.22lr vs. 9mm

[PTK]

Monkeybear,

.223 out of an AR-15 (11.5" barrel) with a proper suppressor on the barrel sounds like an unsuppressed .22lr 16"-22" barreled rifle firing CCI MiniMags. It's loud, but a lot quieter than an unsuppressed .223 11.5" barrel! Night and day difference.

The Finns have a saying "A silencer does not make a rifleman silent, but it does make him invisible." Most of the noise of a rifle to the shooter and nearby listeners comes from the muzzle blast. The suppressor takes care of most of that and for the most part all you hear is the bullet breaking the sound barrier.

 

[RyanM]

The Finns have a saying "A silencer does not make a rifleman silent, but it does make him invisible." Most of the noise of a rifle to the shooter and nearby listeners comes from the muzzle blast. The suppressor takes care of most of that and for the most part all you hear is the bullet breaking the sound barrier.

Also, if anyone listening isn't familiar with the "crack-bang" effect, and doesn't know how to tell what's a sonic crack and what's a muzzle report, they could get really confused as to where the shooting is coming from.

With a decent suppressor that removes most of the muzzle blast, all they'll hear is the sonic crack as though it were coming from the direction where the bullet passed closest to them. I.e., if the bullet goes to their right, they'll hear a crack from the right.

 

[PTK]

Ryan,

Quite correct, which explains the saying well. I've heard a .30-06 fired with quite supersonic rounds fitted with a proper suppressor that sounded like someone downrange was firing toward us. It was an odd experience.