Silencing a Revolver

[weblance]

I have a SilencerCo SS Sparrow. In my quest to have a variety of host pistols, I have pretty much all the autoloaders threaded now that make me happy. I have a blued 4.5" Ruger Single Six that I think would be fun to silence. I have read many comments that because of the barrel/cylinder gap, that trying to silence a revolver is a waste of time. My observation has been that when shooting a silenced autoloader, that just as much flame, and blast comes out of the ejection port, as comes out of the B/C gap of an unsilenced revolver. There doesnt seem to be much noise from the ejection port on the silenced autoloader. Why would the B/C gap of a revolver be any different?

 

[JRs12Valve]

....

 

[SKLFCO]

This should help a little. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kiiwkATeCIo

 

[Hanzo581]

It is completely different, the cylinder gap is going to let way more noise out than a cycling semi-auto, and no you can't silence a revolver generally. You'd be wasting your time. I think someone once had a Nagant revolver that worked due to the cylinder configuration, but that was about it.

 

[Njal Thorgeirsson]

There is very little pressure coming from the ejection port. There is some flame and gas, but it's just residual waste left over from the discharged cartridge- the bullet has long since left the barrel and most of the gas/pressure has vented out of the barrel already. With a revolver, the cylinder gap is present during the duration of the bullet's journey down the barrel, and is as such subjected to as much pressure and gas as the rest of the barrel. A LOT of gas vents out through the cylinder gap. A LOT. I am a firm believer that a silencer would noticeably reduce noise with a revolver- there is still a lot of sound that comes form the muzzle... but to thread a revolver for a silencer would be really silly, because it would still be extremely loud. Autoloader ejection ports and revolver cylinder gaps are not in any way comparable.

If you want to test it, place a piece of paper over the ejection port of an autoloader and fire it. The do the same with the B/C gap on a revolver. should be a good visual comparison.

http://youtu.be/q57Q72uisGI?t=1m22s

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The X-Files featured a Knights Armament silent sniper rifle built on the Ruger Super Red Hawk in two episodes; in real life, the gun was set up that the barrel touched the face of the cylinder, but with a realitively small number of shots (for a service weapon) the wear and erosion would widen the cylinder gap to make noise from gas escaping there a problem.

 

[adelbridge]

You blow minimum 15% gas out the bc gap

 

[AethelstanAegen]

To my knowledge, only the Nagant revolver can be effectively suppressed because of the gas seal created by the cartridge and the forward moving cylinder. Other than that it's a no go.

 

[General Geoff]

With certain revolvers, the B/C gap can be adjusted to the point where the gap is zero, whereupon you could effectively silence it. But, with completely closed B/C gap, the cylinder will tend to bind up after just a few shots from heat expansion.

 

[7 Rivers]

Dan Wesson revolvers can be adjusted so the B/C gap is closed but as General Geoff stated, you may have a expansion problem after several shots.

Somewhere on the web I remember seeing a photo of a suppressed Vietnam era Dan Wesson .357.

 

[stressed]

Dan Wesson revolvers can be adjusted so the B/C gap is closed but as General Geoff stated, you may have a expansion problem after several shots.

Somewhere on the web I remember seeing a photo of a suppressed Vietnam era Dan Wesson .357.

I imagine they were using subsonic .38? Silencing a .357 then firing .357 through it would negate any purpose of a silencer.

 

[PBR Streetgang]

I remember seeing some S&W model 10's suppressed during the Viet Nam era for tunnel rat use. Problems with cylinder binding after a couple of shots fired if I remember correctly...........

 

[rodinal220]

Reed Knight(KAC) built some up in the 80s on Ruger GP100s using a special cylinder and barrel for a cut down 5.56/223 case patterned much like that of 7.62x38R Nagant.

 

[mesinge2]

The 1895 Nagant can be suppressed because of the unique action in which the cylinder moves forward toward the forcing cone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvF4yurWSc0

 

[spottedpony]

To add to all the above the only way to effectively silence any weapon, is from a sealed breech, and shooting subsonic ammunition. While you can silence the muzzle blast for the most part, theres no way to silence the crack of the bullet when it breaks the sound barrier.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

That is why we mostly use the term "suppress" rather than "silence".

 

[LopezEL]

Check this suppressed revolver out. My buddy owns this revolver. He had James Firearms in Greer, SC thread it for him and sent it to silencerco for the testing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GStcHyGQwcQ