Silencers are very badly named honestly. A "silenced" gun is still very loud, it's just moderately quieter than an unsilenced one. People watch movies and TV shows and play videogames that make it seem like a silenced gun barely makes any noise at all and think that's reality. That is very much not reality, it just makes for a more entertaining story.

[–] Plopp 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Are you telling me a silenced gun doesn't make a sneaky zipping sound? It can't be true.

[–] Rhynoplaz 3 points 10 months ago

Pew Pew!

[–] shalafi 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Subsonic rounds though! I've seen videos of subsonic 9mm and .22LR where all you heard was the action cycling.

I don't have a suppressor, but I got some subsonic .22LR to play with. Couldn't tell any difference.

[–] agent_flounder 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I could be full of it.... but I think that's because those rounds are intended to travel below the sonic boom threshold resulting in less noise when using a suppressor.

[–] setsneedtofeed 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

A unsilenced 9mm out of a handgun is normally around 160db (assuming common ammunition and a common type of handgun). A reduction to 125db with a silencer seems about right.

Edit: Here’s a silencer talk link that goes very in detail. For their chart, 125 db is actually very close to the low end, with many suppressed shots being louder.

https://www.silencertalk.com/results.htm

FWIW I believe those measurements are right at the silencer while the thunder measurement I find is “within a few hundred feet”. There can be quite a significant drop in perceived noise from silenced guns with a moderate amount of distance making them sound like a distinct but not overly loud“thwack”.

[–] Adulated_Aspersion 12 points 10 months ago

I always try to go with "suppressed" rather than "silenced".