doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com 220 SWift

I hope any purist reading this will not throw up his hands in horror at my daring to put my Ruger here but after all it is a Mk1 and certainly custom built.
Joking aside just wanted to share with you the affects that a silencer can have on accuracy.
Bought this rifle off the internet because it was cheap and I already had dies and cases.
Put a scope on it and headed for the range on Sunday.
Six shots and I was on target, two five shot groups were very so so and screwed on the silencer for my last four shots and we had lift off with a just a shade over a 3/8 inch group from a bog standard rifle except for a decent bedding job.
The silencer dropped the group down by a good two and a half inches.
I couldn't seat the bullet anywhere near the lands.
Regards, Roly.

Not bad at all, I wish we could get a silencer (suppressor) here without so much paperwork.

I shot one about a year ago and it was fun, only a .22-LR but real quite, it was a Ruger bolt gun with a built-in suppressor. They are all a lot quieter than when I was young.

Sound suppressors or 'Silencers' only work effectively when the bullet fired is sub-sonic. In rifles where the velocity of the bullet exceeds the speed of sound it's hardly worth the money or trouble involved. You may suppress a part of the sound but the bullet will still make a sonic boom. Suppressors are really best left to crime writers and film makers who have no knowledge of firearms anyway. The only suppressors that really work, are those on .22 rimfire rifles firing sub-sonic ammo. Forget what you see on TV or Hollywood films, it all a lot of bunk. Years ago when I hunted Rabbits and Vermin with a .22 rifle fitted with a sound suppressor, and using the correct ammo all you would hear on firing was the click of the firing pin hitting the rim of the ammunition.

Harry

Hi Harry, whilst I agree that a silencer will only work effectively with sub sonic ammunition and a lot of interest over the past few years in NZ in specialized 30 calibre sub sonic rifles I disagree with you saying silencers on centrefire rifles is all a lot of bunk.
The Ruger shown has a twenty four inch barrel and the over barrel silencer ( I still call them silencers because thats what they were called when I was a young guy ) is thirteen and a half inches long and a noticeable reduction is noise is achieved when you use a silencer like this.
As a range officer at my local club range I see more shooters using silencers these days and the difference when they are firing alongside a non silenced rifle is very plain to see or rather to hear.
NZ hunting magazines often show photo's of hunters using silencers these days either hunting Tahr or Chamois in the mountains or after deer in the bush.
It would also appear that silencers do tend to tighten groups on rifles.
Regards, Roly.

Supressors (Silencers)
Suppressors may not be used to hunt game animals, game or nongame birds. Beginning Nov. 1, 2012, landowners hunting on their own property and guests of those landowners will be permitted to use supressors.

Taken from the new Oklahoma hunting regulations. Non game animals (including hogs) may be taken with a suppressed firearm.

So just how loud is the sonic boom of a bullet? I am very familiar with the sounds of bullets passing overhead or close by, but the boom concept is hard to put in context.

The crack of a bullet passing overhead is the sonic "boom" of the bullet. Small missile, small sound signature.

I put a couple of boxes of .308 through a suppressed bolt action and it was MUCH more comfortable to shoot on the covered range I shoot at. The galvanized steel roof reflects so much sound back down on you it almost hurts. The concussion of the sound was absent, and I felt like I could shoot it all day.

I've read that the rifles used for stag hunting in Scotland are suppressed to preserve the ghillie's hearing.

Once upon a time having a suppressor in England was looked at with askance by the authorities and had to be put on a firearm license along with a rifle as I think they still are but it would appear that times are changing in England in that one of the ministries dealing with health and safety think its a good idea now to save hearing loss and its now PC and you are not a potential terrorist.
A centre fire rifle with a decent suppressor can bring the noise level down to as if you were firing a 22R/F but of course you don't get rid of the crack of the bullet as it goes through the sound barrier.
Instead of a tin can hanging off the end of a barrel, in NZ suppressors tend to be over barrel or even the full length of the barrel.
Regards, Roly.

Last night at our monthly Deerstalkers club night our guest speaker was a guy who runs a small business making sound moderators from stainless steel and as NZ has only a population of four and a half million most of his out put goes offshore. 40% going to the UK.
From what he told us the Police in the UK refused a rifle owner permission to acquire a sound moderator on the grounds that he couldn't give good cause for requiring one. In the Uk you have to belong to a rifle club for target shooting or own land or have access to land to own a rifle and they are not going to give you a license for a 308 just to shoot rabbits.
It would appear this chap took the Police to court to be able to own one and won his case claiming loss of hearing and since then the Police have not had a reason to refuse ownership of one, although it still has to go on your license.
I used to have a Parker hale one on my little Greener martini for rabbit shooting forty odd years ago when I lived in England. Still got it, one of the best made.
In NZ we can just buy one off the shelf, no restrictions.
Regards, Roly.