Re: what is the very quietest 308 suppressor made
OK-I feel I have to write a book to make it clear, so here goes: I have a YHM 762 Titanium QD. I only use it on AR's and I don't have any adjustable gas blocks, so I can't tune out action noise. (The weight savings on the Ti model is worth the $$$)
On my 308 AR, I can stand 20 feet to the side of the shooter and listen to the gun fire. Best I can describe the sound with full power ammo is somewhere between 22LR and 22MAG fired from an un-suppressed rifle. The supersonic crack is loud and follows the bullet downrange. How much of this is action noise and leakage I cannot say. Now-step 2
I walk downrange to the 50-yd target stand on my range (in the woods.) About 20 feet to the side of my 50 yd target is a large (3 ft dia) oak tree. I stand behind this tree and have a trusted shooter fire at the 200 yd target so that the bullet impact won't mess up my extremely scientific test results. (Don't try this at home)
The shooter fires on my command. What do I hear? I hear absolutely NOTHING from the direction of the actual shooter. Every bit of the noise I heard came from the direction of the 50-yd line which was the point closest to me (20 feet) in the bullets path to the 200 yd target. The noise I heard from the bullet's fly-by was remarkably the same as what I hear standing 20 feet from the shooter. Not quite as loud, but close enough for me to deduce that my YHM is taming almost all the actual muzzle blast. Like you, I was not impressed at first with my YHM but I now have a much greater respect for it. I have repeated this test several times and had others do the same and everyone agrees the bullet's flight is probably 95% of the noise you hear.
I've tried the 556 AR's with my 308 suppressor and got the same results, only quieter. The 556 through the 308 YHM sounds like a 22lr unsuppressed. Even at the 50 yd line there is hardly any difference in the sound compared to standing at the rifle. I've read that the size of the object (150 gr 30 cal vs 55 grain 22 cal) has a lot to do with the noise level of the supersonic crack. The example I saw was comparing a bullet to a jet plane in that a jet makes a boom that rattles the windows whereas you'd have to shoot the windows with a rifle.
I'm sure that if the bullet noise had not overwhelmed the noise at the gun, I would have plainly heard the gas leakage and action noise of the AR when I was at the 50 yd line. However the bullet was very LOUD as it passed by and it sounded like someone fired a 22LR 20 ft away.
With subs--my AR's still try to operate but still the loudest noise is the bullet hitting cardboard at 50 yds. The gun sounds like a BB gun.
While testing different sub loads, I did not need a chrony to know if I was breaking the sound barrier. Anything above speed of sound was just like shooting unsuppressed 22LR. Soon as I crossed the line to subsonic (-.2 gr powder from the borderline load) there was hardly any noise at all.
My conclusions:
1. My YHM is plenty quiet and I'm 100% pleased with it.
2. You don't need "the quietest" suppressor in the world if you're using supersonic ammo because the bullet noise will more than overwhelm any db advantage your suppressor may have.
3. I now know why they say you can't pinpoint the source of suppressed gunfire unless you are extremely close to the source. The sound comes from wherever the bullet passed by your position.
4. I should have bought a suppressor 30 yrs ago, although it would not have been nearly as advanced as they are now.
