Trying to quite my noise for the neighbors. I live in the country but still have neighbors within 1/4 mile on two sides. I was talking to my gunsmith, he suggested building a 36 inch 10 feet long PVC tube with a 18 inch same length inside. Drill several 1 inch holes inside the 18" only. Then you insulate between the two pipes for a home made shooting silencer. Has anyone done this and with what kind of results??

I've heard of hanging a string of old tires. You'll want to drill drain holes in the bottoms so you don't breed mosquitoes.
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Either method, or anything similar, will work to some extent. It is likely more practical to build a stand for a set of used tires than to suspend them. A simple 2x4 rack works fine. If all of the tires are the same diameter, then the "tunnel" their openings form will be straight. Now that larger diameter wheels are "in vogue", look for about two sets of 17" pickup tires. I've heard of people filling them with some kind of baffling, but I can't see that this would improve their sound containment substantially. Your muzzle must be placed well inside the first tire, and it helps to have something like a piece of plywood with a 4"x8" vertical slot cut in it bolted to the tire partially blocking the gun-end of the contraption to reduce the blowback toward the shooter. Your muzzle will protrude through the slot.

Your gunsmth's idea will work. It will work even better if you can assemble "baffles"* inside the inner-most tube. (*By "baffles", I mean very large washers.)

As the gas from the cartridge firing reaches each of the baffles, it will try to push them out of the way. This is a form of "work" and every bit of work the gas has to do takes energy out of the gas. Low energy sounds are MUCH quieter than high energy ones.

Sorry about the way this sounds. It is not intended to talk down to anyone or be patronizing, just to be sure what makes the silencer work is understood by even the least experienced shooter reading it.

The reason tires work pretty well has a lot to do with the sides of the tires acting as a series of baffles....flexible, resilient, automatically coming back to the proper shape. The smaller the tires, the better they should work, as there is less space for the gas to flow through without having to push on the tire walls.

quote:

Originally posted by huntnjim:
Trying to quite my noise for the neighbors. I live in the country but still have neighbors within 1/4 mile on two sides. I was talking to my gunsmith, he suggested building a 36 inch 10 feet long PVC tube with a 18 inch same length inside. Drill several 1 inch holes inside the 18" only. Then you insulate between the two pipes for a home made shooting silencer. Has anyone done this and with what kind of results??

Would there be a problem with unburnt powder being ignited? I live in the country but the neighbors don't seem to care about gunfire noise! I hear it quite often!!

quote:

Originally posted: Would there be a problem with unburnt powder being ignited? I live in the country but the neighbors don't seem to care about gunfire noise! I hear it quite often!!

With a "tire-based" baffle, or a baffled plastic tube set-up there could be, over a long enough time.

With the plastic tubes arrangement, if it had no baffles, I doubt it. The powder gas from each shot would likely blow/scour the smooth tube pretty clean of powder granules at each shot.

Would likely be worth inspection at the end of each shooting session, and cleaning as required. At least that's my guess.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Your gunsmth's idea will work. It will work even better if you can assemble "baffles"* inside the inner-most tube. (*By "baffles", I mean very large washers.)

As the gas from the cartridge firing reaches each of the baffles, it will try to push them out of the way. This is a form of "work" and every bit of work the gas has to do takes energy out of the gas. Low energy sounds are MUCH quieter than high energy ones.

Sorry about the way this sounds. It is not intended to talk down to anyone or be patronizing, just to be sure what makes the silencer work is understood by even the least experienced shooter reading it.

The reason tires work pretty well has a lot to do with the sides of the tires acting as a series of baffles....flexible, resilient, automatically coming back to the proper shape. The smaller the tires, the better they should work, as there is less space for the gas to flow through without having to push on the tire walls.

Then the ideal of drilling the 1 inch holes simulates the baffles. What kind of washers are you speaking of and how do you attach to the pipe?

quote:

Originally posted by huntnjim:


Then the ideal of drilling the 1 inch holes simulates the baffles. What kind of washers are you speaking of and how do you attach to the pipe?

Well, actually the holes don't act the same way as the baffles. The holes allow some of the gas to vent into a larger space as the volume of gas passes over them. When the gas expands into a larger space, it reduces the gas pressure and velocity inside the tube, but it does not make the gas do any "work". If the holes are too small, it actually increases the velocity of the gas passing through them. It still reduces noise a bit at trhe muzzle, but in a different way. As you may have noted, muzzle brakes have lots of holes in them, but they do not necessarily make much of a sound reduction.

