Thursday, June 17, 2010

Charge of the lightweight brigade.

So Unc linked to a piece at Cracked.com about Hollywood gun myths. Since it had the word "gun" in the title and was posted at Cracked, over a thousand airsoft-shootin', Counterstrike-playin' firearms experts were on hand to set Cracked straight when they said
"#5. Silencers Turn Gunfire Into a Gentle Whisper"
was totally a myth.

Nuh-uh! said the Counterstrike kiddies. They had the rulebook for GURPS Black Ops right there, and it said different!
Number 5 is incorrect, he's using supersonic ammunition in the glock demonstration. Subsonic loads negate the sonic crack heard as the bullet breaks the sound barrier
Right, Zippy. He was using supersonic loads in his suppressed .45ACP Glock 36. Sit down and shut up.
So as to the silencer myth. I have personally fired silencers that totally silence the gun. The only sound that you could hear was the action sliding and the rounds impact, and that was through a Sten Mark II sub-machine gun. The FBI also has silencers that do the same but are re-usable. It all depends on how the silencer was made. Higher quality ones will severely limit the noise, if not eliminating it completely.
lolwhut? I find it interesting to note that you lifted your description of a suppressed Sten almost verbatim from The Eagle Has Landed. While it's nice to know that kids these days still read books, I'll further note that Jack Higgins knows less about guns than I do about Tanzanian folk art, which is to say "Nothing At All."
I've read in several places over the years (gun mags, the internet) hwahwa-hwa hwa hwahwa hwa hwa...
Sorry, that last one just went all Charlie Brown's teacher on me, there. He was saying something about how the H&K MP-5 SD3 was totally silent except for the reciprocating bolt because it's German and made by HK and all the operators use it because it's almost completely silent. Which it is. On the internet.

Disappointingly, however, it sounds pretty much like a suppressed subgun in real life. A suppressed closed-bolt subgun with a really good integral can, but a subgun all the same. You wouldn't want someone shooting one while you were trying to read; the auditory annoyance level is somewhere between electric typewriter and small air compressor, so that SPECTRE guard is probably going to look over here when you start hosing out bursts, there, James Bond.

Don't these people have a Wikipedia article they should be editing or something?

86 comments:

  1. I lost my sophomore year at State U to GURPS ...

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  2. Used to have a guy come to the range with cans for his kit-built AK's. They were quieter, but not by any means noiseless. You could hear the action cycle, but you can hear the action cycle on an AK while listening to headphones piping in black sabbath turned up to 11. Only other gun I ever heard silenced was a ruger mkII, and it was CB cap quiet but not silent by any stretch of the imagination.

    I wouldn't mind a can for my MKII so I could shoot it in my basement during winter months while not annoying the wife.

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  3. I've only fired a suppressed full-auto MP5 once, and to me it sounded a lot like a sewing machine. Come to think of it, it sort of looks like a sewing machine, and that would explain the double-stitch setting on the receiver.

    I should just shut up, as I've also shot 185 grain .45 ACP before, which we all know doesn't actually exist because if it did it would be supersonic, and Tam doesn't think .45 ACP is supersonic, so I must be full of it. *Cough*

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  4. I find it interesting to note that you lifted your description of a suppressed Sten almost verbatim from The Eagle Has Landed.

    That's beautiful right there (wipes away tear).

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  5. Hypnagogue,

    Yeah, there is some supersonic .45ACP ammo out there. I am well aware of this fact.

    Still, what do you want to bet that the G36 in the video was firing 230gr ball? When you hear hoofbeats in these parts, betting it's a horse makes a lot more sense than betting it's a zebra. ;)

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  6. Blast Hardcheese8:24 AM, June 17, 2010

    Me, I'd want the bullets to be supersonic. Hell, I'd want 'em to leave a swath of destruction behind them like a MiG-31 piloted by Clint Eastwood. I want a muzzle flash that will make the MDA's satellites think an ICBM is launching from New England.

    But that's just me.

