On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 01:35:23 -0500, Don Foreman wrote:
I've read here that silencers are not compatible with revolvers.
The question of why that might be so has bugged me since I read it.

That was probably me.

Why is that so? Does it have something to do with clearance between
cylinder (chamber) and barrel?

Yup, the gap right there lets out a hella-big blast of gas, so even if
you muffle the muzzle blast, you've still got an un-silenced blast to
hear. Fire a revolver in a dark range and you can see how dramatic it
is. Some, of course, are looser and worse than others, but there has to
be a several to many thousandths gap or the thing won't
turn...especially once it gets a bit dirty...

How about rifles that are not gas-actuated semiautos, i.e. bolt,
lever or pump actions?

No other path for the expanding gas to leave but the muzzle, so no
problem. Semi-autos don't open until the bullet has already left, so
generally speaking there is very little pressure in the case when the
mechanism opens to eject it, so that's also not a problem.

Perhaps it's not feasible to effectively
suppress the report of a rifle with supersonic muzzle velocity, which
(I think) includes most modern centerfire rifles.

You can mute the muzzle blast, but the sonic boom is still there.
Subsonic loads would be needed, and getting an accurate one that's
subsonic is something I've never experimented with (not wanting to shell
out 2 bills for a license to buy a silencer).

I certainly have no need or desire for a silencer, but I'm curious.

Same here. It's one of those toys that seems like more trouble and cost
than it's worth, but being a scientific type person I can't help but
want to learn about.

Dave Hinz