The easiest way to make baffles (washers) would be to cut them out of sheet rubber, sheet plastic, or something else handy that is somewhat flexible and not highly & easily flammable.

The outside dimension (diameter) should match the inside dimension of the tube they are going to be in. Then there should be a hole cut in the middle of each one for the bullet and gas to pass through.

Probably the easiest way to keep the baffles in place would be to make a bunch of "spacers" to hold them upright in the bore of the "silencer" assembly. Spacers could be pieces of thick walled tubing cut to lengths of about 3" or 4" long, with an outside diameter the same as the baffle, but with the inside hole diameter considerably bigger than the central hole in the baffles.

To assemble, place a spacer in one end of the tube. Then put a baffle in after it....then another spacer, then another baffle, etc., 'til the length of the tube is pretty much filled to a point about 8-12" in front of where the muzzle will be when the gun is fired. (Farther in front if a magnum).

If a guy wanted to, he could drill holes between each baffle, and thus get the silencing benefits of both baffles and more gas expansion.

With some experimentation, it should be fairly easy to build a pretty efficient unit, but it WILL likely require some experimentation, as I do not know of anywhere drawings for such, with material specs, are available.

I saw a neat set-up where a guy took two 60 gal poly drums and cut a square in each end. Then he took some old egg crate matress pads rolled them and stuffed inside the bbls until he had enough to fill to the cut-outs. He had both of the drums screwed together and mounted in front of his bench in and enclosed shed(with one end open of course. Said it worked, but I have no idea how well. It was a cheap set-up and I've often thought of doing it myself....

Reloader

Click on this link and take a look at this silencer (scroll to the bottom):

Silencer

B.Martins

Easier this way....

The tires shown would appear to be short in depth to be effective. I would think at least 10 feet of tires would be more effective. If the 10' of 36" pipe with 18" inside works it would be easier to set up and take down.

It depends on how quiet you want it to be. I used a 3 foot long section of square air conditioner duct that was about 24" square. It was easy to move around and quieted guns down substantially. You're still going to have a sonic crack no matter what you do, so all you need to do is get the boom to be less than the crack.

Does your state allow suppressors? If so I would look into picking one up if noise is a concern with the neighbors. Besides being portable they are impressive on what can be accomplished with them.

I've got a couple from George Vais for the .22LR and the .223 and they will make you giggle with the noise reduction. I can shoot my .22LR in a camp area with other campers within 50 ft. and they cannot detect the rifle report.

I saw a young man shooting a silenced .243 at a local range. The thing sounded like a plastic flyswatter smacked against a hardwood tabletop. There was no shocking report and no pressure wave to cause a flinch in the bystanders. Very impressive...

I'm going to build one like wingnut's.

I'll save enough on skyscreens to pay for it within a year.

John

That isn't mine, though if I ever have a personal range again, I will have one of those.

I just copied the photos from the page that b.martin linked to, so you all could see them here, and wouldn't have to click back and forth.

I was thinking about making a setup like that with the chronograph. I noticed that the exit opening for the bullets is rather high above the light sensors. It has been my experience that I need to shoot closely over the top of the sensors to register the shot, especially for 17 and 22 caliber bullets. Maybe I am doing something wrong, or else it is the cloudy WA weather.

Washington State bans use of any device used to reduce the report of a firearm. I decided to write to the Attorney General a few years ago for clarification on the law; I wanted to know if this law applied to devices not attached to the firearm. I got a reply from a person identifying herself as the AG ombudsman. She said that silencers were illegal in the United States. I wrote back to her saying that silencers were legal to own in most states including Washington as there were no federal laws banning ownership by law abiding adults. . Her second response was that the AG does not give opinions to civilians, only to members of the legislature. I would have to ask someone else.

I do not know if she was lying or just stupid when she told me silencers were illegal in the USA. Since she had never read any law banning them, she had no reason to assume they were illegal. Maybe she thought I was stupid enough to believe her lie. Her boss is now the WA governor. While I have yet to find out if tire baffles are illegal in WA, I make my own silencers on ATF form 1’s and enjoy using them when visiting a less oppressive state.

Ranb

quote:

36 inch 10 feet long PVC tube with a 18 inch same length inside

How ya gonna attach it to your gun? Thread it on or glue it?

I use something a little different and for a different purpose but the concept might just be adaptable for use as a range 'silencer'.