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  7. But, if we limited ourselves to only commenting on things we know something about, ninety percent of the internet would disappear ;)

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  8. My buddy's suppressed Ruger 10/22 sounds really quiet to me. I've shot it at the gun range... wearing cans, and earplugs... waitaminnit!

    You mean maybe I should try it without hearing protection?

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  9. ...double stitch setting on the receiver. *cough*

    Is it hot in here?

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  10. *tap-tap*

    "Is this thing on?"


    I'm laughing on the inside. :D

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  11. Hypnagogue: I don't even know what you're talking about, and I LOL'd.

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  12. And since when is "typewriter" an annoying sound? :-P That clicky-clack is a beautiful noise ...

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  13. Any Call of Duty: MW2 player will tell you that the suppressed M14 or the suppressed .408 is whisper quiet, plus you have a guy with a cool British accent to go along with the whisper.

    Shootin' Buddy

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  14. Yeah, well I fired a super-seekrit Barrett .50BMG with double-ultrasonic loads through a whiz-bang suppressor that worked so well, you could put your ear right next to the muzzle and it would actually improve your hearing.



    tweaker

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  15. John Peddie (Toronto)9:18 AM, June 17, 2010

    Well, Tam, just think of all the Urban Legends (Wikipedia edition) that you can now correct as a Published Gun Writer.

    So many errornet folks will be in "denial" at losing their only claim to knowledge.

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  16. My favorite part was all the "firearms experts" dropping "clips" like they were at a hair salon. Clips clips clips everywhere!

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  17. "But, if we limited ourselves to only commenting on things we know something about, ninety percent of the internet would disappear ;)"

    I have every confidence that the porn sites and the spammers would pick up the slack.

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  18. Suppressors are one of the few things I don't comment on often, because no one listens to your "opinion" simply because you own and use them.

    One plus thing is that when I do use one in the backyard, my fiance doesn't see my position as a big red dot on her radar and can't grab me to help vacuum.

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  19. Next your going to tell me that putting a potato on the end of my rifle will not work as a silencer?

    I saw it on Shaft and Richard Roundtree would not make that up. He's a bad mother...

    Gerry

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  20. I luv the emotions engendered by the terminology. Clip/magazine, e.g.

    Hiram Maxim thought he'd invented a silencer. The shop manual for my then-new 1956 Austin Healey LeMans referred to that canister thingie in the exhaust pipe as a silencer.

    But what did they know?

    But I have observed the test-firing of a Walther .380 with a new suppressor. The clack-clack was about equal to the pop-pop, db-wise...

    Art

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  21. Heh.

    True story, and it can be recreated at the Bloggershoot if Andrew brings his suppressed P22...

    We were shooting, side by side, the suppressed P22 in question with standard .22LR (I think the Federal bulk stuff but don't quote me on it) and my S&W model 17 with the Aguilar primer-only rounds.

    The 17 was quieter.

    I've had the good fortune to shoot a good amount of suppressed weaponry, up to and including suppressed FA rifles (AR-15s).

    It does not bring the noise down to conversational levels. It brings it down to "can tolerate with just muffs" levels.

    IMHO, of course, and what the hell do I know...

    LMAO. WV: "repro"...

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  22. The human ear can deceive us based on our expectations and the environment. You really need a db meter no matter what you think it sounds like.

    It's possible that people, when shooting a suppressed firearm, experience "whisper quiet" because it is what they expect to hear.

    I'm just trying to give people an out.

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  23. A GURPS reference!? That's all kinds of win!

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  24. Despite never having been present when a "silencer" was used, I still get a chortle out of old movies showing them on revolvers.

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  25. Yeah, well Reality really bites when you start shooting stuff with suppressed weapons, no matter how quiet your bullet launcher is, or ain't, the reaction from the gathered live targets (as in feral swine) is NOT what anyone has seen on the silver screen or talked about on the interweb.

    They flat KNOW they are being shot at because no one has yet figured out how to silenced the bullet impact and I've NEVER SEEN that aspect of silenced weapons discussed or demonstrated.

