What Is the Difference Between a Silencer & a Suppressor?
Silencers and suppressors both have specific roles in gun technology. A silencer is meant to do exactly that--silence the weapon as it fires a bullet. A suppressor is used to suppress the muzzle flash and air discharge as a bullet leaves the barrel. Both have pros and cons and can be used in specific situations.
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Silencers and Suppressors
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Silencers and suppressors are used to make a firearm stealthy. A silencer is meant to cancel all the noise, while a suppressor by default will cancel some noise, but is meant to hide the flash of a firearm. Due to the fact that both will cancel out noise, the terms silencer and suppressor are commonly and inaccurately interchanged.
Benefits of a Silencer
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A silencer prohibits the noise from a gunpowder explosion from leaving the weapon. The only noises heard from a weapon with a silencer is the action of the extraction chamber discharging a spent shell and loading a new one.
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Disadvantages of a Silencer
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Silencers do not silence the bullet as it travels through the air and breaks the sound barrier. Silencers are also extremely expensive and require special paperwork as well as a tax paid to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Benefits of a Suppressor
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Suppressors can limit or eliminate the muzzle flash of a weapon, which can provide an advantage in situations with low light where a flash would give away your position.
Drawbacks to a Suppressor
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Suppressors do not and are not meant to resist the noise of a weapon in the same way as a silencer. Suppressors do allow noise to escape the weapon and also can come loose during operation.
Precautions
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Both suppressors and silencers should only be installed by a competent gunsmith. Catastrophic failure can result from a silencer or suppressor that is improperly installed and can cause death or serious injury.
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References
- Photo Credit Gun image by __PeTe__ from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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nice
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Whoever the tool that wrote this article is, he's never fired a suppressed weapon. There is no such thing as a "silencer". A suppresser can either reduce super-sonic ammo to sub-sonic speed (through baffels) or you can just use sub-sonic ammo to begin with, which further enhances a suppresser's effect.
