Moderators in films.

groach1234

Well-Known Member
Well, just watching layer cake and it got me thinking, in films, when ever people have moderators on there rifles/pistols they have a sort of thrut noise. Are such moderators actually in existence? or is it just in films? Is it a case of such things not being available to the public for the obvious reasons of the danger they could pose? if they got in to the wrong hands. Bit of a silly thread I know so please forgive me but its just a bit of interest and light hearted.

George
 
That 'phut' always makes me smile!

Do you shoot subsonics with a .22LR? The way pistols are portayed, is that the noise is subsonic, however, subsonic ammo, isn't a big thing in the pistol world.
 
subsonics get used in military circles for obvious reasons, the quietest pistols fire from a locked action to prevent excessive noise, so you had better hit first time! if I remember correctly there was a fully suppressed Sterling SMG varient, with the loadest noise being the cycling of the action and the rounds hitting the target.
 
Back in the pistol days, one day I was stood 15m to 20m to the side of a section 5 dealer using one on auto. Very impressed by how quiet it was when compared to standard Stens. Can't be certain but I think that the ammunition that he was using was nothing special. He was certainly using the same stuff in pistols with a normal report. I know that the .32 wellrod and the .45 DeLisle carbine are meant to be "almost silent" but I have not seen / heard them being used.

Fred


subsonics get used in military circles for obvious reasons, the quietest pistols fire from a locked action to prevent excessive noise, so you had better hit first time! if I remember correctly there was a fully suppressed Sterling SMG varient, with the loadest noise being the cycling of the action and the rounds hitting the target.
 
Well, just watching layer cake and it got me thinking, in films, when ever people have moderators on there rifles/pistols they have a sort of thrut noise. Are such moderators actually in existence? or is it just in films? Is it a case of such things not being available to the public for the obvious reasons of the danger they could pose? if they got in to the wrong hands. Bit of a silly thread I know so please forgive me but its just a bit of interest and light hearted.

George

As people have mentioned the most noisy thing is the slide moving to reload the weapon. Quite a few pistol rounds are subsonic so they are pretty easy to quieten down and having used a B&T mod on a semi auto 9mm pistol they work pretty well. Back in WW2 the MoD commissioned about 250 d'lisle silenced rifles for taking out sentries. I used one of these about 10 years ago and , if my memory serves, it was based around the .45 pistol round with a bolt action operation. It was a crude and poorly engineered with a sloppy and very noisy action but is was very quiet indeed and you did get that 'phut' sound. I was shooting at 50 yds and was just about hitting the target board - hidious sights and apparently these were supposed to be good for 150 yrds. I do doubt that. So yup, subsonic rounds in a single shot weapon can be very quiet and will go 'phut'

fabnosh
 
I had a fully moderated .308 built on a Mauser action primarily for culling/control in sensitive locations. Even using 150gr BTs loaded to make them deer legal the noise reduction was very good - somewhere akin to a .25 acp pistol - and it was often possible to take a number of animals from a group before they started to wander off.

While experimenting I tried loading to get truly subsonic with a variety of bullets but accuracy went out of the window long before the dbs.

The biggest cinematic faux pas must be where they dramatically mount a moderator/silencer onto a revolver before 'silently' whacking someone! :rolleyes: IIRC Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager in The Killers were guilty of it.

View attachment 4530
 
Yes it is possible, the Patchett (based on the sten) all you could hear was the bolt hitting the return stop, it was demonstrated on the "Burke Specials" in the late 1970's early 80's. The american seal teams use a silenced pistol, a .45, which is good for ten shots before the silencing starts to deteriorate. The Russians also had a VAL Silenced Sniper System with subsonic 9mm rounds. The film industry, as with television, always take factual liberties with the truth of these matters.

Simon
 
Here's an interesting one - the silent shotgun shell!

