DeepDiver wrote:
"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...

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


Yup, that's exactly what it has to do with. Remember that all sound is
simply pressure waves in an environmental medium (like air). The purpose of
a supressor (the correct term for a "silencer") is to take the
high-pressure, high-velocity gases at the muzzle (that are created by the
buring cartridge propellant), and simultaneiously reduce their pressure and
speed in a controlled manner to minimize the creation of sound pressure
waves in the air. It cannot do that if the burning gases are escaping to the
atmosphere at the cylinder gap.


Could you enclose the cylinder inside some type of shell the forced the
gases to go out the barrel? (a custom built gun and not a modification)
Would this cause the remaining rounds to cook off if the gases travelled
all around the cylinder?
Ken (who knows next to nothing about guns)