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Old January 8, 2019, 08:21 AM   #1
Bartholomew Roberts
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What Animals Hear From Suppressed Rifles

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa1qWswc5RU

This is a great video showing the downrange noise of .22LR, .45 subsonic, 5.56 supersonic, .308 supersonic, and .300 BLK subsonic. It shows both what a hit sounds like and a miss sounds like. It also demonstrates well how action noise contributes to the sound as two of the rifles are bolt-actions and you can actually hear the bolt being cycled independent of the shooting noise from downrange if you listen closely.

Another myth it debunks is the Hollywood assassin who shoots people with his super quiet suppressor and nobody notices; because even if you could eliminate the gunshot entirely, 40gr of lead hitting anything at 900fps still makes a pretty noticeable noise.
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Old January 8, 2019, 01:41 PM   #2
T. O'Heir
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"...can actually hear the bolt being cycled..." You can hear a sort of 'PHUT' noise out of a suppressed SMG(it was an MP-5) from 50 yards too. Very clear as to what direction it was as well.
A deer or other game critter wouldn't know what it was and just might come to have a look. You can't suppress 'supersonic' anyway. The crack of a bullet passing is from the air snapping back after said bullet goes by, not the powder burning.
And computer sound replay doesn't sound like the real thing either. Depends mostly on the quality of your sound card and speakers. Just like your TV.
Nothing out of Hollywood is remotely real. Sounds, especially gun shots, are added during editing. Hollywood sound people don't think real gun shots sound real enough. As daft as that sounds.
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Old January 8, 2019, 05:15 PM   #3
Theohazard
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T. O'Heir View Post
You can't suppress 'supersonic' anyway.
How many times have you posted this nonsense? And how many times have I — and others — told you this is flat-out wrong and it’s yet another silencer myth? I really get the feeling that you never revisit threads where you’ve already posted, because you keep posting the same bad information over and over again.

Supersonic ammo suppresses just fine: The silencer cuts the sound down a lot, especially in loud guns like centerfire rifles. Sure, you still get the supersonic crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier, but the overall noise is a heck of a lot quieter.
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Old January 8, 2019, 05:23 PM   #4
Mobuck
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I can tell you what a passing bullet sounds like. I can also comment on the reaction of game to said bullet passing. I can also state that at close range, the muffler doesn't really change much. Critters spook regardless.
At longer ranges, it's a whole different deal. Many times the game has no idea where the shot originated and will often move toward the shooter in response to the "hiss-pop" of a bullet's passage.
I've seen coyotes spooked by a near miss that hits the ground run directly toward the shooter even though more shots are being fired. In one instance 6 shots were fired at an approaching coyote before a hit was made. Each miss hit behind the yotie pushing it closer to the shooter.
The sound of a hit will spook other animals in the area (as does a hit critter). This is why we try to shoot the farthest coyote first. I called in and shot a single last week and my hunting partner commented that the bullet strike was louder than the sound of the shot that killed it.
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Old January 8, 2019, 07:20 PM   #5
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You can't suppress 'supersonic' anyway.
I guess all the Spec-ops and SWAT guys running cans on their M4’s are just all messed up
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Old January 9, 2019, 07:50 AM   #6
Bartholomew Roberts
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I have a .300 Win Mag suppressor and a 5.56 suppressor and I can assure you supersonics are remarkably quieter when suppressed. A 16” 5.56 with an Ops Inc. suppressor is about as loud as an unsuppressed .22LR Anschutz.
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Old January 9, 2019, 11:39 AM   #7
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There's definitely a big difference in sound between a suppressed semi-auto and a 'fixed' breech firearm.
My .300 Blk with subs is about two things: 1. Action noise. 2. Impact.
The impact is usually louder than the report and action noise.
If you can't hear the impact, for whatever reason, you're just left with action noise. ...Which is notable. --Not terribly loud, but definitely notable.

But other designs, like bolt actions, generally don't make any more noise than the striker / hammer / firing pin impact.
There's still noise, but it's almost a different world.


I dropped two prairie maggots at 300+ yards last October, with a SilencerCo Harvester 300 on a Ruger 77 Mk II.
That combination with .270 Win Hornady 130 gr American Whitetail (rated at 3,050 fps) has a report for the shooter and bystanders somewhere between a .22 Mag rifle and a light .22 Hornet load, including the sound of the striker impact.

Three other shooters with unsuppressed firearms (each also taking two animals) had to deal with the animals jumping and running like hell with each shot.

I dropped mine, one at a time with one shot each, out of the same herd (which had already been harassed and shot at). For the first animal, the remainder of the herd looked at the doe on the ground, whose chest just made a cracking "thump" noise, with puzzlement ... and went back to feeding within 10 feet of her.
"Susy? Whatchu doing, Susy? Whatever. This grass is tasty..."

For the second, I dropped a doe on the edge of the herd from between two healthy fawns. The herd looked at her for only a brief moment, and went back to feeding. The fawns jumped a little at the impact**, looked at 'mommy' a bit strangely for a few seconds, and then fed their way to the center of the herd.
"Hey, Bobby. I think Mom's dead."
"Noticed that, myself, Tommy. Want to go have lunch with Rhonda and Becky?"
"Sure thing, Bobby."

The only animals that looked at me were animals that spotted me visually, before the shots. They still didn't spook.

**My brother, some 300-400 yards to one side of the animals, and down in a gulley, heard this second impact but neither of my shots.
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