    They Git The Hell Out Of Dodge as a result, muy pronto, which makes suppressed weapons in my book pretty much a fantasy when it comes to killing multiples of anything "silently".

    Silencers and suppressors are over-sold in my book and I own 5 of 'em including an MP-5SD...

    All The Best,
    Frank W. James

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  26. Art,

    Silencer? Suppressor? Heck, I thought they were called "cans". ;)

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  27. ;)

    Back about sixty years ago, a buddy of mine was gonna put glasspacks on his hotrod. I had a brainstorm.

    I set a glasspack on a chair, sat on the floor, and set up with the muzzle of my '06 into it a little bit. Yeah, it made a bit of difference, but not enough to make me want to rig an extra six pounds or so to my rifle.

    Teeny-boppers do that stuff...

    Art

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  28. So to set the interwebs straight, can anyone link us to what a properly silenced weapon DOES sound like?

    Inquiring minds in states that ban them want to know.

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  29. "I've only fired a suppressed full-auto MP5 once, and to me it sounded a lot like a sewing machine."

    I've shot MP5s with suppressors that worked very well, and shooting outdoors it sounded, with hearing protection on, like phut-phut-phut. With protection off, it went POP POP POP. The can was as long as the SMG, and was fully 3" wide, with padding.


    I have NEVER heard a pistol, with a pistol-length suppressor, that was quieter than, say, an un-suppressed .22 LR rifle round. I would not ever want to fire a centerfire pistol round indoors without ear protection, with any suppressor that I've ever used.

    I shoot carbine matches with a suppressed M4 in .223. It is truly remarkable what the 8" GemTech will do for reducing the sound outdoors. But let's not kid ourselves. It sounds like gunfire.

    The CounterStrike weinie doesn't say "it's possible that" or "I'll bet that he's using the far less-common supersonic rounds." He says, flatly that "he's using supersonic ammunition in the glock demonstration."

    Tamara is quite correct in saying that this child should be quiet when grownups are talking. Actually, that video showed some VERY GOOD suppression, unless the camera is at full zoom from a distance. You can hear the echo of the pistol shots from distant objects. Note that the suppressor is longer than the slide of the pistol, though.

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  30. I set a glasspack on a chair, sat on the floor, and set up with the muzzle of my '06 into it a little bit.

    It worked (for given values of 'worked') for GunKid in the story....

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  31. What can't be denied as that suppressors are fun.

    Having fired my fair share, I've never fired one quiet enough to ~only~ hear the gun cycle. I have however fired a couple that were quiet enough that you ~could~ hear the gun cycle. One that comes to mind was a 1911 with one of the new AAC Ti-Rants, using hand loaded .45 (to the tune of just about 700 fps). It's COOL to hear the action cycle on a gun while firing.

    -Rob

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  32. Hilarious. Reading this post the first thing I thought of was...you tube! A quick search brings up all manner of hi err..techery. The first one up was from a poster called redneckengineers. To those brave souls who dare the questionable while others retreat to the safety of a heavy barricade or at least a shot up shell of a long abandoned k-car...I salute you!
    McVee

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  33. I've got a video of me shooting a suppressed 9mm AR here - third video down (not the first, that's a straight-on Uzi with no can).

    It's quiet, sure, but not whisper-quiet...

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  34. And another thing:

    How could someone write an article on Hollywood-perpetuated gun myths, and not mention the constantly-seen one that a man-portable firearm (often a pistol!) can knock a man flying off his feet??

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  35. Desertrat:

    I'll be your Austin Healy manual refers to the choke as a "strangler", too.

    I learned from Mr. FM (back in the days when he could post more than history) that in the UK a can is referred to as a "moderator". Seems to me to be more descriptive of what they ACTUALLY do than "silencer".

    (WV - "beatomea" - what everyone's gonna do after I put this up)

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  36. :-) Ken, there's no telling what a 16-year-old will think of to try. That wasn't the only bright idea I ever had. (Okay, not-so-bright idea.) I sorta doubt that GunKid had the excuse of young age.

