I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

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wm
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I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by wm »

I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but I have seen pictures of range facilities that incorporate a large barrel, open ended, mounted on a stand at the end of a shooting bench with a lining of insulation to act as a sort of noise reduction device.


Does anyone here have any experience with these home made items? Tell me about your experience, any lessons or insights you can pass along would be appreciated. I'm thinking of doing two or three of them with some scouts as a project and learning exercise about sound dynamics and being a courteous neighbor (doing what you can to keep noise down when shooting).

If you can't picture what I am desribing here is a video of someone elses work I hope to emulate or improve on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ9nd6p_9Y4


Wm.
Pete44ru
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by Pete44ru »

.

IME - any straight "pipe" or "tube", lined with fire-retardent insulation held in by a metallic mesh will act like the muffler on a vehicle does - BUT the RO must be vigilant about the insulation catching fire, anyway.

The surpressor's I.D. needs to be large enough to allow sighting at a given range - IOW, longer ranges will require larger a diameter to allow for significant high barrel angles.

The muzzle of the firearm should be positioned at least 6" inside a 48" long tube, preferable through about a 3" hole in a rear end cap, or the suppression will be less effective.

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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by Sixgun »

I've made several of them...one was made with a 55 gallon drum. I had plywood baffles every 6" with a "window" cut in each baffle with the window getting progressively smaller towards the end. First window was about a foot sq and ended up being about 8". After using it for 20 years I gave it away and built this one which works just as well........a piece of pasture fence rolled up with a slight cone shape...with the smaller end visible in the pic. Wrapped a mess of foam rubber around it and then a water heater insulation blanket. It's 4' long.

If the velocity is below the speed of sound you don't hear hardly nothing. If it's above you hear the crack.

You could make it longer, wider and with more insulation but like I said, you will never get away from the sonic crack.

I have some metal gongs set out at 142 yards and even with 45-70's going 1100 the only thing you hear is a thump and the bullet hitting the metal. Using subsonic .22 a person standing 15' away won't hear much of anything.----6


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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by AJMD429 »

Yep - they work great. Just don't "physically attach" them to your gun, or you've violated the NFA... :roll:
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by harry »

“Using subsonic .22 a person standing 15' away won't hear much of anything.”
Maybe you should have them stand off to the side. 8)
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claybob86
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by claybob86 »

Depends on the person...
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bmtshooter
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by bmtshooter »

Does a suppressor have to be physically attached to a host gun to be a suppressor?
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oldAG
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by oldAG »

I have a feeling that the variety which you attach to your firearm, and pay a tax for, will be a suppressor.
The other type, of all sorts of shape and size, which you shoot through might best be called a "sound moderator".

On the topic of moderators, I saw one, a long time ago, that was made up of a rather long line of discarded tires that were all of similar diameter placed side by side to form a tunnel, covered with earth. At the farthest end of the tunnel was an earthen berm that targets could be placed in front of. There was a reasonable sized gap between the exit of the tunnel and the berm so that natural light fell on the target and ready access was available for target changing. Shooting through that moderator with any of our usual hunting rifles never caused a disturbance in the neighborhood. The internal baffling was, in essence, the same design as a lot of the currently used suppressors. A novel way to recycle a not easily disposed of "waste" product. Not much wind to contend with, either :D
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by bmtshooter »

Recycling tires in that manner sounds like an elegant solution to two problems, and I am tempted to construct one. On second thought, around my place it would soon become a rattlesnake haven. :( In my case, portable would make more sense.
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by mikld »

A friend of mine used a "muffler" similar to the ones in this discussion. He was shooting competitively and liked to practice in his garage. Apparently it worked enough to keep his neighbors satisfied (he had some good neighbors, mebbe related, that knew he was a gun nut. They also came to his house during one or two of the LA riots, for safety).
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Re: I'm not sure what to call them, suppressor I suppose is close, but .......

Post by Sixgun »

oldAG wrote: Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:54 am I have a feeling that the variety which you attach to your firearm, and pay a tax for, will be a suppressor.
The other type, of all sorts of shape and size, which you shoot through might best be called a "sound moderator".

On the topic of moderators, I saw one, a long time ago, that was made up of a rather long line of discarded tires that were all of similar diameter placed side by side to form a tunnel, covered with earth. At the farthest end of the tunnel was an earthen berm that targets could be placed in front of. There was a reasonable sized gap between the exit of the tunnel and the berm so that natural light fell on the target and ready access was available for target changing. Shooting through that moderator with any of our usual hunting rifles never caused a disturbance in the neighborhood. The internal baffling was, in essence, the same design as a lot of the currently used suppressors. A novel way to recycle a not easily disposed of "waste" product. Not much wind to contend with, either :D

If I was going to build another one.....the ABOVE is how I would do it. I've read and talked to people about the tire method and it seems to be the best. The only negativity I could find was water accumulation (stagnation) and bees/wasps, all of which could easily be taken care of with a little maintenance.

Because 95% of my home shooting is with subsonic ammo, I was thinking a smaller version of the tire tunnel....common sense tells me to stop at local lawn mower shops and get a dozen or so tires from small trailers, mowers..........say, about enough to make it 4-6' in length with the smallest tire opening about 8" and the biggest about a foot. I find this size makes it easy to sight through, with tang sights, scopes,,,whatever and still have enough clearance for side vision.

On to side vision.......in my experience.........while shooting through an outside "suppressor" such as we are discussing, it's NECESSARY TO FOCUS on the intended recipient of our lead and dogs, cats, people, whatever can easily walk into your path. We have lots of dogs and I need several yards of side vision so something does not walk into your path. But that's me, your needs may be different.----6
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