in the movies firearms fixed with "silencers" go "phfft" when discharged. well, i am here to tell you that this ain't necessarily so, babe. nope, it ain't necessarily so.
in actual fact, "silencers" do not exist that will "silence" the discharge of a weapon firing full power rifle ammunition at 45,000 psi plus, nor do "silencers" exist that will "silence" the discharge of a full power pistol round.
what such devices do do, and what they can do, is attenuate the noise associated with the discharge of a firearm, or gun, if you prefer. in point of physical fact, a high powered rifle will generate somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 or so decibels when fired without an attenuator, and will generate some 40 to 50 decibels less when fitted with a reasonably sized noise attenuator. it is also a fact, that this is a very significant noise reduction, and can, in some circumstances decrease the noise of a firearm going off quite enough so that it is difficult for those being shot at to locate with any precision the person who has just shot at them.
there is some disagreement as to what a "noise attenuator" actually does that makes it difficult for a person being shot at to locate the shooter. in general, a silencer works by absorbing the heat energy from the incandescent gas propelling a bullet after the bullet leaves the muzzle of a gun. the silencer works both to impede, or delay the powder gases entry into the open atmosphere, also attempts to make the path of such gases "longer" to reach the atmosphere (further delaying it), and in some measure works to absorb heat and pressure from the gases (this is actually two sides of the same coin, as compressing a gas heats it, and a gas heated in a closed vessel increases in pressure.) as a gas expands in volume, it decreases in both pressure and heat. the noise attenuator attempts to perform as much of this function within a limited closed volume before the propellant gases reach the atmosphere.
that it does so relatively well gives witness to the fact that they will take about 40-50 decibels of energy from the report of a rifle upon discharge, but that they cannot do so is evidenced by the 100 to 120 decibel noise level still remaining.
enter the whisper cartridge.
i do not have access to the scientific instruments required to measure the decibel level of the muzzle report of my little 6.8mm remington spc "whisper."*** but, i can tell you from experience, that standing 20 or 30 feet from the muzzle the report does not exceed that of a .22 long rifle cartridge, fired from a rifle. if it does, it is not by much. and, since i can tell you that my loads are traveling about 850 to 900 fps about 12 or 15 feet from the muzzle, they are not creating any sonic "boom" as they do not approach the speed of sound, at all.
so, it is pretty quite. i am examining & considering what might be done to do this, without spending the nearly $2,000 that some high end silencers, or noise attenuators cost. other silencers are less expensive, but, it is still ridiculous how much they cost for what they are. (hint: hiram maxim, the inventor of the maxim machine gun, also developed the muffler for the automobile. the function is identical, in scientific principle.)
midas should be so lucky to sell its mufflers, which are just as sophisticated at these noise attenuators, for the same price.
i have a friend who also is interested in the whisper type cartridge, primarily for pest control without alarming or disturbing the neighbors. he is of a distinctly scientific bent, and, definitely tightfisted as dictated by circumstances.
now, understand something as you read the following. the discussion below is largely theoretical, and is also constrained by the domestic law of your resident state and the strictures of the national firearms act, as interpreted and regulated by the bureau of alcohol, firearms and tobacco. you may refer to the feds generically as the "revenuers" if you wish.
your state will tell you outright whether you may buy, sell, possess or use silencers by the terms of its criminal code. with the feds, it is all about money. they don't say that you cannot own or use an automatic weapon or silencer, they just say that upon the sale, purchase, possession or use of the same (the specifics depending) you have to buy a little stamp and pay a little tax associated with the above. i am not giving legal advice, but, be aware, that to sell, purchase, acquire other effect the transfer or manufacture of a noise attenuator or silencer, there is a tax of about $250, accompanied by an application procedure that should leave you about the age of methuselah by the time they get around to approving it.
and, if you violate the terms and provisions of these regulations, then you can be criminally prosecuted even though you have done not one other thing of a criminal nature.
hey, it's why we love the bastards, right?