    "Moderator" is certainly a more accurate word than either "silencer" or "suppressor".

    "Suppress" has a sort of "Shut 'er down!" connotation...

    Art

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  37. B-b-but...I read it in a novel, which is a book, so it's gotta be true!

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  38. How could someone write an article on Hollywood-perpetuated gun myths, and not mention the constantly-seen one that a man-portable firearm (often a pistol!) can knock a man flying off his feet??

    Because that one's already been beaten unconscious and left at the side of the road.

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  39. Yeah, well, Cornwell had a diatribe about cop-killer bullets, as did a thriller novel written by an allegedly ex-Green Beret guy.

    Authors and movie directors have assassins twiddling with scopes after they get to the firing point, as well.

    Ya get right down to it, there aren't all that many people who are truly in touch with reality.

    Art

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  40. On the other hand, subsonic .22 shorts sound like a quiet airgun.

    ("pop... thwack!")

    So I don't find it difficult to believe that subsonic ammo and a suppressor can make a pistol "quieter than a gunshot", contra Cracked.

    But they're right that just popping a suppressor on doesn't "make it quiet like in a movie".

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  41. The only moderated firearm that I've ever fired that was as quiet as a hollywood silencer was an integrally suppressed ( barrel-length muffler ) Ruger 77/22 bolt action rifle with subsonic .22lr ammo.

    Click-phut.

    That was the only example of this that I have personally witnessed.

    Everything else made noise ... good enough to save yer hearing, but not super-ninja-counterstrikekiddie-stealthy.

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  42. Sigivald,

    Even a decent airgun is louder than a Hollywood silencer.

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  43. Well, to be fair, a suppressed spring-powered airsoft pistol IS pretty quiet...

    :)

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  44. So's a staple gun, but neither is as quiet as a movie prop revolver with a silencer screwed to the muzzle. ;)

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  45. I've shot and/or experienced a pretty large number of can/firearm/cartridge combinations and the quietest by FAR was a nifty little 9mm single shot pistol built on a Contender frame with a can using polyurethane wipes. No action noise, subsonic 9mm ammo and wipes makes for a very, very quiet package but not "silent" by any means. A dealer I know picked up two "extras" left over from a purchase made by .gov...how many uses can YOU think of for that platform?

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  46. Just one. ;)

    Of course, a slide lock on an M9 would probably work as well without needing near so many new NSN's...

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  47. Quietest I've ever seen was a can a gunsmith was testing(yeah, had his license and so forth); on a .22 rifle, with subsonic ammo, you heard the firing pin fall and the 'whop' when the bullet hit, and that was all. Impressive as hell.

    On that 'whop', one day at a range a guy was shaking out a new can he'd just received for his AR15; amazingly quiet for that cartridge, but you definitely heard it. And you also heard, a moment later, the 'whop' drifting back from the 100-yard backstop.

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  48. It's when you hear the whop before the bang that you know you have a problem...

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  49. I was present (public firepower demo after a SOF three gun match-lots of vehicles had the "Is YOUR church gov/fbi/atf approved?" bumpersticker that year) when a Ma Deuce on tripod was fired with a can. Think that can was measured in feet, not inches! The clatter from the action and ammo belt, the sonic cracks, and the whanging of hits on a 55 gal drum downrange all seemed about equal. I was probably wearing ear plugs, though. Not sure, now.

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  50. Speaking of hollywood silencers, I got to play with a bunch of them one day. Attended a sub-gun class catered by Stembridge, the big hollywood gun supplier (well, they used to be, until LA got stupid with their magazine ban). Some of those were VERY quiet, but you still knew a gun was firing.

    A 1911 seemed to be the quietest, but that might have been due to the fact you were only firing one round at a time.

    Actually, the .45's all seemed quieter, but that was probably due to sub-sonic ammo versus the fast 9mm stuff we had, and the generally higher cyclic rate of the 9mm's.

