Silent Sniping Grows In Popularity

Zarvan · Nov 18, 2015

There is growing interest in silent, or at least very quiet, sniper rifles. Police and armed forces snipers now have a range of .22 caliber (5.56mm) rifles with built in silencers that fire sub-sonic (no “crack” sound supersonic ammo make) bullets. These are accurate up to 50 or 100 meters (depending on the target). Other weapons use larger and more powerful rounds that are modified so they are sub-sonic. Some of these sub-sonic rounds are for calibers up to 7.62mm. All these quiet bullets are mainly meant for special operations missions where stealth is essential for as long as you can maintain it.

Since the 1990s the lowly .22 caliber LR (long rifle) round has become a favorite among snipers. Professional assassins (usually thugs working for organized crime) have long favored using .22 caliber (5.56mm) pistols for their work. While not a powerful round, if you shoot someone up close with a .22 caliber pistol several important things happen. First, the victim is dead if you shoot him in the head, which is what pros usually aim for (as these guys like to say, "two in the head and you know he's dead.") Second there is hardly any sound if you use a silencer and not much even if you don't. Finally a 22 caliber pistol is small, even with a silencer. That makes it easier to conceal and easier to dispose of. For all these reasons special operations troops have apparently been using .22 caliber sub-sonic round weapons more frequently, as they have proved very useful for quietly killing numerous sentries, including watchdogs, at night as well as disabling lights and security cameras.

In the 1990s the Russians noted how Chechen snipers were effectively using .22 LR (long rifle, them little bullets kids use to hunt squirrels and rabbits with) weapons. Inside towns and cities, the .22 LR sniper was very effective, especially since the Chechens would improvise a very workable silencer by putting a plastic bottle on the end of the rifle's barrel, with a hole in the bottom of the barrel for the bullet to exit. Using a cheap scope, Chechen snipers were very deadly at ranges of less than a hundred meters. Such ranges were pretty common in built up areas. And since you usually did not hear the shot (to the head or face, of course), you had a hard time finding the shooter.

After suffering from these low tech .22 caliber Chechen snipers throughout the 1990s the Russians did something about it and in 2004 presented their own professional .22 LR sniper rifle, the SV-99. This is a little heavier (at 3.8 kg/8.3 pounds) than your usual .22 LR rifle but is built for professionals. It has a heavier barrel, a bipod, silencer, and scope. It's a meter (39 inches) long and can accept five, eight, or ten round magazines. There is a compartment in the butt stock for two five round magazines. With the SV-99, at a hundred meters, a skilled shooter can consistently put all rounds in a 12mm (half inch) circle. This is a specialist weapon, most likely used by commandos. But any trained sniper can quickly adapt to using it. And snipers like not being heard. Since 2004 a number of other small caliber (usually .22 inch/5.56mm) silenced sniper rifles have appeared and apparently sold quite well.

Weapons: Silent Sniping Grows In Popularity
@Khafee @AUSTERLITZ @farhan_9909

Levina · Nov 19, 2015

I have a doubt, wont an in-built silencer reduce the velocity of bullet, thereby increasing bullet drop (especially if its used over a long range) ???

@AUSTERLITZ I guess you didnt get Zarvi bhai's notification.

@jhungary

jhungary · Nov 19, 2015

Aminroop said:
I have a doubt, wont an in-built silencer reduce the velocity of bullet, thereby increasing bullet drop (especially if its used over a long range) ???

@AUSTERLITZ I guess you didnt get Zarvi bhai's notification.
@jhungary

Actually, that's was a common misunderstanding. (Associated with using Sub-Sonic round)

Most people don't know, but some time using a suppressor actually increase bullet velocity as the suppressor better seal and release the gas that associated with the bullet leaving the chamber, and hence it suffer less energy lost and hence meaning a longer range

Now, here is the tricky parts. As I said, silencer/suppressor may increase the initial velocity of the projectile, but they actually decrease their accuracy by Tumbling effect of the bullet. Since the inside of the suppressor have to be perfectly sealed hence the inside of the silencer must be smooth, now, with the bullet push out of the barrel even faster, which means that the bullet will push out of the barrel with a tumbler effect (wobbly from side to side). Which affect accuracy.

Over long range. the Bullet drop is not a problem, but MOA are, usually in immediate range, a silenced rifle will give you a good enough MOA to pull a double tab, however, depending on projectile, once it's hit long range, you will get a MOA (such as 6.5 or even 7) that can hardly hit anything.

Sub-Sonic round usually used in long range rifle especially favour by the sniper, the reason is that the sonic boom effect would be eliminated but as speed decrease, it means speed decreases as well, meaning effective range decrease (speed drop would not actually affect bullet drop within effective range due to the centrifugal force) but they would be significant decrease the range. When use with suppressor, the sound would further decrease.

