Board Thread:Suggestions/@comment-30529220-20170212220554/@comment-31294571-20170228032709

R2D Lover wrote: Memes never die wrote: Suppressor and silencer has a difference o rlly?

explain u skroob

a suppressor isn’t a silencer. There are two main elements responsible for the noise we hear as a gunshot–the high pressure gases escaping from the muzzle, and the sonic boom created by a bullet as it passes through the air faster than the speed of sound (1,080 fps at sea level).

Think of the expanding gases like a balloon popping. As the pressurized gas in the balloon escapes the confines of the ballon, it “pops.” A suppressor works by moderating the expanding gas.

As for the supersonic crack, anyone who has spent time in the pits at Camp Perry knows you need to wear hearing protection even though the shots are fired from 1,000 yards away. That downrange crack of the bullets is made because the air passing around the bullet slams back together behind the bullet. It’s much like how a bullwhip makes a crack, and is something a suppressor cannot moderate. The answer, then, for the shooter who wants a “silent” load is to use subsonic loads.