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  51. "Silencer? Suppressor? Heck, I thought they were called "cans". ;)"

    No, cans are those things on your...



    ...shelves. You know, in the kitchen. Or pantry.

    WV: Yappr. RPG playing knowitall.

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  52. Go to Nutnfancy's Youtube Channel to see his visit to Silencerco the Utah-based suppressor manufacturer...they get to shoot a .22 and some .45s.

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  53. On a 9mm SBR AR with subsonic rounds, the shots are quieter than the bolt cycling. Granted the bolt still cycles louder than me shutting the trunk of my car.

    On a Walther P-22 with a can and subsonic rounds, the sound of the rounds hitting the 50 yard berm is louder than the shot itself.

    My next big spending spree will probably be a Ruger MK-III with a Tactical Solutions upper and a AAC can.

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  54. I just thought it was cool they mentioned Khorne. I'm such a geek...

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  55. Only truely quiet firearm I've ever shot was a .58 Zouave with a 445 grain wadcutter Minie ball loaded over 45 grains of Pyrodex RS. I've sneezed louder.

    But somehow I don't see Hollywood equipping assasins with Civil War muzzleloaders.

    I bagged the woodchuck responsible for my garden's destruction with RWS subsonic .22 LR in a Winchester Model 75 target rifle once. Not too much noise at all, but I'd sighted it in the day before (when the Democrats next door weren't home) and decided that it would be best fired indoors.

    So I opened the door to the backyard (Momma Woodchuck hid for an hour whenever a door opened), and waited, well back in the darkened living room, socked into a tight sling in a sitting position.

    I got the amazingly filthy and bug festooned stinkpot with a head shot at 45 yards, and I can't really say how loud the shot was, because I was shooting at something alive, and couldn't tell you if a brass band was playing. Even a chuck is hunting.

    Like the knowledge you'll be executed in the morning, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.

    My buddy Eric once bought a .22rf in Paris, and was told it was a city mandate that he had to pay the extra 10 or so dollars for the required silencer, so as not to disturb anyone while target shooting.

    Perhaps the Frogs aren't always total wasters.

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  56. Got a Savage-based .22 rifle with an integral suppressor and an AR upper in 9mm the same. Shooting the .22 with standard velocity ammo, you hear the firing pin click and the paper tear down range. With the 9mm - using subsonic 147gr ammo and a full auto lower - I dumped 30 rounds down range and the noise was similar to the sound you get from releasing a blown-up balloon. Really kind of funny.
    These were both built by the old American Manufacture company.

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  57. John A wrote: espite never having been present when a "silencer" was used, I still get a chortle out of old movies showing them on revolvers.

    Mosin Nagant, model 1895 takes a silencer, this was used during WWII. So I'm not surprised if it shows up in old movies.

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  58. A gunsmith friend of mine decided to clone a Delisle out of an old SMLE action he had. Bolt action, .45ACP, use standard 1911 magazines, looked nice when it was done. When I asked him how did the suppressor work when he fired it, he said "Don't know". When he called the BATF, and asked what he had to do to make a "can", he said the paperwork and the inspections and the licensing would cost him more than he made all year. So he made a fake "can", put it around the barrel, and set it aside. Looks cool, though. Probably a picture or two floating around the Net somewhere. Check it out when you get a chance.

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  59. With .45 ACP, load 5 grains of Bullseye under a hard cast 225 grain bullet, and it's just about the same as using a can when fired in a rifle length barrel.

    I just picked up a Rhinelander conversion for the Lee-Enfield, and have to find the time to turn up a barrel. A Marlin camp carbine would also be a good idea, but they need a stronger bolt return spring in .45.

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  60. Ed,

    If I remember aright, Wolff sells an extra-strength recoil spring for that Camp 45. I'd imagine all the .45 Super guys were using them.

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  61. Mikael,

    "Mosin Nagant, model 1895 takes a silencer, this was used during WWII. So I'm not surprised if it shows up in old movies."

