Sincere thanks to MAC Tactical, NFAREVIEW, Hansohn Brothers, Quiet Riot, Silencer Shop,TheTacticalCoyote, ModernRifleman.net (Part 3) and vdmsr.com (Part 3) for their help and guidance.

I'm not a professional writer, nor am I an expert in silencers, so comments and criticisms are welcome.

Part 1 - http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/03/24/beginners-guide-suppressors-part-1/



Part 2 - http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/03/29/a-beginners-guide-to-suppressors-part-2/



http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/04/04/beginners-guide-suppressors-part-3/

Doubled a line right after the legality section and stated 4 categories of suppressors, but listed 5

The only other thing I'd add is perhaps a section on common suppressor myths or misconceptions.

Very well done!

Switched four for five. Thanks.

Well done! Thanks for putting in the time to try and help out the newbies.

This needs to be a sticky

I'd thrown in a little about hearing safety, dB, and some numbers to show how loud they still are. IE suppressed AR15 is about or just under 140dB, which is as loud as a jet engine. Maybe in the common myths section as the rebuttal to "I wont be able to hear someone killing babies in the school" feels argument against them.

Agreed. A short lesson on dB would be good, dispel the B.S. that 139 dB is hearing safe while 141 dB is damaging, and an explanation that 10 dB is a doubling of loudness.

This will be coming in Part 3 under the Shooting section.

Nice.

Also for part 3, I recommend clarifying that the OSHA 140 dB damage threshold is, I believe, an at-the-ear figure, while most suppressor manufacturers measure sound 1 meter to the left of the muzzle per mil std. Plenty of suppressed semi-auto rifles are under 140 at that location but well into the mid 140s at the ear by the ejection port.

Not only that but I believe it's also for less than 1 second

I'm definitely going to hit on dB. But I don't want to get too into the weeds with numbers and references that will make people just switch off. Just the basics for beginners. (Big rifle noise = bad; little rimfire noise = ok)

Great write up. Add some more pics.
+1 for a sticky.

yup. people are still surprised at the jet engine comparison.  so you wouldn't hear a jet engine in the room next to you?

Downplaying the need for extensive correct sound measurements using proper equipment is my constructive criticism.  Understanding, properly using and being able to afford the proper equipment for sound testing is at a minimum 50% of suppressor reviews.  If its not there, then the reviews are subjective opinions intended to sell product to people who don't know any better.  Gun rags, and now online gun rags are pure fluff and they have been for years and years.  Any quality review of a suppressor not only includes dB reduction numbers but bore sizes and all the technical info.  Standing around in a big field shooting a suppressed weapon and saying how great it is without extensive and exhaustive testing with proper equipment makes gun rag reviews, not quality useful buying decision making reviews.  Keep up the good work on your idea.  98% of gun people still don't know you can buy a suppressor legally.  Thats better than 99% 10 years ago.

Subscription added for future additions. Thanks!

Thanks. I appreciate it.

I guess I was trying to avoid suggesting to newcomers that numbers were the top variable to consider when buying their first silencer.

I was going to use the horsepower analogy when buying a new car: if one car has 325 horsepower and the other has 300 horsepower, is that enough a difference for a novice driver to base a decision on?

It is probably hard for us to understand since we live in this world, but imagine someone who has never even seen a silencer let alone heard one.

Correct, the 140 standard is for the peak of impulse noises like gunshots, which are extremely brief in duration. Explaining this would go a long way to help people understand why suppressed firearms can sound much quieter than a jackhammer yet post higher numbers. The sound is loud but very brief, thus causing the listener to perceive it as quieter than its peak dB number would otherwise suggest. Comparing impulse and non impulse noises is apples to oranges.

Do you have a link to your videos where you do this? I'd love to see it! I just can't find them anywhere.....

The fact you feel a need to watch a replay of sound meter testing other than the manufactures tells me you don't understand them at all. I can go drop $5,000 on a used BK2209 and sit around boring the audience showing 10 shot strings that won't match the published numbers ever. Why? Because of the differences in pressure, humidity, temperature, elevation, host guns and ammunition will never match that of the factory test location. The numbers will never be reproduced correctly. So you'll have a bunch of number chasing him-hawing by confused new comers that does nothing to help them.

And the mil-spec standards have been shoved down everyones throat because it's the only standard by which everyone will test by. It's the only test that has set repeatable parameters on where to place the mic. There are companies I work with that are trying to develop better standards behind the scenes. These will be a better representation of whats important in testing a suppressor.

