The Science of silencers

[Phil Russell]

Looking at the price of airgun silencers these days yesterday. Crikey they tend to be expensive varying from the cheap end at around £60 up to over £100. Now I wonder why? Is it the manufacturing cost? ... I can't see materials being that expensive but can appreciate that there will be several steps involved in making one. Does 'design' come at a price? This leads to my 'Science of silencers' title. Are silencers 'designed' according to known parameters and so could be patented? I don't recall seeing a patent number but this could easily be because the profits to be made are too low to warrant costs of a patent or patents. Are there any publications that detail the 'science of silencer design'? Or is it all a case of 'suck it and see'....... if it works then it goes into production?
Any thoughts?
Cheers, Phil

[MartynB]

Never really thought about it. I have two silencers made for me in the very late 1980's early 1990s. Only ones I ever bought were Galway units with barrel / tube adapter, Innova had one hell of a crack without

[u.k.neil]

Hi Phill, The material costs are minimal and with CNC machinery, so is the time taken to manufacture the components. However the machinery to make them are initially extremely expensive and the cost has to be amortised as quickly as possible. The basic design of moderators is engineeringly wise very simple and basically variations on a theme. With this I mean engineered moderators, not those filled with hair curlers and felt.

When I was a R.F.D. I could make a moderator from scratch on single purpose machinery in under an hour and that included making "K" baffles to fit inside the tube and threading both of the tube ends and making the threaded end caps.


Neil.

[Phil Russell]

Hi Phill, The material costs are minimal and with CNC machinery, so is the time taken to manufacture the components. However the machinery to make them are initially extremely expensive and the cost has to be amortised as quickly as possible. The basic design of moderators is engineeringly wise very simple and basically variations on a theme. With this I mean engineered moderators, not those filled with hair curlers and felt.

When I was a R.F.D. I could make a moderator from scratch on single purpose machinery in under an hour and that included making "K" baffles to fit inside the tube and threading both of the tube ends and making the threaded end caps.


Neil.

Hi Neil ... good to hear from you.
Interesting view but a thought came to me (ouch!) what would you cost your time at for an hour's expert lathe work and the knowledge of what to do? I won't guess but I tend to think that for a man of your skill it could be significant.
Cheers, Phil

[32:1]

The last mainstream silencer I bought was an AM nelix, £120 and although good it smarted a wee bit and I had a look around and Ive been using a guy called Hal from Halifax, he makes bespoke silencers and shrouds and I’ve got to say their excellent, I don’t know how he makes them for the money, my last two were for an hft500 and an mpr barrel on a Kral which didn’t need the cylinder cap relief, made to my spec and in carbon, his silencers and shrouds are probably the quietest I’ve used apart from the huge Nelix, Ive made some diy shrouds and been happy but for a another £20/30 Hal’s stuff is brilliant and just not worth the hassle of DIY

[Maciek]

I have one of this , and it's working

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf2D...gunPestControl

[u.k.neil]

Hi Neil ... good to hear from you.
Interesting view but a thought came to me (ouch!) what would you cost your time at for an hour's expert lathe work and the knowledge of what to do? I won't guess but I tend to think that for a man of your skill it could be significant.
Cheers, Phil

Hi again Phill, it has been about ten years since I packed in making bits and pieces, but back then I was quite happy making £30 an hour in my garage. But don't forget I was retired and this was a bit of a hobby that I enjoyed, but going back to a commercial business with all the equipment already bought and amortised I would estimate C.N.C. machining time for all the parts at less that 2 minutes plus another couple of minutes for assembly and packaging.


Neil

[Phil Russell]

Hi again Phill, it has been about ten years since I packed in making bits and pieces, but back then I was quite happy making £30 an hour in my garage. But don't forget I was retired and this was a bit of a hobby that I enjoyed, but going back to a commercial business with all the equipment already bought and amortised I would estimate C.N.C. machining time for all the parts at less that 2 minutes plus another couple of minutes for assembly and packaging.


Neil

Jeepers Neil ... very few things in life I have managed in two minutes ... or even four for the complete job
Seriously though, this could be an indication that there could be money in silencers.

But to my main question: is there science behind their design or is it mostly try it and see? As an example, some (many ?) silencers use baffles. How is baffle spacing determined? Exit hole: how is the diameter calculated? Could it vary with pellet velocity? OK ... I realise calibre has to have an influence, but what?
Has anyone published on this?
Cheers, Phil

Cheers, Phil

[Geezer]

https://www.firearmsnews.com/editori...c-dater/524909

The recently late, great, Phil Dater, who I had the pleasure of meeting some years back. Suppressor guru. Great books.