Posted on 12/03/2016 5:05:50 AM PST by marktwain
The Marine Corps is considering suppressing all small arms. Military organizations have historically been slow to adopt new technologies. They have been slow to adopt optical sights, which were overwhelmingly adopted by sportsmen long before they become common for ordinary soldiers. In the U.S. that was during the first Gulf War.
Suppressors have been commonly used by sportsmen around the world for decades long before widespread adoption by any military. The United States is the exception, due to irrational regulation.
The Marine Corp is in the process of equipping an entire battalion with suppressed small arms. From ameriforce.net:
In a series of experiments this year, units from 2nd Marine Division will be silencing every element of an infantry battalion — from M4 rifles to .50 caliber machine guns.I have often thought that widespread suppressor use would be positive for the military. A common reason for not having suppressors has been the idea of suppressive fire. Suppressive fire is not guns using suppressors. It is the idea that if people are shooting at you, you will keep your head down and not shoot back. If the people shooting at you are using suppressors, you will not be as aware that they are shooting at you, or so goes the argument.
The commanding general of 2nd Marine Division, Maj. Gen. John Love, described these plans during a speech to Marines at the Marine Corps Association Ground Dinner this month near Washington, D.C.
The proof-of-concept tests, he said, included Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, which began an Integrated Training Exercise pre-deployment last month at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms.
“What we’ve found so far is it revolutionizes the way we fight,” Love told Military.com. “It used to be a squad would be dispersed out over maybe 100 yards, so the squad leader couldn’t really communicate with the members at the far end because of all the noise of the weapons. Now they can actually just communicate, and be able to command and control and effectively direct those fires.”
Silencer tech is much better now than it has ever been in the past.
Good stuff. They can even be used to communicate beyond voice range.
SOFs have very mature tactics fighting with silenced weapons.
No stamp or approval necessary and the price would plummet to an appropriate level such as $25-$75 per item.
Sales will be through the roof instantly.
Try that after artillery.
It is likely the the Hearing Protection Act will pass under a Trump administration.
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/11/president-trump-will-pass-hearing.html
This infringement of the 2nd Amendment was allowed by the Supreme Court in 1937 when they "found" wrongly that that silencers were not used by the military and therefore not covered by the 2nd Amendment. Evidence was not presented to the court that our military did in fact use short barrel shotguns in the trench warfare in WWI.
Every concerned Patriot should contact their representatives to have the National Firearms Act of 1934 repealed.
It also may help to avoid tinitus and other hearing problems for the grunts later in their lives.
Of course we are talking about a regime that pays out the butt for a claw hammer
I hope the brass consider titanium construction to eliminate as much weight as possible.
My 30 cal can weighs in at 2lbs and I wish I would have spent the cash to go with titanium now after toting this thing around on the end of a 24" barrel all day now.. But, it sure is sweet when you are bust yoddle dogs at 4-500 yards. The survivors just kind of look around and just wonder what happen to Uncle Charlie. Lots of follow ups.
Not a firearms expert:
* What are the approximate sizes & weights for M4 and 50-cal silencers?
* Part of the reason for development of the M4, as I understand, was a shorter barrel for close quarters/MOUT/building clearing ops. Would a silencer have any negative impact in those situations and need to be removed?
* Effect of the silencers on muzzle velocity, trajectory, accuracy?
Thanks
There’s been a movement to make suppressors cool. Between that and inflation making the $200 tax tolerable, capitalism developed quality suppressors for civilian use. Now soldiers are wondering why civvies have the better gear.
Same happened with .50 caliber rifles.
In case anyone else is wondering about supersonic ammo.
http://blog.silencershop.com/shooting-supersonic-suppressed/
Titanium is expensive.
If we are talking mass production, the prices should drop.
“... pays out the butt for a claw hammer ...”
That $450 claw hammer actually costs $15.95 or some such, The difference goes to off-budget items ... or if you like ‘black projects’.
Silencing a 50 cal???
The US is metals poor and relies on Russia and China for much of its supply of 17 key metals. We import ~80% of our titanium, most of it from Russia. We have zero in the national stockpile; ~35,000 metric tons sold off between 1998-2005 to pay for the WWII memorial (thanks Clinton, GWB, Congress). The titanium buy weight for one F-35 is 30,000 lbs/15 tons.
The amount of titanium to produce silencers is probably trivial compared to the needs of civilian & military aircraft industries. It does highlight the need for us to have more favorable suppliers for all our key metals, including from US sources.
“It also may help to avoid tinitus and other hearing problems for the grunts later in their lives.”
Now we’re talking, spent 11 months firing rounds up and down the A Shau with 105’s, 155’s, 175’s and 8 inch howitzers not counting several thousand rounds through an M-60. My ears sound like Church Bells on Sunday. OK you can’t silence any of the equipment I mentioned but it was a thought.
A quick removable and reattachable silencer would be best.
For suppressing fire big noisy loud guns would attract the enemy to focus on a point, while silenced fire to the enemy’s flanks would more easily put them down without alarm.
“Would a silencer have any negative impact in those situations and need to be removed?”
Right now we build a rifle and then put the can on the end as an after thought. Start with the can and build the rifle around it. Instead of building a barrel and adding the can you build a barrel silencing system.
You can silence the blast of most weapons. But supersonic projectiles cannot be silenced as they produce a sonic boom.
The M-60 can be equipped with a silencer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.