I'd rather shoot a low pitch can that meters at 130dB at the ear than a high pitched can that meters at 125dB. And thats a huge difference in numbers. So again, I recommend that the person researching a new purchase spends more time looking at the materials, options, mounts, warranty, tone, etc than tracking down 3rd party dB tests. These manufacturers aren't out to screw you in some BS fluffed up dB claim. In the 80's and 90'd maybe, but they know they can't get away with that now.

The best thing to do if possible is to find a stocking dealer and get a live demo of the can. If not, well then I guess you'll have to stick with my "pure fluff" review videos.

My old videos include sound testing and I came to the conclusion that spending $6,000+ on camera/mic gear to more accurately reproduce the sound would give them a better "feel" of being there in person vs watching a meter swing. And before you go on about peak sound levels and mic cutoffs...I'm talking about tone reproduction, not sound level.

OLD video with sound meter:

New video with better camera gear:

And just like all my videos old and new, you'll never hear me telling people to go buy a suppressor. I simply lay out the facts on the item because people are busy and don't have time to drive to the gun shop every week when a new can comes out. I keep opinion out of it. I let them make the decision.

But your more than welcome to go spend 60hrs a week to film and edit videos since my way is such a waste of time.

I just wrote all that and just remembered I could have just responded with this video interview since I cover it all.

Honestly, none of what you're calling important is all that significant. Meter numbers are great, but they really are overrated.

I'd rather focus on other things like length, weight, tone, and mounting systems. Frankly, these are the things that most people notice.

As an example, when I shot the Rugged Surge and the Rugged Razor side by side, I was impressed that the Razor subjectively sounded very good. Looking only at the numbers and other technical data, you'd think the can would get smoked by its larger brother. In practicality, the difference is not as great as one might think. If weight were a priority, I'd have no problem buying the Razor over the Surge.  

Moreover, the numbers are out there. Are they always going to make for perfect comparisons? No, but as NFAReview pointed out, it's almost impossible to control for all of the variables that affect meter readings.

I agree.

To me, the only time professional gear and numbers can be helpful is when different silencers are tested on the same day, in the same environment by the same people as a comparison.

I echo what John said about using proper equipment for sound testing. It's not just MILSTD but several other papers published that outline criteria for digital sampling of impulse noise. Most of the digital meters used today do not meet those criteria. So aside from the confounding variables of environment, hosts, ammo, etc. the equipment has to be able to be able to perform adequately in order for measurements to be considered valid.

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Different sounds have higher or lower pitch, How a person perceives the difference is determined by how many cycles of the sound's waveform occur each second: i.e. the sound's "frequency." The more cycles per second, the higher the frequency and the higher the perceived pitch.  Conversely, the less cycles per second, the lower the pitch.

As pitch gets higher it becomes easier for us to determine the direction from which the sound is coming. Low-pitched sounds are less directional and it is harder for us to locate the source.  

And that's why a low pitch (tone) suppressor is more pleasing.  But it should be measured objectively like decibels are.  The equipment to do that must be out there somewhere.

The other issue with a single dB number is that it represents an average across all frequencies - to properly characterize sound performance of a suppressor you would really need a waterfall plot of frequency vs amplitude vs time:





so you could see what frequencies are produced at what intensity and how quickly they decay or sustain over time.

Yes he does have links to those reviews. The fact you do not know this or know where to find them only highlights how little you know. He knows more about silencers and silencer testing than you ever will. One of the few in the industry who actually has collaborated with Paulsen, who literally "wrote the books".

Believe it or not, there are quite a few people in this forum (and banned from this forum) that know there shit and have been doing silencers for a long time. You are not breaking new ground with your reviews, plenty of folks have been there, done that, long before YouTube was invented. John was the primary person responsible for the creation of this forum almost a decade ago now, Mr. Dec 15'er. Where you been? You have a lot of catching up to do.

While the videos you post are nice, they are far from informative other than a re-hash of the basic marketing material you can get from the MFG. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it is nice to get that info collected in one place.

The real issue here, is the market is not willing to pay for a quality review. Quality reviews are expensive, hard and time consuming. And writers are so hooked into getting free stuff from MFGs, they will never write anything bad about a MFG. How come all the problems with silencers are found by end-users, and not the reviewers? Yeah, not a coincidence. Remember the SOCOM-762 test that was so loud it was not reported? Didn't want to piss SureFire off and get kicked off the gravy train.

That is extremely subjective. I am over 50, I will take the high pitched can at 125, as I will not hear the high pitch anyway, so it will be superquiet! But then that assumes I am buying for my own hearing, and not for stealth shooting (ie not annoying neighbors). Which can is best then?

But what is low-pitch? What is high-pitch? Again this goes to the point of proper testing, getting a scope and measuring those specific tones. But nobody wants to pay for that, so we are left a few folks on the range oblivious to the inverse square law, discussing which sounds better to their ear.

Just a reminder, this article was meant for complete silencer newbs. Try to stick to comments and criticisms that will help bring in new owners.

And I know it wasn't meant towards me, but the reviews on TFB are not paid for by manufacturers. (Not that this was a review).

Renegade completely missed my sarcasm lol maybe I didn't lay it on thick enough or the correct way.

I tried that over a decade ago. I have a range and had all kinds of hosts, all kinds of silencers, various ammo. Shoot out to 500 yards. Figured folks would want to come out and test before plunking down the money. Guess how many took advantage of this? yeah - ZERO. Everybody just wanted to buy whatever they read on the internet was "the best".

Then then got it home and could not figure out why their mount backed off, or their Prodigy was loud, or the POI was off by 10 MOA. Folks on the internet said it was "the best"....

Sometimes I wanna weep for our sport.

Your post brought up bad memories and now nothing can slow me down. Nothing personal intended. The old man (tony explained this grumpiness in HERE) has to air some industry gripes.

lol lololol the Prodigy.....remember that failure? People were so pissed lol.

The reason I started my channel was because at the time, there weren't any detailed reviews for me to learn from. All I had were out dated dB test archives and I even paid for the new ones. I read books, forums and learned anyway I could. I compared cans to cans to cans till my head hurt. Then I bought my first can in 2006. My dealer had one in stock ready for transfer......an AWC Archangel Ti. Having only shot my first suppressor around 2000 I was ecstatic to bring that puppy home some 9 months later lol. Now 10 years and 40 cans later all I do is try and help those who are looking for advice on the subject. It's become work, but someone has to do it

I just think of you as a nozzle jockey with a camera.

Back on topic, you might consider adding hot links to the URL's below your article for easy clicking by those 'newbs'.  And I just want to say how badass that flash hider front cap looks on your Saker.  I did the same to mine. Cheers.

They are hot on the TFB, You mean my/copy paste here? If everyone thinks it's worthy as a beginner's guide when all three parts are done, I'll put all three in a fresh thread with pics and hot links and ask the archive switch be turned off. Thanks.

(I got rid of my Saker FH. )

Yeah that's what I meant, but I see now.  No need to make hotlinks here then.  Looking forward to the next two sections.

And since this is not the final thread I will ask a question of the forum...
Why are some centerfire rifle suppressors ribbed while others are smooth?

Low frequency.  Deeper, lower frequency produces a lower tone, which will sound quieter to the ear.

I meant at what Hz?

200 vs 600? 2500 vs 7500? etc.

 
ML ribbed the Tranquilo to keep mirage covers from sliding.

For her pleasure.

Just going back to your comment here, I wonder how many gun owners/shooters are aware that most reviews done in magazines, videos and online are paid for with BIG money from the manufacturers. I knew that most were advertisements masquerading as articles or videos, but I didn't realize how much money changed hands.

I still read a lot of the magazines and watch reviews, but I treat it like gun-porn only.

There are sites out there that don't get paid for reviews.

Makes perfect sense.  Thanks Engineer.

Good one! Rex

I get what you're saying. I was going for "multi-caliber ratings" and options for a lot of different calibers to suppress, but it probably could have been phrased better.

Sincere thanks to MAC Tactical, NFAREVIEW, Hansohn Brothers, Quiet Riot, Silencer Shop,TheTacticalCoyote, ModernRifleman.net (Part 3) and vdmsr.com (Part 3) for their help and guidance.

I'm not a professional writer, nor am I an expert in silencers, so comments and criticisms are welcome.

Part 1 - http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/03/24/beginners-guide-suppressors-part-1/



Part 2 - http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/03/29/a-beginners-guide-to-suppressors-part-2/

 
Nice to see Part 2 up!




My comments:


Maybe you could add some information about thread specs and link to AAC and Silencerco's thread spec guide


Maybe a small discussion about indexing on the shoulder of the barrel vs. indexing on the muzzle






 

I get into mounting your suppressor in Part 3, including shoulder vs crown.

Good point on thread specs. I didn't want to get too technical, but I'll go back and break down the thread specs in the mounting section in the next part.

S-O-T. I'll update it to make it more clear.

14 - Thanks. Missed it.

Section 2g of the instructions says two copies of the fingerprint cards. I didn't see a section that says how many copies of your entity docs even though one copy has been the stated norm. Maybe I didn't phrase it clearly, but I submit two complete packets/copies for every Form 4. My point is that once you drop it in the mail, who knows what happens and I'd rather give them more than they need instead of less.

Nice write up goloud.