A post in the Classfieds (and on this forum) was for a "silenced" air rifle. How effective are these? Isn't there a lot more noise from the piston than from the pellet breaking the sound barrier? I have limited experience with air rifles and pistols, as all mine have been the break open action which I guess tend to be slower.
Peter.

the piston rifles are also break-barrels. the rifle in the classifieds is a PCP, not a piston rifle.and yes, silencers on piston/break barrels are about as useful as tits on a boar hog.even with light alloy pellets( notoriously inaccurate), they will rarely break the sound barrier( in spite of Gamo/Crossman claims to the contrary). however the mechanical noises more than make up for the subsonic pellet's lack of a supersonic crack. if you doubt that the pellet is almost always subsonic, use a crony and check it. i did and found ALL the velocity claims of standard and piston break barrels were pretty much bullshit. silencers on air rifles come it their own on PCP's like the one in the classifieds. all 6 of mine are silenced and the difference with silencer on vs. silencer off is amazing. and all six are adjusted to shoot subsonic- around 925-950 fps with varying pellet weight. they are all capable of supersonic pellet flight but they are less accurate and louder.

Thanks for the education jdollar!
Peter.

I own an Anschutz 8001 pre-charged air rifle. It is just loud enough to be irritating when shot indoors. It has a nine inch space between the end of the rifling and the muzzle where the front sight is mounted. I made a brass baffle to fit in the muzzle which greatly diminishes the sound making it more comfortable to shoot.

Since the air rifle is legally not a firearm in the USA and the baffle will not fit on any real gun or silencer I own and is not intended to be a silencer part, it is legal to own without a tax stamp.

Ranb

I have a simple beginner PCP and it is quite loud (my Mossberg 44 is quieter with 22 standard velocity ammo).

The Lead Dust Collector (LDC for short)r from TKO made it so quiet that it seemed like it had lost all of it's power. I see a pellet (22) buried past the skirt into a green treated fence post I had used as a target at 50 yards so I guess it is just quieter, NOT less powerful.

A silenced PCP is very quiet, almost inaudible, without the silencer they sound almost like a 22 short! A silenced springer is not very quiet at all.

In the US look for an LDC. Lead Dust Collector. The other terminology is incorrect in the U S due to NFA concerns when referring to air powered guns.

Search youtube for TKO or Clague air rifle or LDC moderator, they have examples with measured sound levels on some of the youtube postings.