Silent Hunter silencers

**Graham12** · 11-08-2015, 22:28

I need to get my head around this and think back to my student days. The bullet is pushing what is effectively stationary air out of they way. The drag on the bullet is a function of (all things else being equal) the square of the velocity. So an increase in velocity increases drag. There is no simple reduction in drag due to a suppressor being in place.

Newtonian physics will ensure the bullet continues to accelerate as long as an external force acts on it (and a suppressor allows the expanding gases to act on the bullet for a tad longer). However to complicate the matter, the expanding gases (at higher velocities than the bullet) will expand into the suppressor and you will get reflected shock waves creating tubulence within the chamber. More turbulence, greater drag. This is what I would be interested to understand in more detail.

I would suspect that tests would show an increase in velocity, but not of the same magnitude as if the barrel was increased by the same amount as the length of the suppressor.

Any students out there studying compressible flow dynamics who can run a few expreiments??

My knowledge is too rusty

**JouDoring** · 11-08-2015, 23:23

This here plot is thickening. We need to find some fluid dynamics brasse to help us out here.

**JouDoring** · 12-10-2015, 09:10

So I went to test the silencer this weekend. Did not get to do a lot of shooting, just set the scope in and took some chrono readings for a new batch of powder.

I'm very impressed with the reduction in recoil. Now I can also see the impact of my rounds on the target. The sound reduction was also amazing. There was not really a velocity increase, well maybe by 10 or 20 fps, but that could be load inconsistancy as well.

I'll be doing some more shooting later on just make sure of where my rifle is sighted in to