Mind you, suppressed weapon is not exactly like how they perform in movie or game, it was still loud, just not like drum rolling loud. A normal unsuppressed MP5 would have about 130-145 dB noise, a supressed MP5 would give you around 110-120dB with specially designed subsonic round it can theatrically goes to lower than 90dB.

Compare the 2 in suppressed and non suppressed, you can look at the youtube clip below

not much of a different if you ask me

Levina · Nov 20, 2015

jhungary said:
Sub-Sonic round usually used in long range rifle especially favour by the sniper, the reason is that the sonic boom effect would be eliminated but as speed decrease, it means speed decreases as well, meaning effective range decrease (speed drop would not actually affect bullet drop within effective range due to the centrifugal force) but they would be significant decrease the range. When use with suppressor, the sound would further decrease.

Gary,
I still have some doubts
1) The barrels of sniper rifles range from 61 to 76 cm in length, while a suppressor is usually 20 to 30 cm in front of the muzzle in order to function properly. A 1.2 m or 4 foot long rifle can easily become a 1.5 m or 5 foot long rifle with the addition of a muzzle can. The suppressed rifles usually have fairly short barrels to reduce the overall length. The velocity that is expected to be lost is about 43 m/s when cutting a 66 cm.
2) I also heard that the condensation after the shot is fired, has the chances of causing the metal to rust, reducing sniper rifle's life.
This is what i have read, you do know i do not have any field experience like you.

Hamartia Antidote · Nov 20, 2015

While it is rare a .22 pistol round does bounce off people's noggins once in a while.

Bullet Bounces Off of Victim's Face and Kills Robber in San Francisco | TIME.com

I remember a story where two kids were playing with a gun and one kid accidentally fired it at the others head. He thought it surely must have killed him so in grief he turned it on himself and shot himself. The first kid actually survived as the bullet bounced off his head. The second killed himself for nothing.

jhungary · Nov 20, 2015

Aminroop said:
Gary,
I still have some doubts
1) The barrels of sniper rifles range from 61 to 76 cm in length, while a suppressor is usually 20 to 30 cm in front of the muzzle in order to function properly. A 1.2 m or 4 foot long rifle can easily become a 1.5 m or 5 foot long rifle with the addition of a muzzle can. The suppressed rifles usually have fairly short barrels to reduce the overall length. The velocity that is expected to be lost is about 43 m/s when cutting a 66 cm.

again, depend on how the rifle pattern spin the projectile and how good the sealing done to the silencer.

First of all, bullet speed does not affect bullet drop within maximum effective range. Bullet drop occur when the spin speed bleed dry, which will happen at the same kinetic speed for the same projectile. (Say a 145gr projectile would drop at 60m/s, then regardless what is the IS (Initial Speed) was, the bullet will drop and travel as a parabola at 60m/s, the faster it came out of the muzzle only push the range further.

Now, both rifling pattern and the seal would affect the IS greatly, as the Rifle Pattern would translate the forward momentum into centrifugal momentum (ie from pushing forward to spin) so if the rifle screw pattern are longer which mean the projectile will spin with less roll per second, which means it spin slower, which mean more momentum carried on with forward motion, ie faster.

Another thing is about the sealing, as Gas from burning the gunpowder inside the bullet casing propel the projectile out of the barrel, the better the sealing overall would mean less gas leak. Which means more gas are used to propel the projectile, ie faster

With a silencer. When the projectile travel thru the same barrel, with or without silencer, the speed will be the same from that moment on (projectile leaving the muzzle) and since the silencer have no groove and further protect the gas from leaking, it will remain the same speed or sometime increases the speed when the projectile going thru the silencer. because the round will bleed the moment the projectile leave the muzzle, if the speed maintain or increase for the next 20cm using a silencer, then the round will be faster with silencer then without.

2) I also heard that the condensation after the shot is fired, has the chances of causing the metal to rust, reducing sniper rifle's life.
This is what i have read, you do know i do not have any field experience like you.

The condensation you mention is make from cooling the superheated gas (the gas is the product of gunpowder burning), as the gas being cool inside the silencer chamber, the gas will turn back into water droplet by condensation. Due to the barrel being heated and the silencer not.

Yes, it does happen, and when that happen basically the tip of your barrel and the inseam of the silencer will start to go rust. Solution?

before newer silencer model came out, the only way to remove the "Trapped" gas before they condense back to water inside your silencer is to simply pull or unplug your silencer . Once that remove, the gas will have better ventilation before the barrel and the ambient starting to cool the gas.

But that present another problem, as the weight will be different with and without the silencer, every time you unplug your silencer from your rifle, you will need to re-zeroing it after you screw it back in. So, basically increase your work load after shoot and after cleaning.

