How do suppressors work?

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IF your looking for advice on how to build one, my advice is don't, it's just a hair illegal without the stamp (see below).

They make the loud bang a gun makes less loud, they usually cost about $200 to $400 (for the actual harware) and are only able to be purchased after you pay the Feds $200 for a tax stamp and are apporved by your local LEO provided they are even legal in your state.
 
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what a suppressor does is slow a bullet down to a speed less then that of the speed of sound. That way no sonic boom created by the bullet. Is that the answer you were looking for?
 
NEGATIVE, on the bullet slow down "theory". To fully realize the potential sound reduction a suppressor is capable of you need to use SUBSONIC ammo, subsonic ammo is slower than the speed of sound to begin with, supersonic ammo is not slowed down below subsonic speed by a suppressor. A suppressor uses internal baffles to reduce sound. [and little rubber tires to slow down the bullet, the kind they use on roller coasters to slow it down at the end of the ride, only really tiny ones]
 
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It works like the muffler on your car by using a series of baffles and chambers to break up the sound waves of a shot. To be effective, you use sub-sonic rounds with them or else you will still get that Crack as the bullet breaks the sound barrier. Sorry for all the non-High Road responses you have gotten. I am surprised no admins have spoken up.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppressor yeah read up. They certainly do slow down the bullet, the boom that you hear is not the powder exploding it is the bullet breaking the sound barrier. I have taken some physics classes and such and believe me.....things that break the sound barrier are loud it takes immense amounts of energy to move an object faster then sound.
 
They certainly do slow down the bullet
Click to expand...

Dude, I can't think of anything High road to say about this.. So I'll just say You're wrong... You're so wrong, you need to re-read the article you posted yourself.

Suppressors DO NOT slow down the round. They redirect the gases leaving the barrel and muffle the sound, that's it.

If you use supersonic ammunition, you still get the "crack" even with a suppressor... If you use subsonic ammo, you do not.
 
If memory serves, there were some old designs (perhaps Maxim?) that utilized rubber baffles that the bullet had to pass through and physically contact; however the intention of these baffles was not to actually slow the bullet, just slow the gasses. Same follows with more modern designs using all-metal construction though the bullet is not supposed to actually contact any of these baffles. The baffles inside the tube are designed to slow down the gasses produced by the burning powder, not the bullet itself.
 
From the article that jorg posted........
"Several alert readers have written to point out that a bullet that travels at supersonic speeds cannot be silenced because the bullet creates its own little sonic boom as it travels. Many high-powered loads travel at supersonic speeds. The silencer can remove the "uncorking" sound, but not the sound of the bullet's flight."

from the wiki
"It generally takes the form of a cylindrically shaped metal tube with various internal mechanisms to reduce the sound of firing by slowing the escaping propellant gas and sometimes by reducing the velocity of the bullet.[1][2]"

its simple science, that is all.
 
Pat86323 - is not the bullet that is slowing, but the gasses escaping behind it. By increasing the area in which the gas is being contained, it will decrease in temp. I think it is Boyles law in chemistry. It is the same theory that your AC works on. Anyways... the slightly less hot gasses then (still hot to the touch, but not as hot as it was) is moving slower. It then gets passed through baffles before being ejected through the end of the supressor. It works exactly like your car muffler works. With a supressor on, you might actually see a small, statistically insignificant, increase in velocity because the bullet is under pressure longer. The crack will be there as the bullet transcends the sonic barrier (with supersonic ammo) at the end of the barrel (no air to crack to speak of in the barrel). With subsonic ammo, you can get quieter than a .22lr. Some larger cans can get supersonic ammo that quiet... well .30 cal rifle ammo at least.

A supressor that slows the bullet will wear out quickly... one that only slows the gasses will last 10 of thousands of rounds longer before wear affects noise reductions.

-edit- I was wrong, it is Charle's Law, not Boyle's Law.
 
Perhaps I missed the memo; when did Wikipedia (an online "encyclopedia" anyone can edit) become an acceptable end-all reference? None of my college professors ever let us cite Wikipedia...

