Thursday, June 24, 2010

Since I don't own any black lace and am not currently listening to an album by The Cure...

...I can't comment directly at "members-only" LiveJournal sites, so Ernunnos gets answered here:
I'm a little disappointed. Generally Tam's blog is a bullshit-free zone. Given her interest in historical weapons, I was sure she'd have some experience with Delisle carbines.
I've been on the range sans ears when a modern Delisle clone was fired, as well as something very like a Welrod. And yes, they were quiet. For guns. An unabridged Webster's being dropped on a carpeted floor is quiet, too, compared to an unsuppressed firearm, but it's not something you'd want to hear while creeping up on Dr. Evil's henchmen.

Who you gonna believe? The dB meter? Or your lyin' ears? ;)

(As the video points out there, an integrally-suppressed deuce-deuce manual repeater is very quiet. So's a spring-piston .22 air rifle. Both are a lot louder than you'd think when you cap one off in your back yard at a 'possum at 0mygawd30 in the morning. Ask me how I know.)

21 comments:

Lewis said...

Well, the linkyed DeLisle did sound mighty quiet on the youtube vid. Then again, the regular old high power rifles going off sounded mighty quiet, too---a lot, a lot, quieter than they seem in real life. But hey, you're mostly bullshit free, so you got that going for you!

Robb Allen said...

Quick question.

You take your uber high-tech, integrally suppressed, spring loaded .17, walk into Stevie Wonder's house, stand next to him, and let a few fly - Would he be able to tell you how many shots you fired?

If so, it's not silent.

Now, instead, do so at a party where there's a lot of background noise. Could he hear it then? Maybe not. But just because something can be masked by ambient noise doesn't mean it's silenced.

Hell, a tuba is hard to hear when you're sitting next to a running F/A-18 Jet Engine, doesn't mean it's 'silent'

Lissa said...

Back lace? As in Tactical Corset? :)

Joel said...

You're kidding. The great mall ninja suppressor controversy is still going on?

I'd have thought it would be long since superseded by the next great burning issue, like "how much does the ACU pattern suck compared to MARPAT," or something equally relevant to everyday life.

George Groot said...

Heh, the douchebag at the other sight even agrees that it sounds like an electric typewriter...

Some people just want the counter hits from arguing. Ask me, I recently disagreed with Billy Beck and Mike Vanderbough. Never got so many counter hits in one day before.

Tam said...

Lissa,

D'oh!



AM,

Nah, Ernunnos is cool. I think we just have a disagreement of terminology. :)

Keads said...

Don't worry Tam, I hear that you can post over there if you are listening to the psychedelic furs! Lace optional!

Anonymous said...

A suppressed 22 would be perfect for my possum popping but the horses have grown accustom to the Buckmark going off.

Gerry

Tam said...

Even a P-22 with an Outback will keep the horses from spooking or the neighbor's dogs from barking, despite midnight mag dumps (again, ask me how I know) but neither horses nor dogs are Dr. Evil's keyed-up henchmen. ;)

Drang said...

Some people just want the counter hits from arguing. Ask me, I recently disagreed with Billy Beck and Mike Vanderbough. Never got so many counter hits in one day before.
So that's the secret.

Chuck Pergiel said...

OK, Tam, I'll bite. How do you know?

mikelaforge said...

Gotta hate a tomato-mangling possum. A .22 slip-in insert barrel in an over-and-under 12 gauge using those little Avila snap-caps works nicely. And the gardening neighbors never complain. Where I live, anyway.

Neutrino Cannon said...

neither horses nor dogs are Dr. Evil's keyed-up henchmen.


That's just what they want you to think!

Don M said...

DeLisle was supposed to be quieter than working the bolt, but the absolute sound wasn't 100% of the point. Part of the point was: The loud sound was where the bullets were hitting, and that tended to get your target's companions looking behind them instead of looking for you. Of course at night the muzzle flash was not your friend, and probably was more important than the sound.

Ancient Woodsman said...

Guess I should stay off that "other" site, but the quietest I've fired was a Winchester 52D with CCI CB Longs...way quieter than the few suppressed things I've played with, which were all LE aquired SMG and no rifles or .mil. Never, ever having played some of those computer games, I really did indeed like the Ingram. But that was in my youth.

Such things are like kids: lots of fun at first, but they are louder than you think and they get expensive to feed.

Win 52D is opposite end of bell curve from tacti-cool, though...but great medicine for squirrels!

Anonymous said...

Robb, how do you know that about tubas and F-18s? Are you suggesting tubas need suppressors too? I mean, I could see it for the oboe and the French horn, but I digress.

Jim

Old Grouch said...

French Horns already have suppressors. That's why they're played with one hand in the bell.

NotClauswitz said...

Pre-Computerz, I used to work a self-powered IBM Selectric when I was in fund-raising. That thing was a racket and I could barely hear my fat boss yelling at me when I was tapping the plastic keys. We had another one that was auto-magic and would nonstop type letter after letter with just a change of name and address from a stack of The Dean's paper for his signature. We had to keep it in a big enclosed box surrounded by foam or the noise would drive you nuts. We used the same font-ball that was used when Dan Rather tried to push the fake Bush letters. Wore a couple out.

George Groot said...

Everybody knows that horses aren't henchmen, they are the boss.

Just ask Bad Horse, the Thourobred of Sin.

Hobie said...

I know how you know... I know, too!

Firehand said...

Ref what Robb said: about twenty years ago I read about a integrally-suppressed pistol that was quiet, but specifically designed to cause the audible sound to come out like a giant fart. Idea was that people hearing it tended to roll their eyes and try to ignore it. The article claimed that it had been used to take out a politician in a commie country in a park, and until someone found the blood they thought the guy'd had a heart attack.

Another old magazine I wish I'd kept.