[Atlas Sneezed]

Silencers work best with a bolt-action rifle. There is a long barrel and the chamber is closed tight so as to direct all the gases though the silencer at the tip of the barrel. Semi-auto pistols and revolvers do not really muffle the sound very well except on the silver screen. The revolvers bleed gas out with the sound all over the place. The semi-auto pistols bleed the gases out when the slide recoils back.

---

Actually, semi-autos are just fine for suppressors. The breech remains closed and sealed by brass until after the gasses have been expelled through the muzzle. Typical revolvers are another matter.

[going hot]

Also helps if the projectile is subsonic.

[bill1952]

Ah, another who knows the difference between a silencer and a suppressor.

I believe that the only true silent weapon is a firearm designed with a silencer function as an integral part of the weapon, not as an add on to the end of a barrel.

I used to shoot a bit with a firing device back in the late 70s - I believe that it was named an M1A firing device, and that was truly silenced.

I still have the manual back in a closet - I'll have to look it up.

[fightinbluhen51]

Typically, the action (slide and bolt) make more noise than the round being fired. It’s kinda like “clack clack clack”.

[MHGinTN]

The author should have gone out and actually tried a few versions before making foolish assertions. Firing supersonic rounds from a high-powered bolt action rifle is not exactly quiet. On the other hand I shot a suppressed Uzi (in both .45 and 9mm) and the loudest thing was the slide slamming forward. It was quiet enough to hear the brass raining down on the concrete in 9mm; the .45 ammo was louder, mechanically. I have also fired a suppressed Beretta 92 with grease packed suppressor ... very quiet.

Didn't the Russkies make a revolver which pressed the cylinder forward against the barrel when firing, and it was supposedly very quiet with suppressor.