The Viet Congs were Hunted with Silent Revolvers

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 6/5/2017 | J Trevithick

[w1n1]

The guns 'special' rounds were quiet but lacked stopping power
Since World War II, America's elite forces have used quiet firearms for missions where it pays to be silent. Sound suppressors—commonly referred known as silencers—remain in service today. What many don't know is that U.S. commandos once carried revolvers with special cartridges designed to muffle gunshots.

In the 1960s, the AAI Corporation developed the cartridges for the U.S. Army's and Navy's rifles, pistols and shotguns. The U.S. Army Special Forces and Rangers tested the unique ammunition in Vietnam.

While they offered many advantages, AAI's products failed to win any widespread acceptance in the halls of the Pentagon. The rounds were expensive and ineffective at moderate ranges.

According to a 1968 Army report on silencers, "Throughout the history of firearms, gun noise has been of considerable concern to the military." "To the enemy, gun noise reveals presence and, often, the location of the shooter, thus resulting in a counter attack."

To better understand how a suppressor works. In most modern firearms, the sound of the gunshot comes primarily from bottled-up gases escaping as the bullet leaves the barrel—like uncorking a bottle of champagne. A sound suppressor helps muffle the bang by trapping these fumes.

But even with these devices, the gunshot is never entirely undetectable.

In the early 1960s, Army weapon designers looked at alternatives that would completely eliminate the sound of the propellant exploding. They came up with the so-called "piston cartridges". Read the rest of the Silent Revolvers story here.

[Paal Gulli]

“Don’t shoot the subsonic round from a semi-auto. I used some squirrel hunting once looking for a “silent report” and wound up spending more time “digging” the failed spent shell ejection out of the rifle. Wasn’t enough charge to “kick ‘em” out on firing.”

There’s two ways to fix this. First, there are aftermarket lighter recoil springs available for most of the popular rimfire suppressor hosts, most notably the Ruger 10/22. The problem with that solution is that you need to go back to the OEM spring before shooting full-power ammunition, else the slide will be cycling too fast and could cause extraction or feeding problems. And if you shoot it that way a lot, you might end up “peening” the slide.

The second fix is to shoot a heavier bullet. It’s all down to that “equal and opposite reaction” thing, and a standard weight .22 bullet (30-40 grains) at 900 fps doesn’t make a whole lot of ‘oomph.’ There is (at least) one manufacturer selling 60-gr subsonic ammo, but a 60-gr .22 bullet is so long it won’t stabilize when fired from a 1:16 twist barrel, which is the ‘standard’ twist for (AFAIK all) factory rifles. The bespoke barrels for these 60-grainers are 1:9 twist. The up-side is that these aftermarket 1:9 barrels pretty much universally are notably more accurate than factory .22LR barrels. And while a lighter bullet doesn’t benefit from the tighter twist, it doesn’t suffer from it either.

[MileHi]

While they offered many advantages, AAI's products failed to win any widespread acceptance in the halls of the Pentagon. The rounds were expensive and ineffective at moderate ranges.

Sounds like it didn't work that great.

[marktwain]

Weapons man was great. I highly valued his sparse complements.

He was a wonderful writer.

[zzwhale]

HUSHPUPPIES

[LegendHasIt]

Unfortunately Aguila quit manufacturing that 60 grain SSS ammo. :-(

A little dirty, but I liked it.
The heaviest factory .22 ammo I can find now is 45Gr.

[Redcitizen]

Looks like Aguila still makes them.

https://www.aguilaammo.com/rimfire/

http://ammoseek.com/ammo/22lr/Aguila-rimfire-60grains-

My ruger 10/22 cycles them no problem. It doesn’t tumble either.

I like those rounds too.

[Big Red Badger]

60 grain .22...

Interesting.

[LegendHasIt]

"Looks like Aguila still makes them."

I was thinking they just never took them off their websites:
All the usual sellers had them marked as 'Discontinued', last time I checked (a few months ago), and it was discussed on some of the gun forums as well. (Colibri had been marked as discontinued too.)

I was pretty upset, having modified three firearms to use it specifically, despite that they still work fine with the regular stuff and I still had a fair amount of SSS piled-up for SHTF.. (but not enough to do much practicing).

But I see that Midway now has it "Coming Soon" and CTD has it apparently in stock.

Thanks for making me look. Guess I better stock up some more. Sadly, the price has nearly doubled. Oh Well.

[meyer]

Today we have better suppressors. Coupled with subsonic rounds, there is barely any report.

Subsonic rounds are the key. Also, revolvers, even with subsonic bullet speeds, do exhibit a report through the flash gap between the cylinder and the forcing cone. Not necessarily the best avenue for silent shooting.

[LegendHasIt]

"60 grain .22...
Interesting."

Indeed it is. The 'experts' argue if it is more or less effective than regular stuff for regular uses, even if you run it with a 1:9 twist rate barrel. (I think it is about the same out to 150 yards). But where it shines is in 'not annoying the neighbors' as much.

[Big Red Badger]

Sounds fun to plink with...
10-22 is My favorite so
I’ll keep my eyes open.
Thanks.

[Redcitizen]

Well considering all 22lr ammo has gone up to absurd prices, im willing to consider buying 60 grain ammo fir a little more cost. Thanks to you bringing up the subject, m going to be on the lookput for a few more boxes of 60 grain LR.

[IncPen]

ping