes very little noise while moving through the air. The whole event is probably about as loud as a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun but generates about the same kinetic energy as my break action pellet rifle. I calculate that the configuration only generates around 15 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. For comparison, a small, 3 inch barrel 9mm pistol should generate around 290 ft lbs of energy with normal pressure ammunition.
In this configuration, the gun is quiet but it's neither powerful or small enough to conceal. Not exactly the sneaky assassin's super silent pistol portrayed in movies now is it?
A weapon more congruent with James Bond's 'Hollywood' silent Walther PPK is my M&P Shield with the Wolfman in the short configuration, or K config. I think this gun and suppressor combo looks pretty sharp. This is the sort of setup that politicians are trying to scare people that thugs and assassins will be running around killing people with.
Even with the 158 grain PPU subsonic ammunition, my would be James Bond gun is still very loud. That's pretty disappointing because now we have a small concealable package and a fairly powerful weapon but it's not very quiet. The full size suppressor configuration isn't that much better.
Maybe that configuration is a little too powerful and therefore loud? Remember, the more gun powder you have, the louder the suppressed gun shot will be. Since the .22 was pretty quiet, what if we sacrifice power for a smaller different caliber than 9mm but put it in a smaller package than the rifle like above? Well, lets go back to the .22 idea. I have a Ruger MKIII with a 6 inch Pac-Lite upper. The Aguila Super Colibri rounds are pretty quiet but very weak. They also could never hope to have enough gas pressure to cycle a semi auto pistol. So lets try using CCI's new Quiet-22 Semi-Auto loading. This loading uses a 45 grain bullet loaded to a .22 LR case with enough gun powder to operate the action of a semi automatic pistol. The result is around 800 fps.
This configuration is a little better, not nearly as concealable as James Bond's suppressed Walther PPK but at least it's fairly quiet. Overall size is around 15 inches long. Okay, so maybe that isn't concealable. Is it powerful? Well, no. The muzzle energy calculator says we're looking at around 100 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. Those numbers start to drop very quickly once you start adding distance from the muzzle.
At this point, I've established that the quietest guns I've been able to try out so far are .22 caliber firearms that when combined with a silencer are just not what anyone would reasonably call convenient to carry and aren't very powerful.
We've also established that even when combined with ammunition that should be quiet, a reasonably powerful firearm is simply not silent. One simply should not expect to assassinate a dictator in their office without the guards outside not hearing it.
Let's move on a bit. Maybe there is a configuration that might work.
The above rifle is a Marlin 1894 CST chambered for 357 Magnum. I use this rifle to hunt deer in the brush of Georgia. It is my stalking or still hunting rifle. It's really only suitable up to, at most, 100 yards for hunting deer and should really be limited to under 75 yards.
We discus this rifle because it plays a unique roll in my collection. This is the only rifle that is chambered in a center-fire cartridge that can be either supersonic or subsonic velocities and be easily suppressed. Everything else is have is technically a pistol.
When combined with standard 357 magnum loads, this rifle is capable of driving a bullet at around 1000 ft-lbs of energy. When combined with properly configured ammo (Buffalo Bore 180 grain) we can achieve around 1200 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. More than sufficient for hunting deer at shorter ranges.
This rifle, however, may be loaded with much weaker ammunition to bring those velocities down and eliminate the supersonic crack. 38 Special is typically subsonic but again, even from this rifle, the report is still quiet loud just as it was with the 9mm pistol. More than enough for the neighbors to hear it when in the back yard.
What I have found to be particularly interesting is that there are cartridges that pre-date 38 Special that 38 Special is based on. Specifically, the 38 Colt family of cartridges from the mid 1800's. These would be colloquially known as .38 Long Colt and .38 Short Colt. .38 Long Colt can be found fairly easily on the Internet. I picked up a 50 round box of Black Hills 158 grain for testing. Shooting these in an outdoor setting from this rifle has proven to be fun but they just simply are not as quiet as I want them to be. The neighbors would still definitely hear the silenced report.
I don't know what the velocity from my rifle is but the advertised velocity is around 650 feet per second. This puts our muzzle energy around 148 ft-lbs which isn't that much more than the 22 rifle.
