What makes a good silencer?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
I've just had my Ruger MkIII barrel threaded and I collect it tomorrow.

And, this time next week, I should be a bona fide, sub'ed up IPSC shooter.

This leaves me with the option of being able to buy certain accessories that are not available to the SD licence holder.

These include lasers and silencers. I want to buy the latter.
Prices vary greatly. I can pick one up for €25 or €300.

One model I am considering is about €70.
It is dismantleable for cleaning and the maker says he will refund if I find a quieter one.
A nice offer, but hard to prove one way or thte other, unless you can try a whole bunch FOC, with sound equipment handy, so possibly just marketing hot air...

It is nice and narrow and light, so the sights do not suffer.

Is it worth it? I don't know yet.
Partly, I'm trusting my range guys, but then they are selling it.

So, which characteristics should I look for when choosing a silencer, either in terms of perfromance, or in terms of longevity/durability.
I hope to research a bit other models that are available.
 
I'm in the USA so I have very little idea what is available where you are (Estonia? Finland?), but I can tell you what is important to me. No pistol with a typical 1"x6" (2.5cm x 15cm) is silent no matter how well it works; the short barrel on a pistol just lets out too much heat.

The most important is that it does not cover the sights, next is that it comes apart for cleaning as the 22lr will fill with gunk in several thousand rounds. It is a good idea for it to have a steel blast baffle (the first baffle) so that rapid semi-auto fire does not erode it too quickly. After that it is price and performance.

There should be some silencer users near you on http://www.silencertalk.com that can answer better than I can. Good luck.

Ranb
 
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I'm in Estonia!!

Thanks: those were some very good suggestions.

I looked at one today. €50 as opposed to €75, but only about 4-5 inches long and can't be taken apart.

The €75 model is about twice that and dismantleable.
I don't know if the first baffle is steel: I seem to recall they looked plastic, but I don't think the range guy had removed all the baffles.

I'll have to re-check before buying!
 
What is considered a good silencer in the USA where they are legal but strictly controlled and heavily taxed ($200 for each) and where they are lightly controlled and not taxed are literally continents apart.

Americans pay $150 (22lr) to $3500 (50 bmg) for each silencer (plus tax) as well as waiting 3-6 months for approval to make or buy. This means they want state of the art and a very durable product. If I was able to buy one for less than $100, I would only care about size, weight and suppression. After it was worn out from excessive heat or filled with gunk, I would just throw it away and get another one.

I understand that some 22lr silencers are made partly of delrin. If this is the case, hopefully it has some sort of blast baffle made of metal up front. Even aluminum will erode in a few hundreds rounds if you shoot fast.

If someone is trying to sell a plastic silencer, I would limit it to use on a bolt action rifle.

http://www.silencertests.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=36867
 
Well, although not a take down model, the ones I saw today were metal exterior and one was for the Sig Mosquito, so presumably it can handle semi pistol use.

I still have time to investigate: worst case I just borrow one for now.

Otherwise, I could just make one!!

I'm surprised that this is one aspect that is more tightly controlled over in the US than it is here!
I can make one, as long as I have a sports shooters licence to legally own one!!
 
I make my own to save money and because it is fun. It is simple to do so, but I still have to pay the same $200 tax and wait months for approval of the application.

The controls/tax put on machine guns, silencers and short rifles/shotguns back in 1934 was meant to be a de-facto ban. That pesky 2nd amendment got in the way I guess. That $200 tax back in 1934 is equal to about $3500 today, so I am surprised that Congress has not tried to increase it lately.

Ranb
 
Well, I picked up my threaded barrel on Friday and the shop let me put a few rounds through a silencer to see what the fuss was about.

I tried two.
One was hand made by some Finnish guy. It is long, like 25cm long, made out of plastic, with a removable baffle system for cleaning. All the baffles were some kind of plastic and when I quizzed the range guy about longevity he shrugged, saying that he uses one on his Mosquito and no baffles have failed, despite no steel plate. However, he did say that the first section of the silencer was some sort of blast chamber....

The second was hand made also, but by a local club owner. Simple, cheaper(er) and functional.

This longer model is allegedly, according to my range contact (who sells them), the "best silencer in the world"!!

True? Who knows... However, it is good. It was the better of the two. Both dull the shot to perfectly comfortable levels. Not a "Shhh" (;)), more of of a "piishh"!!

I'd like the better one, but at twice the price, I may just plum for the cheaper one....
 
Nearly 10 inches long, that is very large for a 22lr silencer. How wide is it? Hopefully not much more than 2.5 cm if you expect to use the original sights on the pistol and still see over the can. Can you measure the bore of the silencer with calipers and let us know what that it please?

That anyone would call a 22lr silencer that is greater than 10 inches long "the best in the world" is engaging in some serious hyperbole on their part. :)

Ranb
 
How wide is it? Hopefully not much more than 2.5 cm
Click to expand...

It was barely wider than the MkIII barrel at about 2cm, and very lighter.
The sights were by no means obscured.

In that respect it was great: I barely felt it was there.
 
Outside the US cheaper ones aren't a bad idea IMO. In the US a silencer that retails at $75 will cost me $275 after the tax and if it breaks I have to wait for paperwork again. Currently 6 months or more. There may be a steep transfer fee on top of that. As such, the cheapest ones many people buy here are about $250. My guess is you can walk into a gun shop and buy another. In that scenario I wouldn't pay nearly so much for one.
 
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