I remember reading about this a looong time ago.

shotgun_teleshot.gif


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]As a result of the problems in effectively silencing a shotgun firing conventional shotgun cartridges, the US Navy decided to try a different approach. In 1967, the Navy announced a requirement for a silent shotgun cartridge that could be fired from unmodified, conventional military shotguns. Although this may have seemed like an impossible task, AAI Corporation did in fact come up with such a cartridge, based on their patented Telecartridge™. Intended for use by Navy SEAL and Marine Recon teams, the Silent Shotgun Shell has to be one of the most unusual cartridges ever developed.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]The AAI Silent Shotgun Shell utilized an explosive propellant under a folded, steel Telecartridge cup. When fired, the expanding gasses extended the cup. The payload, consisting of 12 #4 buckshot was expelled by the initial impulse. The sealed Telecartridge cartridge cup contained the gasses, flash and most of the noise.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]The Silent Shotgun Shell was a great idea, but it too proved impractical. To prevent the Telecartridge from rupturing, the muzzle velocity of the round had to be reduced to just 450 fps. The low velocity resulted in a short range cartridge of limited lethality. This coupled with the high cost of the rounds caused the project to be dropped after only 200 test rounds were delivered to the US Naval Ordnance Testing Laboratory[/SIZE][/FONT]
 
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- and it was often possible to take a number of animals from a group before they started to wander off.


[4530[/ATTACH]

I can just picture it, they see their buddies stumbling around, falling over dead, etc., then due to the slightly disconcerning nature of what is happening, the rest of the herd decide to 'wander' off.
:rofl:
 
I can just picture it, they see their buddies stumbling around, falling over dead, etc., then due to the slightly disconcerning nature of what is happening, the rest of the herd decide to 'wander' off.
:rofl:

Then I guess you haven't had much experience of that type of operation then. ;)
 
...which is what many pistol loads actualy are, of course!

Well what can I say? The 115gn ammo I used last year should have been doing 1280fps according to the specifications.

Back to the moderator question, has any one looked at Lapua's .308 Subsonic round? Now the trajectory on that is hardly workable!

Products - Lapua
 
Then I guess you haven't had much experience of that type of operation then. ;)

The culling I have been involved in, is with deer that take off like the marsians just landed, the second they see their buddies acting all funny. Are you referring to park land? as I have never seen deer act that non-chalantly in the wild before.
 
The culling I have been involved in, is with deer that take off like the marsians just landed, the second they see their buddies acting all funny. Are you referring to park land? as I have never seen deer act that non-chalantly in the wild before.

Yes, usually park, farm, zoological or other collections - where the deer are habituated to relatively close human contact and regular feeding regimes/sites. If done correctly Rudolph will carry on feeding while Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Donner, and if you're lucky, Blitzen take a last bow. Then all that remains is to move in and collect the 'cast' once it quietens down - and of course explain to the kids why Santa might be late delivering presents that year! :D :coat:
 
The culling I have been involved in, is with deer that take off like the marsians just landed, the second they see their buddies acting all funny. Are you referring to park land? as I have never seen deer act that non-chalantly in the wild before.

I have seen three roe deer taken out of a group of 14 before they spooked, yes that's 14 roe, and no it wasn't in a park. I am sure it is possible to take more as I have heard of it being done by people I trust, but the above roe shooting I actually witnessed.

Simon
 
I have seen three roe deer taken out of a group of 14 before they spooked, yes that's 14 roe, and no it wasn't in a park. I am sure it is possible to take more as I have heard of it being done by people I trust, but the above roe shooting I actually witnessed.

Simon

In April this year I took five in a minute from a group of six.

How they react seems to depend on the surrounding vegetation and land - perhaps this has something to do with the perceived noise/threat and the direction its coming from. Its not too unusual to have them 'wander' towards you.

Even in the woods I have several times had deer both roe and red come back to the scene of the crime - and back into the sight picture to be dropped on the spot! Other times of course they do motor off.

I can't explain.
 
I've taken multiple wild deer from a group with red, fallow and sika. I've never regarded this as a particularly unusual occurrence.

Sometimes they spook sometimes they don't.
 
I've taken multiple wild deer from a group with red, fallow and sika. I've never regarded this as a particularly unusual occurrence.

Sometimes they spook sometimes they don't.
A pal of mine could back that up, his fourth & fifth round out the tube before the report of the first gets the herd into gear!:D ..... he was christened the Arran Assasin though!:cool:
 
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