    Never seen a suppressed Nagant revolver in a movie (Col. Mosin had nothing to do with the wheelgun from Mssrs. Nagant.)

    Seen plenty of Hollywood bad guys screw cans on garden-variety Dick Specials and M&Ps, however.

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  62. Come to think of it, I have never heard a suppressed MP5 in automatic mode, sub or supersonic.

    I imagine, however, that it sounds depressingly like a mad gnome with two light hammers furiously beating on a running cast-iron sewing machine while the ghost on John Bonham wails away on your target in near-perfect time.

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  63. Hee.... and I'm picturing Goober picking up his freshly threaded model 10 from the shop and checking out the action with a fresh-from-the-box .357 diam. supressor.

    "Ok, let's see how this goes... I'll take a shot without first, just to baseline."

    *BANG*
    "Nice, sights are still in line. Now..." *twisttwisttwisttwist*

    *BANG*

    ...

    *BANG*

    ... "Son of a BITCH."

    "What the... how did I get a bean up my nose?"

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  64. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbhZuFlzXQ
    That's not me, but my buddy has one of those, it's the quietest suppressed firearm I've shot.

    I have one just like it in .45 ACP, it's a bit louder.

    It's as close to movie quiet as I've ever heard.

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  65. As of my last check YouTube was still processing my video so it may not be ready.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y-0roK6EdE

    Paul does a good job of narrating this video but I'll preface it with the firearm/suppressor/ammo combinations and some notes. The closest targets (sounds like most of them hit the propane cylinders) are about 50-yards away while the distant target (a pickup truck carcass) is about 180 yards out.

    #1: DPMS AR-15 with a Gemtech M402 suppressor. Brian loads his own subsonic ammunition but it was definitely going transsonic that day (it was around 32F that day (at 32F the speed of sound is 1087ft/sec whereas it is 1128 ft/sec at 70F) and very, very dry (humidity will also slightly affect the speed of sound). Brian had worked his load up during a recent hot, humid PA summer and will be back at the drawing board!

    #2: MP5SD (Vector Arms build) with "white box" 9mm shot both semi and full auto. For some reason this ammo which SHOULD have been going transsonic didn't even while the subsonic .223 did. Why is it that suppressor shoots seem to create more questions than they answer?!

    #3: American 180 .22LR with a Tactical Innovations Black Diamond suppressor and supersonic ammo.

    #4: Uzi 9mm with a B&T suppressor shot semi and full. Once again the supersonic 9mm does not go transsonic.

    #5: Sig 226 9mm with an SWR Trident can shot "wet" (I think Mike used lithium grease) with subsonic 9mm ammo.

    #6: UZI 9mm with a Gemtech Raptor shooting very hot +P+ ammo.

    You can compare the sound generated with Paul speaking. We are NOT wearing hearing protection and he is speaking in a fairly loud voice but not screaming by any means. While not scientific, of the video I had time to cull through today it gave the best group of examples to compare.

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  66. Tam said...
    Just one. ;)

    Of course, a slide lock on an M9 would probably work as well without needing near so many new NSN's...




    You mean like the USAF put an R&D contract out for in the late 1980's/early 1990's, on the theory that a downed pilot had enough stuff going wrong without giving his position away to everyone within a mile if he HAD to take a single shot?

    IIRC, they had plastic wipes (no hole -- first shot was supposed to drill it) that lasted about 15 rounds, and they were to be issued with a spare set of wipes. Extended fixed sights to see over teh suppressor, modfied the slide release into a slide lock, etc.

    I also seem to recall that the slide lock actually automatcially disengaged when the shot was fired somehow, so all the user had to do was work the slide without fiddling with the slide lock, if he needed to quickly take a second (not as quiet) shot. That may have been a blowback feeding off the suppressor itself that popped the slide lock into the normal position, AFTER the pressure had already dropped. . .

    I thought the program reached maturity, but never got funded for production.

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  67. Of course, a slide lock on an M9 would probably work as well without needing near so many new NSN's...

