Re: reasons for a suppressor
Sorry to resurrect this thread once again (but its referenced in a sticky for new members so they probably still visit this thread quite a bit).
Anyway I was skimming through some of the replys and its obvious some people are basing all their knowledge on some hollywood movie.
I live in Europe and mods (as we call them here), while not mandatory (as some people have alluded to) are fairly common. We just buy one over the counter with no tax, no extra licence fee etc.
I have this particular mod here (it comes very highly recommended)
http://www.wildcatrifles.co.uk/sound_moderators.htm
It cost me about 320 euro brand new (for you Americans thats $413)
I have it on a 24 inch barrel .223 bolt action.
Firstly if somebody is standing 600 yards away from you, he will still hear that rifle going off. Without a doubt. I absolutely guarantee it.
Why is that? There is actually 2 noises you hear when a rifle is shot. The actual boom and a crack. All a mod will do is "silence" the boom (which is caused by hot gas escaping out the muzzle).
But heres the thing, the bullet is travelling so fast its supersonic (faster than sound) so it creates an unmistakable "crack" all the way down range, or in other words, it will "crack" as far down range it the takes until the bullet slows down to about 1100 yards per second (if I remember correctly).
I still use use hearing protection even with my mod. That cracking sound <span style="font-weight: bold">WILL</span> still hurt your ears. That cracking will still piss people off around you.
The only way you will silence the shot completely is if you buy/load bullets which are subsonic. Or in other words, you need to get a bullet that never reaches a speed faster then 1100 yards per second.
(since I expect newbies to be mainly reading this if you slow a bullet down that much you lose a tremendous amount of stopping power and the long range capabilities go down the drain aswell).
So anyone that thinks they will buy a mod and be able to shoot a whole pack of fox/coyotes/racoons are mistaken. You'll shoot the first one, but the rest will hear the crack and run off.
Also, the poster above me said to buy your mod for the biggest caliber you have and then shoot all your smaller calibers through it. This is bad advice.
Although it would be better than nothing, you really should have a mod for each caliber. The passage in the mod is designed to be as tight as possible (without being dangerous) to allow only the bullet and as little gas as possible to escape. The more gas that escapes the less silent its going to be.
So if you have a mod drilled for a 30 cal and then decide to stick that mod onto your 17hmr rifle. The 17 is far smaller, and it will let more gas out.
Just thought I better point out. On a 22lr a mod is great sport. But anything bigger then a 22lr is not going to be silenced.
Thats why here in Europe (well at least the part I live in) not everyone will buy a mod. You know, to get a good mod its expensive and even then you still need hearing protection with it. And so will everybody standing around you.
Nearly forgot, somebody said that it will give you more accuracy. Well I cant say I have ever noticed that. But then again, Ive never went and tested it. However what you will notice is that at longer ranges you will have a POI change at longer ranges which is a pain in the ass because now you will need two sets of dopes.
And just for the hell of it, heres a video of this "cracking" sound Im talking about (notice how the guy is still wearing hearing protection):
[video:youtube]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=taL7Vmip39s[/video]
) 
