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How loud is your handgun suppressor?

The perception of how loud a suppressed firearm is will largely depend on the circumstances in which you shoot it.
If you’re on the firing line of a public range and all around you other people are firing unsuppressed firearms and you’ve all got your ear protection in , then your gun will sound like a kids cap pistol. With subsonic ammo it’ll sound like a BB gun or an airsoft gun.

It’s nothing compared to all the other guns firing around you.

Now, even when you’re alone at the shooting range, because it *is* a shooting range and you are used to hearing loud gun fire there, your suppressed gun will seem quiet in comparison.
The comparison will be to your memory of all the other gunshots you’ve heard there in the past.

If you want to know if your gun is truly quiet, take that gun, your favorite subsonic ammo, and your suppressor and try this experiment:

Step out into the backyard of your house in the suburban neighborhood at midnight.
Fire one round into the dirt in your backyard, and then tell me how loud that sounded to you.
It will sound twice as loud as that exact same gun/ ammo /and can combo sounded when you tested it at the firing range .
 
The perception of how loud a suppressed firearm is will largely depend on the circumstances in which you shoot it.
If you’re on the firing line of a public range and all around you other people are firing unsuppressed firearms and you’ve all got your ear protection in , then your gun will sound like a kids cap pistol. With subsonic ammo it’ll sound like a BB gun or an airsoft gun.

It’s nothing compared to all the other guns firing around you.

Now, even when you’re alone at the shooting range, because it *is* a shooting range and you are used to hearing loud gun fire there, your suppressed gun will seem quiet in comparison.
The comparison will be to your memory of all the other gunshots you’ve heard there in the past.

If you want to know if your gun is truly quiet, take that gun, your favorite subsonic ammo, and your suppressor and try this experiment:

Step out into the backyard of your house in the suburban neighborhood at midnight.
Fire one round into the dirt in your backyard, and then tell me how loud that sounded to you.
It will sound twice as loud as that exact same gun/ ammo /and can combo sounded when you tested it at the firing range .
And then see how many neighbors start peeking out of the windows — or in BLIP BLIP 's case, if a helicopter & cops show up!
 
Depends on how cold it is outside, altitude, ammo, how close you are to a structure, and obviously caliber and which suppressor, and probably many other variables. The colder the day the louder the report.

But for me as the shooter:
9mm 165gr (Hush/reloads) - shutting a car door.
9mm 158gr - shutting car door with force.
9mm 147gr - slamming a car door.

Standing ~50 yards away, sounds like a nail gun.

9mm with wet suppressor - throwing a water balloon at a wall?

22lr out of a bolt gun with CCI SV, sounds like dropping my phone on the floor.
Out of 10/22 - sounds like a hand clap.
22lr out of my 22/45, with current 22 suppressor, is louder than my Obsidian with 9mm. I'm hoping this changes when I get me Mask.
What if you’re shooting .22LR out of a 9mm can??
 
45 out of my tirant reminds me of a paintball gun as far as noise level in my opinion. It would draw attention depending on how far away you were but people likely wouldn't attribute it to traditional gunfire. Had some curious neighbors over one night who had never seen a can outside of a movie. So they wanted to do some informal tests standing in the front yard when it was fired in the back, or 2 houses away in their front yard, etc. With the 45 most agreed they either wouldn't notice the noise or if so wouldn't have thought it was a gunshot.

Their wives were in the basement chatting when we were in the backyard shooting as well as a few rds out the upstairs bedroom window in the same house and when we asked if they heard the gunshots they had no clue. I thought that was a decent test since they weren't actively listening for the sound and were none the wiser despite semi close proximity.
 
I was shooting my 22lr bolt gun (FVSR with Dobbs ARC22) on Saturday in the backyard, while the wife was out walking up and down the street with the dogs. Although to me it was stupid quiet, she said she could still hear it ~150 yards away on the other side of the houses. I told her that she most likely heard the bullet hitting the log I shoot at, as the gun makes almost no sound, she said no. She said she just heard the pfffffffff of air with each shot, I though that was interesting with how "hollywood" quiet it is.

My 9mm suppressed is the same way, as the shooter it is loud, but standing a distance away and you mostly hear the higher pitch air movement.
 
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