GTW I N - D E P T H W I T H C A L W A R D
S U P P R E S S O R S : P A R T T W O
H O W M U C H D O W E R E A L L Y K N O W A B O U T T H E M ?
An improvised device to test whether a suppressed firearm could
be suppressed further met with mixed success – lagging the barrel
and suppressor with sound damping material inside a plastic pipe
produced a slight increase in suppression e iciency.
Ward’s fth law of
suppression is still
sort of being tested.
It states “Sound
damping materials have minimal
e ect on the noise of a suppressed
shot.” Many ranges have sound
proo ng or sound damping
materials in the walls which are
intended to protect the hearing of
those inside and outside the ring
point. From a suppression point
of view this is not very e ective.
An electronic engineer has o ered
the following explanation. “When
you re a shot inside a building,
you resonate the materials in the
walls and ceiling and the building
becomes a speaker”. It stresses
the importance of what I will call
“Primary Suppression”. In other
words, insulated range buildings
reduce the chances of gun re
annoying local residents but a good
suppressor probably does more.
Many considerate shooters
voluntarily and legally t their 30
calibre target ri es with factory
suppressors to minimise hearing
damage when using full-house
32 www.guntradeworld.com
target loads. But what about
subsonic .30 calibre loads? is
was recently and legally tested by
shooting some of the previously
mentioned 165 grain subsonic .30
calibre loads with cast bullets at
an open-air range. Several things
were immediately obvious: the
noise produced was surprisingly
low; accuracy at 100 yards was
marginal and disturbance at a
distance from the ring point was
almost zero. When the load and
velocities were increased, accuracy
improved enormously to the point
where, at 1,650 feet per second
accuracy almost equalled a target
bullet and noise disturbance when
using a suppressor was still quite
minimal. When these loads were
red at 300 yards accuracy was still
acceptable. Obviously a balance
can be struck between range,
velocity and suppression and full
power loads can, in some instances,
be replaced by reduced loads with
success.
Ward’s sixth law of suppression
states what is, by now, obvious:
“Large calibres can never be
Unlike the legions of
“Googlesperts”, the
author has actually
fired a suppressed
sub-machine gun -
in this case a 9mm
CZ Skorpion, while
the guest of CZ in
the Czech Republic.
It wasn’t as silent
as my 45 Mauser
and the noise in the
underground range
was quite loud.
Subsonic 165 grain loads from a .30 calibre
ri e with a light A-Tec suppressor are quite
silent, especially outdoors. They are ideal for
range use but illegal on deer.
suppressed to .22 levels even when
subsonic ammunition is used.”
Of course it leaves open the
question as to whether further
research into suppressor, ba e,
rearms and ammunition design
can produce improvement. It is
possible, especially with custombuilt
suppressors to incorporate
upgrades and improvements. An
excellent example is the addition
of one or more robust and precise
funnel-shaped ba es that improve
gas retention. Modern three and
four dimension CNC lathes
can execute amazingly complex
shapes and are being used in
the suppression industry. e
modern trend is to take levels
of suppression already achieved
and execute them in lighter more
compact designs. I sometimes
wonder whether suppressors using
modern research and design were
made larger and heavier would
even greater levels of suppression
be achieved. Such research is
likely to come from the USA and
Finland, where there are already
huge suppression industries.
Legislation makes it di cult to
design and produce suppressors in
the UK or Ireland. I believe we will
see such improvements; indeed I
hope we do as I have 18 per cent
hearing loss from a lifetime of
unsuppressed shooting and would
wish the like on no-one.
Ward’s seventh law of
Suppression states: “Suppression and
accuracy are in con ict and genius is
required to balance both.”
Back in the Viet Nam era, we
are told, the brave and tenacious
ghters of the Viet Cong used
guard dogs as a simple, cheap
and ingenious early warning
system against in ltration by US
special forces. e Americans,
who wanted to neutralise these
canine guards developed the
“Hush Puppy” pistol, which was
a 9mm, usually a Walther or a
Beretta Pistol with a suppressor
attached. Hence the name “Hush
Puppy.” e military came up with
a complex solution that achieved
a reduction from 160 decibels to
132 decibels and employed bre
“wipes” to retain propellant gases.
Ri e and pistol expert Cal Ward continues his detailed look
at suppressors in part two of our new technical series.
The most exciting development in recent
times is this Wildcat suppressor with a
modular multi-calibre design distributed by
Ardee Sports. It features shaped ba es and
interchangeable calibre modules.
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