Man In Florida Accused Of Trying To Use Potato As Silencer

[1911Tuner]

re:

MrBigStuff...Dunno about the ball bat, but I do know that an old lawn mower muffler sweat-soldered onto the end of a .22 rifle worked real well until my ol' man caught me with it and beat it flat with a big hammer. I don't remember much after that point...

And, yes. Construction of an attachable device with the intent of supressing the report of a firearm...even a quickie/makeshift device...is defined as a violation of federal law. It's the "Intent" part that gets ya.

 

[mete]

If Boofus was right about the heat absorbtion silencing the gun the the potato would be cooked !!! Heat absorbtio -bad science , potato silencing - bad science !!

 

[boofus]

Pressure is directly proportional to temperature. Volume is proportional to temperature. The less volume of gas and less pressure behind it that comes out the front end of a muzzle device the less noise it will make. That's why wet suppressors are quieter than dry ones.

Basic high school chemistry. PV=nRT

Maybe try moving to a state where you serfs are actually allowed to look at things like suppressors and maybe even own one yourself before making judgements on what is 'bad science'?

 

[Zen21Tao]

The less volume of gas and less pressure behind it that comes out the front end of a muzzle device the less noise it will make. That's why wet suppressors are quieter than dry ones.

It is actually the direct opposite. Look at your equation:

PV=nRT ~> P=nRT/V or 1/V x nRT~> let nRT=1
if V=1 then P=1, if V=10 then P=1/10. P decreses as V increases.


If I had to guess I would say that wet suppressors absorb heat working to reduce the T term in the equation. As temp decreases pressure would decrease.

Ultimately, it would seem to me that suppressors would either increase volume and/or decrease temperature to lower the pressure of the expanding gas as it escapes.

Also, If a suppressor works anything like a muffler it would create reflected waves that interfere with one another canceling each other out.

 

[joab]

Zen and Tuner hit on the point that I was trying to figure out.

Is the sin in the deed or the contemplation of the deed ?

 

[loose cannon]

if supressors were legal for regular joes here id have several,we're workin on it.

and nope i never conducted"experimentation"with feild expedient supressors either.that would be a federal felony and cost me my gun rights and ccw permits forever. i darn sure would'nt post it if i did.

1 reason i may move to ark or okla is their"can friendly"laws.

can want list;a paclite threaded upper for the 22/45 ruger,a threaded barrel for a g26 and a metric threaded 7.62 can for my milled ak.

 

[LadySmith]

beaucoup ammo...

Anyone have any experience with shooting inside and the impact on hearing?

Yes.
In my case, there was complete deafness for about 10-12 minutes. Afterwards, ringing in both ears for almost an hour. Fortunately, there wasn't any permanent damage. I used a S&W .357 model 686 with 158gr. JHP ammo. One shot from inside the bedroom of an apartment.

 

[beaucoup ammo]

Ouch!

Given your 1st hand experience, I find it amazing this aspect is totally over looked in TV and movies.. Actors are blazing away INSIDE and whispering to partners, etc. I'd expect more "WHAT?!" "HOWZAT AGAIN?!" if realism were a concern!

 

[Sinsaba]

I think you all have it totally wrong. It is quite obvious that this guy was making one of them there POTATO GUNS

 

[GTSteve03]

Given your 1st hand experience, I find it amazing this aspect is totally over looked in TV and movies.. Actors are blazing away INSIDE and whispering to partners, etc. I'd expect more "WHAT?!" "HOWZAT AGAIN?!" if realism were a concern!

"Blackhawk Down" actually made good use of the realism of hearing loss in part of the movie. One of the Ranger teams had a guy firing a SAW a few feet from the other guy's ears. The rest of the movie the other guy was talking really loud and his partner had to use hand signals to be understood.

Moral of this story is, don't shoot a SAW indoors!

 

[Midlander]

Have to agree with the movie thing.

I have watched people in films fire off maybe 50 or 60 rounds in small rooms in nothing more than a few minutes.

Outdoors this would hurt your ears and leave them ringing for an hour or two I reckon (at least).

Indoors I am pretty sure you would be deaf.

I always wondered about that Robocop film where he is being shot in the warehouse at the very beginning. Shotguns, pistols and automatic rifles being discharged by 4 or 5 guys all at the same time and not one deaf person amongst them at the end.

I feel sure in the real world one of them would at least say "are your ears ringing?"

 

[carnaby]

Ultimately, it would seem to me that suppressors would either increase volume and/or decrease temperature to lower the pressure of the expanding gas as it escapes.

They usually have all sorts of flow channels, don't they? That would lead to a lot of turbulence in the flow that would reduce its internal energy, thus cooling it and transferring a lot of heat to the supressor. This, coupled with the added volume would decrease the pressure of the gases before they exit the supressor.

I keep trying to think of another way to decrease the sound of a gun. All that noise sure isn't helping my ears any, even with plugs and muffs. My tinnitus is usually aggravated by an hour at the range, indoor or out, with full protection. I hear in gun-un-friendly Finland (used to be gun friendly) that silencers are the one gun thing that are not regulated. Hunters there use them all the time, supposedly. Argh

 

[jpmc]

Tried a oil filter on a 22 pistol once, worked really well for about 5 shots, then the dang thing caught on fire.

