General

In its most basic principle, it is just a muffler, just like on your car exhaust or on the exhaust of a pneumatic circuit. The devil is in the details. The simplest types are just an expansion chamber that absorbs the shock of the report and allows it to dump velocity quickly. More sophisticated designs have a series of grease-packed washers that work literally like a shock absorber. The most effective ones are tuned to the specific report of a certain load. The best ones I have ever used suppress so much of the noise of the shot, all you hear is the action of the gun moving. Keep in mind, a silencer is only effective in suppressing the actual report (explosion) of the shot - super-sonic rounds will still crack as they go by in the air. PLEASE NOTE: A SILENCER FOR USE ON A FIREARM IS LISTED AS A CLASS III DEVICE BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OR POSESSION OF SUCH A DEVICE WITHOUT PROPER LICENCING IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN BY FEDERAL LAW.