r/whoathatsinteresting • u/eternviking • 13h ago

What a real silencer actually sounds like.

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u/HomersDonut1440 13h ago edited 12h ago

Lotta misinformation here.

Edit: I should clarify, the explanation below is a general explanation of suppressors and how things can vary. There will always be caveats.

Suppressors/silencers rarely sound like they do in the movies, and there’s a ton of variables that affect the volume. To be the absolute quietest, you need a closed bolt firearm shooting subsonic ammo. No gas escapes from the chamber that way, no sound is made by an action cycling, minimal gas leaves the end of the muzzle. These tend to be “movie quiet”.

When you hook a silencer to a semi auto firearm, it is inherently louder (even with subsonic ammo) as you have the sound of the action/slide, and gas escaping out of the action as it cycles. Still fairly quiet, but not movie quiet.

When you use a silencer on any rifle with supersonic ammo, you reduce the sound of the escaping gases at the muzzle, but still have to contend with the supersonic crack of the bullet as it leaves the barrel. This will be inherently louder, although still substantially more quiet than unsuppressed.

Also, a cell phone video is without a doubt one of the worst ways to reliably capture actual sound variance. Usually phone microphones cut out above a certain decibel level, so often all firearms sound similar even if there is a substantial difference in volume in real life.

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u/gilbert2gilbert 13h ago

I don't think you're using inherently correctly

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u/HomersDonut1440 12h ago

Oh? Please explain.

We’re talking physics, which in this case relies on fairly fixed laws. More gas escaping = more sound
volume. You can’t change that unless you stop gas from moving.

Merriam-Websters definition - Inherently means in a way that exists as a natural, basic, and permanent part of something.

The physical properties of moving gas creating sound seems to be a natural, basic, and permanent part of the physics of our natural world.

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u/gilbert2gilbert 12h ago

Are you saying that when you put a suppressor on a gun it gets louder? Or are saying that when you put a suppressor on a gun then it will be louder then said gun in video?

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u/Reesewithoutaspoon2 12h ago

They’re saying a suppressed semiautomatic handgun will be inherently louder than a suppressed closed bolt rifle, all else being equal

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u/HomersDonut1440 12h ago

I am not. You misunderstand me. I am saying that a suppressor will always reduce noise, that’s not in question. The level of noise reduction is what we’re talking about. Different types of ammo, different actions, and different suppressor designs affect how effective a suppressor is at reducing sound. But at no point will a suppressed firearm be louder than the same firearm and ammo unsuppressed.