Quote:
Originally Posted by wstar
I've had a couple good-quality 9mm suppressors. Both were fine for shooting 147gr ammo (naturally subsonic in most loadings) with no hearing protection. The clacking of the gun's action was almost louder than the pop from the firing itself. I've heard .45 is similar but without having to be so picky about ammo (since it's almost all subsonic), but never tried it myself.
Suppressor on a shorty AR-15 on the other hand, is a whole different ballgame. The outdoors sound level goes down from "ear-damaging" to "possibly not quite ear-damaging, but I'm not sure". Indoors you'd definitely still want plugs if you had the choice. Subsonic ammo (which also doesn't cycle the action) can make even an SBR AR-15 really dead quiet, but then it's about as ballistically useful as .22LR, so you might as well just use that. I bought a couple boxes from an ammo mfg here in TX once, never even finished shooting those.
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Mine is a 14.5" pinned barrel. I shot it today, and without ears, I could dump a 20 round magazine slow/steady fire without discomfort. I then turned my switchblock to "normal", and it rang my ear. You NEED a way to damp the gas down to the right flow-rate, or you will be unnecessarily adding a few dB to things. Is mine REALLY hearing-safe? No, the ballistic crack is about 150dB, but it IS coming from downrange, and what's there to reflect it back to you is what matters. Indoors it sucks. Outside, not too bad at all, as I discovered. Sounds like a .22 semi-auto shooting stingers.
