Totally off the wall question, which I realize probably isn’t very meaningful, but I was watching a movie where a character was using a suppressed rifle. Looked like an AR/.223 (I assume).

Well it got me thinking - how much can a given gun be suppressed (decibel reduction) before performance is significantly reduced (I assume it must impact performance, even if just a little since it’s attenuating sound waves, which are energy, but what do I know?).

I’m sure it varies by round/load, barrel length, etc, so let’s assume a subsonic .223 round in a 14" barrel (is that a common lenth?). Or if you know a specific case that’s fine too.

Surely there are reasons why a given suppressor is chosen for a specific use case, and I don’t know enough to see that (diminishing returns for length/weight?)

I tried asking chatgpt, but it just returned generic suppressor info.

  • @Tehdastehdas
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    22 days ago

    There are ways to stop any gas from escaping the barrel, meaning complete silencing of that noise. For example, captive piston ammo, which I bet someone has developed into a captive piston suppressor to let the bullet accelerate longer.

    Mechanical and bullet flying noises will remain.