    I have my doubts that issuing NSNs was part of the plan...I think the order was for the Department of State. The cans mount using a VERY early three-lug which is not compatible with what became the standard...if you're familiar with the development of the three-lug you can likely figure who made the 9mm Contender barrel (not sure there were ever any other 9mm Contenders made) and the can :)

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  68. While I'm at it, another short clip from the same day of shooting of an M3 Greasegun with a nice, fat Jonathon Arthur Ceiner can on it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bJGgmfiCoA

    When slurping MiniDV into my laptop the software cuts the video into chunks just under 10 minutes long, this is actually a continuation of the previous video. Unfortunately you will discover, as did I when I got home, that some idiot (me) forgot to change the tape before setting up the camera and the video ends abruptly. That is sad because I didn't get me shooting a Sterling Mk V just after Scotty finishes with the Greasegun (two of my fave guns to shoot.)

    It would also have been nice to have shot the M3 with the huge, honkin' steel two-stage suppressor that weighs something like 8 pounds and is a good 6 to 8 inches longer than the one in the video. It makes the Greasegun VERY laborious to shoot and it's tactically useless, but it is MUCH quieter than this can!

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  69. @John A

    There are revolvers that are well suppressible.
    The Nagant M1895, for example.

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  70. FromTheInternet3:39 AM, June 19, 2010

    i herd .50 cal canz shootz downz the airplanz. lik a mizzle.

    iz tru?

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  71. Doc Merlin,

    We covered that already, actually.

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  72. @Doc Merlin
    How about a S&W 625 fully suppressed revolver?
    http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/03/03/sw-625-fully-suppressed-revolver/

    IMHO it's another example of the fact that you CAN do something does not necessarily make it a good idea...but I'd still like to have one for research purposes!

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  73. Would be interesting to measure how much noise comes out of the cylinder gap, and be able to screw the barrel in and out to see what effect gap size has on it.

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  74. Yah Tam, I seem to have missed that.
    @RevGreg:
    That just seems awful.

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  75. Will, buy a Dan Wesson piece and do some experiments. From what I've read, you can screw the barrel down so close to the front of the cylinder in those, that it takes a bit of muscle to cock them with the thumb. I dunno about double-action.

    A revolver is like a derailleur on a bicycle; a crude solution, technically gross and sordid, but it works good.

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  76. Derailleurs don't always work well, no where near as reliable as revolvers.

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  77. Proposed Zen koan for 'silenced' HK's: "What is the sound of a 650 rounds per minute ball peen hammer?"

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  78. Proposed haiku for same:

    Six hundred fifty
    Times bolt reciprocating
    Tin kraut hummingbird

    With apologies...it's a slooow day here!

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  79. RevGreg,

    Wasn't it KAC that did that funky rubber gas seal work with Ruger Redhawks?

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  80. Wasn't it KAC that did that funky rubber gas seal work with Ruger Redhawks?

    Yeah, there was a discussion over on Silencertalk not long ago on that setup. Never had the pleasure of shooting/experiencing that one personally.

    http://www.silencertalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=53839

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  81. le off topic - but isn't a cracked.com article linking to TVTropes a little like dynamiting fish in a barrel?

    WV: awkilo - well, I I understand from hanging 'round these parts that a can is an awkward kilo, yeah...

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  82. @Ian Argent

    Great. Now I'm curious about the dB reduction of a barrel full of fish and whether it is greater than just a barrel of water. If I owned a dB meter you probably would have just screwed up my whole weekend!

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  83. You simply MUST do it - For Science!

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  84. Got a guy who can do the explosives...he's licensed and has the space. Barrels are no problem, nor are fish. Test at several different fish/water volume ratios while you're at it for comparison. Without a dB meter, all is for naught. While cheap ones may be had, they are not suitable for doing this test.

    Gah! Now I think I may have figured out someone who might have a dB meter. Damn you!

    Maybe I should send it as a suggestion to Mythbusters!

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  85. Muahahahah!!!!! Ahem... Fish Chowder for all the porchies

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