so, understand, that the below considerations are theoretical, as neither i nor my friend has actually made a silencer, or other similar device. we have talked about it, however, and to the best of my knowledge, it remains a free country.
keep that in mind when 2012 rolls around, and vote the current regime out of office, along with their tyrannical little minions, who seem to congregate at atf. also keep in mind, that if you discuss doing illegal things, and then you take a substantial step past the discussion stage towards the completion of an illegal act, that that is also criminal to the feds, and comes potentially under the heading of conspiracy.
so, understand, that if they come to talk to you about these things, they are not your friends, and they will not bring coffee and doughnuts.
that in mind.--
most ar-type firearms available to civilian purchase come threaded for the attachment of a flash hider to the end of a barrel. a flash hider is designed to hide the visual signature of the discharge of a firearm, and guess how it does it. well, it redirects the direction of a flash, and it exposes the escaping hot incandescent gas of the propellant stream to as much metal surface and mass as possible, thereby attempting to absorb heat energy, sufficient to take the gas to a temperature below the incandescent stage (eliminate illumination, in other words.)
let me see. redirect gas column. reduce heat from gas column. yes, it results somewhat in a reduction of the noise signature, as well. no, miracle of miracles, flash hiders are legal, and they are not considered to be silencers according to the national firearms act, nor according to the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms.
go figure. the upshot is that flash hiders are not illegal, and not regulated at the point of sale & purchase by the incidence of any required federal taxation.
and, here in the interesting point. certain manufacturers of noise attenuators, such as sure fire, make flash hiders that accept the mount and dismount of noise suppressors, attenuators, silencers and this is considered legal. you may purchase a flash hider that will accept mounting a silencer, and there is nothing wrong with it.
nor could i find anything in the n.f.a. that prohibits you or i from making a device that will accept the mounting of a silencer. keep in mind, however, that if you make such a device, and then put a homemade silencer on it, then you will be in violation of the strictures of the n.f.a. and atf regulations regarding the manufacture of the silencer, unless you pay the tax as required under the statute.
kapish?
now, is it possible to make a silencer that will work with a full powered round? sure, the manufacturers do it. but, remember, they take about 40-50 decibels out of the muzzle blast, and it probably costs them a whole bunch to do it, witness the $1800 price retail. hey, even those guys gotta put shoes on the kiddies and panties on the wives, and feed the faces of the daddies.
can you make such things from 2-liter coke bottles, or plastic, or pvc. no, you cannot. the residual gas pressure at the muzzle of a high powered rifle is about 10 to 12,000 lbs. look to your materials handbooks, and you will find that this figure greatly exceeds the burst and yield strengths of such things as coke bottles, and pvc pipes, etc. in short, you would blow a device made from such things to shreds on the first shot.
again, enter my little 6.8mm remington spc.
i have fired it in the gloaming dusk, and it makes no fire ball of incandescent gas. the muzzle gases, as they leave the barrel from my little round do not make light in the normal visible spectrum available to human sight. the question becomes, would they make a visual signature capable of being picked up by night sight equipment, which measures heat energy. well, if a human body at 98.6 degrees fahrenheit is detectable by an infrared signature device, what do you think? eh?
and, my little 6.8mm remington spc doesn't make more noise than a .22 long rifle. as i walk to the shooting range each day, on my little heart healthy circuit, i have notice that on a calm day i can hear the report of a .22 from over 1/4 mile, ... , it sounds just like a cobbler hammering tacks into a shoe. if you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't here it, but, you can.
i also did something else at the shooting range, and that was to fire my 6.8mm remington spc "whisper" holding the muzzle about 1/2 inch away from some cardboard backing. it did not result in the backing being burned, or scorched, and, as a matter of fact, all that it did was deposit a very thin layer of soot like debri on the cardboard, and some other particulate that did not penetrate the outer surface of paper, like a smudge, and could be wiped off with the a finger tip.
i am convinced of this that an ordinary automobile oil filter, straight from the box, could be used as a noise attenuator to further reduce the noise signature and visual signature of the discharge of a round like the 6.8mm rem. spc.