This thing is used by firing straight down which is obviously of no use here but it is quite compact and very quiet. It does 'clang' from the bullet strike and the lid is not bolted down but could be. The muzzle gets inserted through the rubber grommet and the barrel aligned and the bullet ends up in a sand trap at the bottem if it gets through all the wet rags. It is lined with rolled carpet to absorb sound. It might a little ingenuity to adapt as a range silencer but....? (It is quite heavy - it's made from high tensile steel but the base plate, which is quite thick would not be needed, nor would the sand trap.

The "cheat" here is to swing by the scrap yard and pick up a half dozen used mufflers. Cut them open. That is what a muffler does, change sound pulses... From there it is your imagination. Back in hippie days they said you could silence a .22 rimfire with a roll of window screen the size of a frozen juice can... Anything that disrupts the blast pattern. Thus the movie cliche' shooting thru a pillow. Might work o.k. with an auto, revolvers have the cylinder gap... If you are old enough you recall when the bad guys ON T.V. just put a bandaid over the muzzle... (ha, ha)... For light weight, the plastic pipe stuffed with insulation of about any kind (or old, fluffed newspapers...)

Silencers are federally regulated. You do the paperwork and pay the fees or you are a criminal. ATF I think. Just like a full auto. Background check. But you can buy them WITH paperwork. The lady who gave you the opinion does not deserve to be called a lady or listened too. Government... Luck.

The Irish terrorist groups used to build those tyre type baffle set ups so they could test fire weapons ect..

The main difference was that they were placed on the ground, and earthed and turfed over..

From what I gather, they did not bother with any additional baffles as in the pics above, but rather used long sets of tyres, with about 10 yards or so being typical.

Shots through the "system" were taken from the prone..

One of the Hunting Magazines carried an article by someone who had made a DIY baffle set based on a 45gallon drum and lots of scarp carpet he had...The idea worked to the point where he could shot a centre fire only a 50 yards from a stable containing his wifes horses, and they barely looked up.

These days, moderated rifles for stalking are getting more and more popular over here, so these baffle systems are largely redundant.

Has anyone here tried the tire silencer? Do the "inner" boards have the same size holes as the ones on each end?

I tried building a silencer a few years ago. It consisted of a rectangular box 8 foot long. The inside (top, bottom, and sides) were lined with carpeting that was stapled in a "wave" pattern so there were many deep fissures and high ridges, about a foot deep. It didn't work worth a darn.

The tire silencer shown has such a small opening that a hard-kicking rifle is going to bang the barrel against the opening.

The biggest safety drawback is that the shooter's downrange vision is totally blocked except for a small view of the target.

l made a tyre baffle in a wood l stalk in a few years back, it worked at keeping the firing point blast down but the sonic crack down range bounced off every tree.
Oh yes and the tyre dust when l first fired the rifle nearly blinded me....
As Pete says now that rifle mod's are used more often, it's easier to fit one and not worry so much.

The tires look like a really good idea.

I tried the long wood box thing with a lining of insulation and hardware cloth. My wife noticed no noise reduction and when I shot, fiberglass insulation came billowing out of the box...I still need to disassemble that stupid thing.

I posted this before but here is my 2 cents again-

Unless you are shooting subsonic ammo you need to be realistic about what you are trying to achieve. An eye opening exercise is to find a place where you have a couple of hills close together, say 100 feet or so. Put up a target against the base of a hill so it can be a backstop, or how we used to do it was use gallon milk jugs (filled with water of course). Now take cover behind the second hill so you can have someone shoot the jug from about 150 yards away, while you can shield yourself behind the second hill and still see the jug. Being 150 yards or so away you'll hear the sonic crack quite a bit before the boom of the gun reaches you. You will be surprised as to how loud it is.

Now, unless you load up subsonic ammo, even the best silencer in the world will never quiet it below that level! I think a lot of people are disappointed because of unrealistic expectations.

What shooting through a tube does do is channel a lot of the noise downrange and not so much sideways, so it can be a useful management accessory in that regards. Also keep in mind the smaller the openings are the more reduction you can get, but also it becomes much more a PITA to shoot through if you are aiming at something and not just wanting a device to quietly measure velocity. I also would not worry about unburned powder build up, if it does not get burned off in the following couple of shots I would imagine it is not going to. As I mentioned I used some hard fiberglass board as used for AC ducts and never had any concern for powder residue.