It appears that we've gone backwards now. This configuration is none of what we're looking for. It's not concealable, it's not quiet and it's not that powerful. What good is it? It's fun. I simply love shooting this rifle and taking it to the range for people to enjoy.
Wait a minute, you said you tried another caliber. What is that 300 blk?
You're right, I did say that.
300 AAC Blackout is a cartridge designed to be used in a wide variety of applications. It's main claim to fame is that it can be loaded quite heavily (around 220 grain bullets typically) for suppressed use and that can be used in bolt action or semi-auto platforms that also run .223 Remington with a barrel change.
As a person who likes to tinker with different calibers, an easy switch from a .223 Remington upper on an inexpensive AR pistol lower I have for experimenting to an inexpensive .300 blk upper allowed me to experiment with this newer, popular cartridge.
Again, while I find this combination of 220 grain, subsonic ammunition to be lots of fun at the indoor range and is significantly quieter than that of the unsuppressed configuration of that AR pistol, this weapon is again simply just not quiet like James Bond's movie gun. It's again, not very concealable but at least it has some energy to it. This configuration should generate around 400 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.
I'm at point where I could continue to throw money into projects to find a potential sweet spot of power, size and quietness but I don't see where I would be able to do so with a commercially available, off the shelf type platform.
A single shot firearm with a custom made suppressor in a small caliber such as .32 ACP might just be what we are looking for since 9mm seems to be too big and 22 too weak. Maybe Q was on to something when they issued Bond a PPK in 32 ACP.
Introducing the iconic WWII assassin's pistol, the Welrod. This 32 ACP single shot pistol is quite unique in that it may be the closest thing that we will ever get to as a true James Bond, assassin's pistol. While the math shows that this firearm is neither particularly power (maybe 120 ft-lbs) or it's specifications making it particularly concealable (12 inches long), it is quiet. Reports of this firearm being testing resulted in around 73 dB but I have no idea to what standards those tests were completed and with what equipment they used. Welrods are not available to the public and I would have absolutely no way to validate such a claim. The pistol had a 3.25 inch ported barrel with a huge suppressor. It had a very limited range and very limited application.
To clarify, 73 dB is louder than people talking and your neighbor would definitely hear it.
In final, to much of my dismay, I have so far been unsuccessful in locating a combination of firearm, ammunition and silencer that results in a combination that would be 'Hollywood" or James Bond quiet that I could conceal. When running through the thought experiments associated with this concept, I do not believe that such a thing can exist where a firearm can be as powerful as a concealable 9mm pistol, quieter than a normal conversation and as concealable as needed to conveniently hide under Mr. Bond's dinner jacket.
I have, however, learned that suppressors have significant utility. A suppressed firearm may be the difference between blown out ear drums during a violent confrontation in the tight confines of your home's hallways or while hiding in a closet from an intruder.
It will definitely help hunters in the field who almost never wear ear protection so they can hear what's around them. I noticed an immediate impact in hearing loss from my first times out hunting before and after in my left ear as I had a plug in my right ear at the time I shot.
Suppressors would also help cut down on noise pollution from public shooting ranges. This is a common complaint from residence and shops nearby.
The down side to suppressors is that they will get hot fast and can burn you if you are not careful. They are trapping burning gases after all.
Also, one last tidbit I never heard from anyone; debris blowback when shooting suppressed pistols. I knew that shooting guns can be dirty. I knew that there will always be fragments from bullets and partially burnt powder but I had never experienced that being blown onto my face.
Suppressor blowback is very real and is very apparent when shooting a standard pistol that eye protection is a REQUIREMENT. You WILL get hit in the face with bits and it will NOT be pleasant. You should be wearing eye protection anyway but it's very apparent why you need it when you shoot suppressed pistols. This isn't something you see in the movies.
Is it worth going through the pain in the ass process to acquire a suppressor? That's up to you but I can say that I love having suppressors for my 22 caliber firearms, hunting rifles and ProjectPDW. I like them but I hate the wait times and tax stamp. It sucks that the NFA exists because I would love to have seen what sort of innovations we would have had had the consumer market been able to help drive that innovation. Weapons such as the SilencerCo Maxim9 look to push the envelope in the right direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment