Quoted: uh, you guys have heard of sound effects, right? |
I can make my AR "hollywood quiet". I load it with snap caps (just to be safe), leave the safety on, point it in a safe direction, pretend the pull the trigger, and make that "pheeyow" sound with my mouth.
It's amazing.
It works just as well with any type of silencer, but I like AAC best becuase the baffles are made of kryptonite.
Seriously, though...
<smallchange's hypotheses>
Supersonic rounds will be louder than a blank simply becuase of the bullet's sonic crack.
Subsonic bullets might actually be quieter than a blank, because the bullet will form a partial seal (and resulting backpressure) as it passes through the baffles instead of letting the expanding gasses push straight out. (ETA: oops, didn't see D_H's post above, which says basically the same thing.)
A NOTE OF CAUTION -- some blanks have a plug of some sort (wax, felt, etc.) to seal the end of the bullet. These could potentially get lodged somewhere in the baffle stack, and possibly even cause damage to the baffles.
</smallchange's hypotheses>
ETA: oops, didn't see D_H's post above, which says basically the same thing.