Newer military silencer have included bleed valve or bleeding hole to release the gas after fire, I have never tried that before (only heard from a friend in the Special Force) but if they exist, it will theoretically taken care of the problem

MilSpec · Nov 20, 2015

.22LR is quite under-rated. At 100 yards, it is lethal, has one of the best follow-up shot capabilities.

Zarvan said:
.22

There is growing interest in silent, or at least very quiet, sniper rifles. Police and armed forces snipers now have a range of .22 caliber (5.56mm) rifles with built in silencers that fire sub-sonic (no “crack” sound supersonic ammo make) bullets. These are accurate up to 50 or 100 meters (depending on the target). Other weapons use larger and more powerful rounds that are modified so they are sub-sonic. Some of these sub-sonic rounds are for calibers up to 7.62mm. All these quiet bullets are mainly meant for special operations missions where stealth is essential for as long as you can maintain it.

Since the 1990s the lowly .22 caliber LR (long rifle) round has become a favorite among snipers. Professional assassins (usually thugs working for organized crime) have long favored using .22 caliber (5.56mm) pistols for their work. While not a powerful round, if you shoot someone up close with a .22 caliber pistol several important things happen. First, the victim is dead if you shoot him in the head, which is what pros usually aim for (as these guys like to say, "two in the head and you know he's dead.") Second there is hardly any sound if you use a silencer and not much even if you don't. Finally a 22 caliber pistol is small, even with a silencer. That makes it easier to conceal and easier to dispose of. For all these reasons special operations troops have apparently been using .22 caliber sub-sonic round weapons more frequently, as they have proved very useful for quietly killing numerous sentries, including watchdogs, at night as well as disabling lights and security cameras.

In the 1990s the Russians noted how Chechen snipers were effectively using .22 LR (long rifle, them little bullets kids use to hunt squirrels and rabbits with) weapons. Inside towns and cities, the .22 LR sniper was very effective, especially since the Chechens would improvise a very workable silencer by putting a plastic bottle on the end of the rifle's barrel, with a hole in the bottom of the barrel for the bullet to exit. Using a cheap scope, Chechen snipers were very deadly at ranges of less than a hundred meters. Such ranges were pretty common in built up areas. And since you usually did not hear the shot (to the head or face, of course), you had a hard time finding the shooter.

After suffering from these low tech .22 caliber Chechen snipers throughout the 1990s the Russians did something about it and in 2004 presented their own professional .22 LR sniper rifle, the SV-99. This is a little heavier (at 3.8 kg/8.3 pounds) than your usual .22 LR rifle but is built for professionals. It has a heavier barrel, a bipod, silencer, and scope. It's a meter (39 inches) long and can accept five, eight, or ten round magazines. There is a compartment in the butt stock for two five round magazines. With the SV-99, at a hundred meters, a skilled shooter can consistently put all rounds in a 12mm (half inch) circle. This is a specialist weapon, most likely used by commandos. But any trained sniper can quickly adapt to using it. And snipers like not being heard. Since 2004 a number of other small caliber (usually .22 inch/5.56mm) silenced sniper rifles have appeared and apparently sold quite well.

Weapons: Silent Sniping Grows In Popularity
@Khafee @AUSTERLITZ @farhan_9909

Hamartia Antidote · Nov 20, 2015

Levina · Nov 23, 2015

jhungary said:
it will remain the same speed or sometime increases the speed when the projectile going thru the silencer. because the round will bleed the moment the projectile leave the muzzle,

i was wondering....

By how much does the silencer increase the speed of a bullet fired from the sniper's rifle? I am not sure if it increases it by more than a second in which case its negligible.
Does sniper really need a sound suppressor? The usual locator is someone who saw the flash, which is why flash hiders are more commonly used. Right?

jhungary · Nov 23, 2015

Aminroop said:
i was wondering....

By how much does the silencer increase the speed of a bullet fired from the sniper's rifle? I am not sure if it increases it by more than a second in which case its negligible.

Does sniper really need a sound suppressor? The usual locator is someone who saw the flash, which is why flash hiders are more commonly used. Right?

1.) I honestly don't know, that is quite technical and even I fired a few shot from SWS before my time, you will need high speed camera or the like to know how fast it went, but then that is above my paygrade (literally, as High Speed Camera cost around 10 Grand each...)

2.) Depend on the situation, imagine you are a swat sniper, you want to support your assault team but you don't want the bad guy to know where you are so they can dodge your bullet. Now, you are talking about 100-200 meter range in general, and the only way you can hide you location is by hide your noise.

Most sniper either use supersonic round for long range sniping, then the bullet hit before the sound of the bullet got there, but for short range designated marksmanship, you will most definitely need a silencer

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Silent Sniping Grows In Popularity

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