Comments on: Suppressors in Combat

By: Ivvenalis

Ivvenalis — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 05:05:50 +0000

My personal suspicion is that substantial (though not particularly extreme) regulation of suppressors in the civilian market has severely retarded their development. A lot of stuff that was only in widespread use by hobbyists — or even mall ninja bullshit — when I started paying attention to this stuff — like PMAGs and reflex sights — has led to real, if incremental, improvements.

Infantrymen will never carry subsonic rounds — they just don’t go far enough — but a six-inch suppressor on the end of an M4 would still be shorter overall than the M16s used for decades, and it would be easily removable if needed.

By: Dan Kurt

Dan Kurt — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 22:27:56 +0000

Suppressed rifles were used in the Viet Nam conflict with remarkable success and I am not writing just about sub-sonic rounds but full power ones. The supressor dropped the sound down enough that the actual firing could not be heard much more than about 30 meters away and definitely by 50 to 100 meters. The sonic boom or crack moved perpendicular to the bullet track so a round seemed to be coming 90° from its actual direction. ( Note: enemy troops behind the shooter would not be fooled. )

Read about this in: The Long-Range War: Sniping in Viet Nam, Peter R. Senich, Paladin Press,1994, Chapter 4 (The Suppressor and Sniper Rifle), Chapter 8 (Noise Suppression: The Silent War), and Chapter 10 (Silencers and Suppressors: The Sionics Legacy).

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 14:06:57 +0000

Suppressed .22 LR rifles have already been used successfully in war — and civil unrest. That said, I don't think the proposal is to switch over to tiny, unreliable rounds, but rather to switch to something like .300 Blackout, which won't be silenced by a suppressor, but which will be quieted down — and flash-suppressed — enough to leave any enemy guessing exactly where fire's coming from.

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 07:17:51 +0000

Suppressors are used by snipers and other long range shooters. They make a big difference escaping detection, and preventing evasion.

They make no sense for most soldiers who are looking for the shortest, handiest weapon to handle ranges under 200 yards.

Suppressed .22 LR weapons will not make it the battlefield. Underpowered. As are most all subsonic rounds.

I’ve shot a lot of suppressed weapons. They have their pluses and minuses.