What you initially stated was that suppressors slow the speed of a bullet, which they do not. In your response to the questions raised by your first you use "they" to refer to suppressors. Using "they" typically means you are lumping all types and forms into one group that works the same way, this is not true. To back up your claim you use "...reducing the velocity of the bullet" however you leave off the "...sometimes..."
 
its simple science, that is all.
Click to expand...

Yup.. There may have been one suppressor some time in history that slowed down the rounds, but modern suppressors DO NOT.

Read the ENTIRE ARTICLE. Find one example of a modern suppressor design that lowers the velocity of the bullet.

ONE..

I dare you.
 
here is the fact, if something is moving faster then the speed of sound which is approx 1700 feet per second at normal temperature (it actually changes quite alot depending on surrounding temperature) it will produce a sonic boom. If anyone has a design of anything that will prevent something faster then sound from making a sonic boom they should immediately send me the design so i can stop working and going to school. Sonic booms are quite loud so in some cases for a suppressed sound it is REQUIRED for the bullet to slow down. Im not here to argue so i wont. If anyone wants me to explain how this works further pm me as im not going to hijack the thread.

Again, its just simple science.
 
I think you're making the assumption that suppressors completely quiet and muffle the sound of a shot; they do not. Even suppressed firearms require the use of hearing protection precisely because the bullet is still going faster than the sound barrier and making that "crack." Suppressors do little more than muffle the sound of the expanding gasses exiting the muzzle and have little to nothing to do with the bullet itself.
 
again take i have no plans on arguing. I never said that Wiki articles were the end all, i simply used it as a little backup since it was the first thing i found. Im not writing a paper for college, if i was i would have done more then 20 seconds of research. I have little to go on other then what i have learned from science classes and what i picked up from a weapons special on the discovery channel. Things that go faster then sound go boom.....period. No internet discussion will ever change my mind on that. Yes the suppressors quiet gasses, however in order to get the sound down any more you have to get the bullet speed down.
 
You are missing the point, a weapon with a suppressor firing supersonic ammo is quieter than the same weapon firing supersonic ammo without a suppressor due to the suppression of the gases "the boom part". The same weapon with a suppressor firing SUBSONIC ammo can be almost as quiet as an airgun (no boom and no supersonic "crack" to deal with as the ammo is already slower than the speed of sound) and the sound of the action.
 
yes i would.... a subsonic round moves slower then the speed of sound....thus eliminating the sonic boom and reducing sound. Im not stupid and know where you are going with this. I understand that there is still a need for a suppressor to reduce the sound of the expanding gasses escaping. However by forcing the gasses to go out in many directions you have removed energy from behind the bullet. if you dont believe me go outside right now and get your garden hose..... put a spray nozzle on it, then turn the hose on. Examine how much water is coming out how fast. Then go back inside and get a knife.....poke a hole through the hose about a foot back observe that the amount of energy being released through the nozzle is now reduced. Need more proof? Keep poking holes. I understand that this thing functions as a baffle for expanding gas, i get it.....really i do.
 
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pat, most supressors don't put a hole in the barrel. It uses all of the original barrel, and then adds length (which actually keeps the pressure behind the bullet up for a microscopic amount of time, therefore adding a few fps to speed, not deducting it). Some people do lose velocity when they use a supressor, but that is because they cut the barrel length down so that the rifle's overall length isn't absurd. The gasses still come out the end of the barrel, and they don't escape before the end of the barrel. As long as you are using the full length of the original barrel, adding a can will not slow your shot down on a modern design. I could be wrong, but you are still getting the same amount of gasses out the end of the barrel... unless there is a design that requires you to puncture your barrel without plugging that hole back up in order to use the can. I wouldn't expect much more decrease from that than magna porting a barrel or adding a muzzle brake. These devices attach at the end of the barrel... so you should have the same pressure all the way up to the end of the muzzle as you did before.
 
Lets make this simple... anyone have chrono'd data from before and after they added a suppressor to their gun/rifle for the same loadings (commercial or hand)??
 
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