an automobile oil filter is designed to withstand from 300 to 350 psi load from the pressurized oil distribution system in a car engine. now, that is a constant & continuous load, over time, and while it does not sound nearly so strong as the 10 to 12000 lbs per square inch of a full powered rifle shot, remember that this pressure load is a peak load, and that it last for well under 1/1500's of a second or so.
and i know, that my little 6.8mm rem. spc is not generating anything near that kind of pressure or heat, because of the reduced muzzle blast and the absence of hot powder gases at the muzzle, most of the powder having been consumed by the time the bullet reaches the muzzle, and most of the heat energy already having disappeared or having been absorbed at that time. this is further evidenced by the fact, that there is insufficient energy for the gas system of the ar-15 to unlock the bolt, and move it from battery most of the time, or, if it does, it will not move the bolt back far enough to eject a round. hey, there isn't enough pressure in the barrel to do this. no pressure, no heat. no heat and pressure, relatively little muzzle blast.
in theory, all one would have to do would be to make an fitting that would screw onto the end of an ar-15 muzzle, which uses a stand 1/2" diameter thread, 28 pitch. my 6.8mm remington spc uses the 1/2" diameter thread, with a 36 pitch. no, i don't understand, and it beats the shit out of me. .308 caliber bores uses a 5/8" inch thread, 24 pitch, something along that line.
a standard screw on oil filter for an american car uses a 13/16" thread, 13 pitch, which is a pretty standard coarse threading. make a metal part, put a female 1/2" 28 pitch thread for the barrel end, a male 13/16" thread 13 pitch for the other end, put a hole in the end of the automobile oil filter, and you have a poor man's muzzle flash hider and "silencer," for about $5.00.
do not comply with the n.f.a. statute and the a.t.f. regulations and taxes as mentioned above, and you have a federal prison term and a substantial fine, court costs and court appointed attorney's fee to pay to boot. hey, it happens. i know a guy from my hometown, punched an asshole irs agent who barged into his home over a tax issue, and he went to federal prison. i was present in court with a client for a sentencing, and watched a guy get nine months in federal prison for cutting fir trees off of a bonneville power line right of way, ... , theft of christmas trees. it makes no difference that b.p.a. thinned them, and left them for waste. at that same hearing, i watched another lawyer successfully steer his client past a federal theft charge. his offense. he took a piece of basalt rock to landscape his house from a federal reservation, and turned himself in when he realized what he had "done." you should know, that in the pacific northwest, great lava flow deposited basalt lava over the columbia basin from the troy/enterprise flow, to a depth exceeding in some spots 1 mile. the basalt is so thick over the rest of the earth's crust out here, that the earth's surface is depressed from weight. one basalt rock, and the federal prosecutor wanted to put the guy in jail.
friends, you cannot expect one ounce of sense or compassion from the federal authorities if you violate the stupidest, most minuscule regulations. you have to be smart to be a federal prosecutor or a federal agent, but you do not need one fucking ounce of sense or understanding. fortschrift is fortschrift, just like the germans, if i remember my german correctly.
they ceased being our friends and protectors, a long, long, long time ago.
so, that's it.
the poor man's silencer, or muzzle blast attenuator.
just remember, you make one illegally, without proper application or payment of fee, even as i have described from a $5.00 automobile oil filter, and you are gonna do the hokey pokey in federal jail. simple as that.
hey, i don't make this stuff up. now, you wanna do it clandestinely, that is your business. just be aware, though you can do it, and do it very easily, if you don't do it legally, there are repercussions. there could be, of course, times when you might not give a shit about those repercussions though, and in the defense of our liberties, such things are good to know.
john jay @ 04.19.2011
*** "whisper" is a trademarked patented development of j.d. jones of ssk enterprises, and i use the term in homage to him, and at his forebearance & pleasure. you can google j.d. jones and ssk enterprises, go to his website, and learn a whole bunch of stuff relative to what i am talking about.
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