What you hear on the range isn't what you hear

M

Mobuck

Moderator
in the field.

Some of the info and/or video recording stuff is a bit deceiving as to how suppressors really perform in the open. Of course some folks only shoot on a range but I use the mufflers for various types of hunting and have found the "sound level" varies according to weather, wind, and background.
When choosing a can, your usage may allow some choices beyond just the "quietest" or most efficient.

My Grandson shot a deer during youth season with the 6x45mm using the 30 cal Harvestor muffler. Son heard the "whoosh or hiss" of the bullet but not the muzzle blast from 1/2 mile away in the still nearly dead silence of the early morning.
Granddaughter shot a buck with the shorty 300AAC using the same muffler during late afternoon with some wind and dry moving air and observers 1/4 mile away heard nothing.
Bullet speed was a factor but from personal observation, supersonic bullet sound is more noticeable than muzzle blast even when shooting smaller bullets through a 30 cal muffler.
 
Is this like the old saying "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see" ?
 
Dano,

Rifle rounds are supersonic. Because they are supersonic, the bullets actually make a supersonic "boom" or "crack" as they travel through the air. In addition, even subsonic bullets make a ripping/tearing/whooshing/zipping noise as they pass through the air.

A silencer/muffler/moderator/suppressor can reduce the muzzle blast (the sound of high-pressure gases escaping out of the muzzle behind the bullet) but it can't do anything about the supersonic crack or the noise of the bullet passing through the air.

Trying to reproduce the relative volume of the various types of shooting noises on video or audio is nearly impossible as virtually all recording/playback devices are going to reduce very loud noises and probably amplify very quiet noises as part of the recording playback process. This means that on a video of someone shooting a gun, their voice might sound just as loud as the report of the firearm they are shooting. And the supersonic crack probably isn't distinguishable from the muzzle blast near the firearm.
 
I dropped two antelope within about 5 minutes last month. There was snow on the ground, which is arguably a modifier, but not a huge one.
.270 Win 18.5" w/ Harvester .300 suppressor and Hornady American Whitetail 130 gr. (I normally shoot reloads, but I was in a pinch.)

Myself and my brother next to me thought the report sounded like a (supersonic) .22 Short out of a rifle. The bullet impact was louder (even at 350-400 yd).

My other brother, about 300 yards away and with no line of sight to me but almost line-of-sight to the animals, only heard the bullet impact on the animal closest to him. He didn't hear the first impact or either report.
My father, about 450 yards away (better position), heard nothing. He had no idea that I had fired, let alone that I had dropped two goats with two shots several minutes apart.

Their shots (unsuppressed)? We heard everything ... even from 1/2 mile away.
 
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