do silencers decrease a guns accuracy?

Answer 1

A silencer is effective only in a short range application where accuracy is not a factor. With a long range weapon, a silencer silences only the muzzle report. It does not do anything about the sonic boom made by the projectile traveling at high speed through the air.

A sniper with a silencer is in for a rude shock when he finds out that his shot, although muffled to his own ear, is loud and clear to others downrange.

Answer 2

A silencer that uses wipes (rubber disks with X shaped slots) and touches the bullet will reduce velocity and degrade accuracy.

A silencer equipped with baffles does not touch the bullet if properly aligned. If it is tightly attached, it will change the point of impact, but not degrade accuracy. A silencer that telescopes over part of the barrel and puts some tension on it can actually improve accuracy a bit.

I make my own silencers. When shooting over a chronograph, I have never noticed any decrease in velocity. The can of the silencer contains the propellant gases and lets them push on the bullet a bit even after it exits the barrel. Any slight increase in muzzle velocity is insignificant, but it does mean that a silencer does not decrease bullet velocity.

Subsonic ammunition is better suited for suppressed shooting because it generally uses much less powder (less gas to expand into the silencer) and no sonic boom as the bullet flies through the air. However, subsonic ammo is slow and has a very curved trajectory requiring accurate range estimation.

Silencers are also well suited to taming the muzzle blast of supersonic cartridges such as the 7.62x51 (308) and the 338 Lapua, both of which are effective sniper rounds. A good silencer will actually reduce noise at the muzzle by over 20 decibels (over 100 times less noisy). The bullet creates a shock wave as it travel towards the target. This shock wave bounces off of large objects and can actually make a person near the target misidentify the location of the shooter. This can be heard as an echo by the shooter if range conditions are right.

The short answer is, no

Answer 3

First of all, the PROPER term for the device is SUPRESSOR, NOT "silencer", which is another of those ignoramus terms, like "clips", instead of magazines, from the morons in Hollywierd, who continue to give the unwashed masses such drivel as CSI and all its' clones. No weapon has ever been completely "silenced", no matter what the "geniuses" from FX try to make you believe.
Now, as to an answer to whether a SUPPRESSOR affects a weapons' accuracy, the answer is really NO. I know of Marine Corps snipers in the VietNam war who made head shot kills with M-14 rifles, as well as Winchester and Remington bolt action rifles, ALL equiped with Sionics and other make suppressors at ranges of well over 500 yards and even longer, and I am sure that there are snipers out in "dune coonland" who are making just as long shots over there, with even better SUPPRESSORS today!

Answer 4

I was reading an article about surefire silencers. The article stated that while silencers change point of aim they do not decrease accuracy and that this was a myth.

Did a little searching online and it seems to me that the silencer does not degrade accuracy

Answer 5

Yes, they reduce the accuracy AND power of the projectile. This is because the silencer breaks up the gas that propells the bullet, while reducing the "pop" the shot makes, it reduces the amount of energy forcing the bullet out of the gun. This also means that the bullet travels slower as well, so the range and accuracy of the bullet are reduced as well.

Answer 6

Havoc is correct. They decrease muzzle velocity and in turn the range of the round is decreased which in simple terms means the bullet will not travel as far because it traps the gases of the ignited gun powder inside hollow chambers within the suppressor. This gas expands, then cools down decreasing the "kick" behind the bullet, allowing it not to travel as far as it normally would.

Answer 7

Old ones, yes.
Wipes wear out and drag against the bullet.
New ones, no.
Modern wipeless designs should not actually ever touch the bullet if properly installed.

Answer 8

Yes...if you are using a silencer, you need to use sun sonic ammo...with all that in mind your bullet is going to drop alot faster then a regular bullet coming out of a regular barrel.

Answer 9

generally speaking yes. NFA tax paid (legal) suppressors tend to reduce accuracy.... and they're only legal for hunting in VERY limited circumstances.

Answer 10

yes accuracy and speed. one of the pros is it reduces recoil.