Silencing the 'Bang' Key to Stealth

A common misconception is that suppressors are only useful if they "silence" the shot of a cartridge being fired, but this isn't entirely true. While the intention is often to make the weapon as quiet as possible, in military applications it is just as important to disguise it.

When a round is fired and the gases exit the barrel quickly, they make that distinctive gunshot sound. But a suppressor gives the gas a place to expand and lose pressure, so it makes much less sound.

The amount and nature of this sound will vary with silencer designs -- from being dramatically reduced, to essentially inaudible. Some designs try not to reduce the amount of sound but to raise the pitch above the humanly audible frequencies.

While some come relatively close, no suppressor can completely eliminate the sound of a firearm. Supersonic bullets produce a miniature sonic boom resulting in "ballistic crack," and even bullets traveling below the speed of sound make distinct noise by their passage through the air and impact on target. Firearms themselves are prone to mechanical noise, especially semi-automatics that have to bleed off some of the gases to cycle their actions.

A suppressor is typically a hollow cylinder or tube containing a series of expansion chambers that attaches to the muzzle of a firearm. Suppressors reduce noise by allowing the rapidly expanding gases from the firing of the cartridge to be briefly diverted, delayed, or trapped inside a series of hollow chambers.

Considered to be on the cutting edge and well known in the industry, the Gemtech G5 is widely used by federal agencies, military units and civilian shooters. It is designed to work with any 5.56mm NATO (.223 Remington) firearm that is threaded at the muzzle and has the 1/8-inch or so of clearance that allows for the push-twist movement of the locking mechanism. The can is constructed entirely of titanium, stainless steels and Inconel -- an oxidation and corrosion resistant nickel bronze extremely well suited for service in extreme environments -- to give it maximum durability and long-term performance.

The finish of many suppressors is a black oxide that is very flat and non-reflective. There have been no issues with the specimen I tested, over thousands of rounds fired, and it has held up well to the extreme heat and varying environmental conditions I have put it through. It is worthwhile to note that nearly all of the "paint" style finishes will burn off under heavy use and the can that looked so nice on the dealer's shelf will begin to look like an old barbeque grill after the first heavy use.

I have seen no discernable change in point-of-aim/point-of-impact with the suppressor in place and accuracy actually seems to improve slightly. A call to the manufacturer verified these observations. The effects of the suppressor to quiet the hot, rapidly expanding gases also removes erratic disturbances from the gases as it pushes the bullet out of the bore, resulting in faster stabilization as it heads towards its target. While I didn't do any chronographic testing, I was also told that I could expect a small increase in velocity referred to as "freebore boost." This is basically the bullet getting a little extra nudge as it passes through the suppressor.

Even from a short-barreled carbine (10.5-inch Mk 18) the muzzle blast and recoil are completely eliminated and the report diminished to about that of an unsuppressed .22 LR rifle. Standing away from the shooter, the sound generated from the shot is even less noticeable and the most prominent sound becomes the swishing crack of the supersonic bullet as it goes downrange. The late Col. Townsend Whelen recalled once testing a Maxim silencer on a Springfield rifle, firing down a railroad right of way: as the bullet passed each telegraph pole it returned the echo of its sonic crack to the shooter, sounding as if one had fired a burst from a machine gun.

I've been impressed with the latest suppressor. Add the fact that it is seeing daily use by military units such as the 101st and 82nd Airborne and you have a very impressive accessory indeed. It is quite a testament to the quality of today's suppressors to have them enduring the rigors of daily combat use.

Photograph: Ichiro Nagata