Does suppressing a rifle of these or any cartridges for that matter slow the bullet down or effect the performance in anyway? I'm sure it would, just seems like it.
The bullet only slows down if it touches the baffles or wipes. Baffles usually widener than the bullet by .025” to .050” so they never touch unless the bullet yaws (too slow of a twist) or the silencer is mounted improperly. Wipes are rubber disks with X shaped slots cut in them. The bullet punches through and the gases are trapped better then the slots close back up. They degrade accuracy and velocity and wear out quickly (a few mags) whereas a silencer equipped with baffles will last thousands of rounds unless overheated.
Does it matter if the rifle is permanently suppressed or if the suppressor is the removable type?
Sometimes. A detachable silencer can be moved from gun to gun as long as it is a suitable caliber and strong enough and has the same threads/mount. This is very common. I use my 22lr, 223 and 308 cans on multiple guns. Some silencers are integral to the barrel to improve suppression, usually with a ported barrel.
And what the heck is subsonic ammo? Is supper fast, super quiet, as powerful as regular ammo, weaker, what????
Subsonic ammo is ammo that does not go faster than the speed of sound, or the opposite of supersonic. Some standard ammo is subsonic such as 38 special, target grade 22lr, 22short and 45 acp while others like 9mm (115 rain and 125 grain) and most rifle ammo is supersonic. Most any ammo is easy to load to subsonic speeds.
And how is this related to a suppressed weapon?
There are several factors which account for the amount of noise a gun makes at the muzzle. Bore width, gas pressure and gas volume. Decrease them and noise generally goes down. A small silencer bore traps more gas and noise. Less gas pressure means less pop when the bullet leaves and less volume means less noise duration.
For large bore guns, reducing the powder charge is a great way to reduce noise whether it is suppressed or unsuppressed. Supersonic ammo creates a shock wave just as a fighter jet does or the space shuttle did. It sounds like a whip cracking which is exactly what the tip of a whip does when you whip it, it is moving faster than the speed of sound and makes a shock wave that is rather loud and reflects off of anything it moves past. A bullet moving faster than 1150 feet per second (depending on temperature) makes a shock wave the entire distance it is moving supersonic and this wave bounces off of anything nearby which accounts for the echoes you hear when shooting in the woods or at a rifle range.
So if I compare a subsonic 22lr to a high velocity 22lr, I get much less noise with the subsonic mostly due to the lack of a sonic boom and less in part to the lower powder charge. If I compare a standard subsonic 45 acp load shooting a 230 RN to a supersonic load with a 185 TMJ with the same powder charge, I also get much less noise due to the lack of a sonic boom. A suppressed subsonic 308 with a 12 grain charge is much less noisy than a supersonic 308 with a 45 grain load due to powder charge and n sonic boom.
A silencer designed by guesswork engineering (which almost all silencers are) might affect accuracy negatively o a degree.
Any silencer equipped with cone or K baffles is going to work well as long as it has enough volume. If it is mounted properly and has a symmetrical blast baffle it is very unlikely to degrade accuracy. You will need a very accurate rifle and good ammo to determine if it improves accuracy due to increased barrel tension in my opinion.
Just remember the negative effects if you plan on suppressing an auto loader e.g. increased parts wear/breakdown on recoil assemblies, bolt groups, etc.
The more efficient(quiet) the suppressor the more wear & tear on the rifle (or pistol).
This is not always so. If you are able to adjust gas pressure, recoil spring strength and/or buffer weight, then you will not get any significantly increased wear on the rifle at all.
Yes, but IMHO with sub-sonic ammo in a rifle you might as well be shooting a pistol caliber carbine or handgun.
I disagree. Most rifle bullets offer significantly better BC’s than a pistol bullet which is important when shooting past 200 yards subsonic due to the high arc. Accuracy in a rifle (in my hands) always beats a pistol.
Ranb