 

[nadeem]

you see in england those who do own rifles, it is considered a courtesy to shoot with a silencer

 

[Beachmaster]

If a potato works as a "silencer", then could you put some French fries down your barrel for concealed carry?

 

[Arethusa]

I once had to fire a round from inside a closed vehicle with a 357 snubbie - wasn't pleasant. Oddly enough, when I fired 6 rounds from an AK47 through the door-handle area of an up-armoured SUV (from inside the vehicle), my hearing was fine - the shots had no effect on my ears at all.

gop was joking, but I'm actually curious; was the AK incident after the snubby? I'm under the impression that a full size rifle will still be louder (by a lot) than a short barrel revolver, but I may be wrong. If the rifle was after, the .375 may've damaged your hearing enough that the AK wasn't as bad.

 

[Wes Janson]

I once had to fire a round from inside a closed vehicle with a 357 snubbie - wasn't pleasant. Oddly enough, when I fired 6 rounds from an AK47 through the door-handle area of an up-armoured SUV (from inside the vehicle), my hearing was fine - the shots had no effect on my ears at all.

Question: why did you shoot through the door handle area?

 

[cropcirclewalker]

I have thunk of trying this, but I fear my .gov, so have been afraid to try it.

Maybe somebody else has.....

Line up a bunch of beer cans in a piece of plastic PVC pipe (just big enough to slide the cans into) so that the pop tops are all on top and lined up.

Figger out a way to keep the cans from rotating like by taping the first in place and compressing the rest up against it.

Bolt the contraption to the end of your shooting bench and take a shot through the pop tops. That should allow you to sight over the top of the pvc (a scope would be better)

I can never get all the beer outa those cans so there would be some liquid in each.

The first shot should not be too accurate, but from then on, the bullet would be going through the same holes.

Would it work?

I don't think it's a crime to THINK about suppressors, especially if they are not attached to the firearm.

I could be wrong since IANAL.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

One, the potato silencer is not only a urban legend, but
it did appear in one of those Richard Roundtree type movies,
and yes, it allegedly works, but not as well as a purpose built
silencer.

Attaching a potato to the muzzle of a gun for the intention
of muffling the sound is a violation of the 1934 NFA if the
builder of the silencer has not pre-registered the potato
as a silencer on a BATF Form 1 and paid the appropriate
$200.00 tax. And at least one person has been prosecuted
for using a potato silencer.

The good news is that BATF FTB does not consider potatoes
not attached to firearm muzzles to be silencers, and possession
of a firearm and potatoes is not considered "constructive
possession" of an unregistered silencer.

The pillow used as a silencer is technically not attached to
the muzzle and might not be a 1934 NFA violation; however,
they are prone to catch fire from muzzle blast, and I would
suspect that a range officer would object to littering his
firing range with feathers.

 

[Vitamin G]

Once, like an idiot, I fired my 30-06 without muffs, simply because I forgot to put them on. They were sitting right next to me. I had no idea they weren't on, and wasn't expecting much noise. Oddly, it wasn't as loud to me as the 10mm with 135gr bullet and 14.0gr of bluedot* (Over maximum, see disclaimer that I don't want to cut and paste), but then again, i was expecting the 10mm blast, as my friend didn't see me without my muffs, and my hands weren't fast enough to my head.
It makes me think that it sounded a little bit like what people in combat perceive.

 

[carnaby]

Seems like a pumpkin would make a fairly good sound suppressor. Especially if you just wear it on your head.

 

[444]

Shooting Indoors/Shooting without hearing protection

I have gotten into many discussions on this board with people who are convinced that because a bullet is supersonic, a suppressor is not worthwhile.
They obviously don't think the subject through.
Let's say for whatever reason you were going to fire a centerfire rifle indoors. Maybe you are a member of a law enforcement tactical team, or maybe you are a homeowner confronting a psycho home invader, or maybe you are a USGI in harms way. Would you rather fire the rifle with a suppressor that completely eliminates muzzle blast, and suppresses the report of the weapon down to that of less than a .22 rifle; or would you rather just forget the suppressor because you read on The High Road all about the noise of a supersonic bullet ?

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

 

[chopinbloc]

That's why wet suppressors are quieter than dry ones.

wet cans are pretty much a thing of the past now. as far as i can tell, all the newer models from the more respected manufacturers are dry can models. the only ones i have fired are the aac pilot on a p22 (very james bondish cool) and a knight's armament corp. product on an m-4 (not sure what model but it was very effective). both were dry cans.

 

[50caliber123]

ok. I did not try the pop bottle silencer with my 9mm carbine using 147gr subsonic Blazer rounds. It would work though. Not a complete silence, but not so noisy that it sounds like a gunshot. It is definently different. Probably good for one shot.

 

[Master Blaster]

Now potatos do make excellent sound suppressors....

You just have to buy ones that are small enough to fit inside your ears....