Did sniper rifles of WW II ever have silencers?

Question

I've played enough "Call of Duty" and "Medal of Honor" to familiarize myself with a few of the sniper rifles of World War II. But could any of those sniper rifles have been fitted with silencers back then?

I read that the Nazis had silencers for certain types of machine guns. But what about the sniper rifles?

Even if it wasn't practical to use in combat situations, was it possible? Did silencers for sniper rifles exist in the 40s? Even if it were just for state-side civilian or police use?

Any details would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

What exactly is a "grease gun"? Was that something they would've had back in the 1940s?

Answer 1

The grease gun was the M3 (its shape was similar to a real grease applicator) and it was used in teh Second World War as a cheaper alternative to teh Thompson

Sniper rifles did not have silencers during World War II. Most sniper rifles of that era were not purposely design sniper rifles, but rather converted battle and hunting rifle. This made any attempts to suppress their noise difficult and especially considering the ammo used was full size supersonic rifle cartridges. For similar reasons silencing machine guns was not followed up and it is questionable whether that would offer any tactical advantage.

The Germans did not show much interest in silenced weapons, but the British Special Operation Executive did. they developed the Welrod pistol with an integrated silencer for use in assassinations by their operatives and agents. They also fitted silencers to the Sten submachine gun as seen in the Sten Mark IIs and Mark VIs. They also produced the best suppressed weapon, the De Lisle carbine. This was a specialist carbine and not a sniper rifle. it fired subsonic pistol ammunition and had a limited range (250m max), but it was very quiet. It was used in a few covert SOE operations. Check out the links below for more information. Also some chap fires a replica De Lisle at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DU9SOzOP-hY

Answer 2

There were some rifle suppressed for use in WW II, but they were not common. While WW II era suppressor performance was adequate to reduce muzzle blast by about 20 decibels (100 times), the materials were not as good as those available today and the mounting left something to be desired also. Springfield and Enfield rifles are were both suppressed as well as High Standard pistols.

The M3 grease gun was a cheap and easy to make submachine gun made during WW II to replace the expensive Thompson.

In the USA civilian use of silencers was more common and acceptable before 1934 when they were put under control of the National Firearms Act of 1934. While silencers and machine guns were not banned, a $200 tax was required to be paid when transferred or made by an unlicensed person. This action virtually stopped production for civilian use. Today the $200 tax is not much of an obstacle for civilians. I make my own silencers registering them on ATF from 1's.

A properly designed and mounted silencer will NOT reduce the accuracy of a rifle. Sniper rifles do not need to use supersonic ammo to be effective. A suppressed rifle shooting a standard high velocity bullet will have a rather tame muzzle blast but still make a small sonic boom. This sonic boom will bounce off of any objects near the flight path and may confuse anyone near the target. Weapons with subsonic ammo are also effective, but it is difficult to hit a target at an unknown range past 200 meters due to its mortar-like trajectory.

Early pistol silencers would typically use rubber disks called wipes. These wipes were very effective at lowering the noise level, but were worn down quickly (ten shots or less) by the bullet impacting them. The rifles used metal baffles; usually flat or conical shaped. The baffles would last a long time unless overheated or misaligned and struck by the bullet.

The Delisle commando carbine used a Thompson 45 auto barrel with holes drilled into it to vent gunpowder gases into a large silencer that wrapped around the barrel and extended several inches past the muzzle. It is claimed that it was effective out to 200 meters with the normally subsonic 45 ACP ammo. I made a replica of my own; it is quiet and will hit a man sized target at 200 yards.

Ranb

Answer 3

World War 2 Sniper Rifles

Answer 4

Lol sonic boom.
Right now... Any gun technically can be silenced it is a matter of constolling the gas escapeing the gun and such. Hence there being a wide variety of common every day things that can be used as 1 shot silencers. I am definantly not going to list ANY of them but there are a lot and they have been tested and some accually work and there might be one next to you right now.
Anyway. A sniper rifle being what it is and the purpose it serves it is rather pointless to silence. If you silence a gun it accually decreases the effective range of the weapon not exactly a trait desirable on a sniper rifle. It would also just be more weight on the weapon and right on the barrel.
With how far awey and how crutial 1 shot is snipers have no use for a silencer.

Answer 5

The Job of a Sniper Rifle has always been to kill a person from far away. The US Army used the M1903 Springfield with a 2X hunting scope in WWII and the other countries used the issues infantry rifles of their armies with scopes added. To silence a rifle round you would have to do two (2) things drop the round to sub-sonic and suppress any flame and smoke being expelled at the time of firing. To do this you would have to lose range trough the loss of power. Not even today's Sniper Rifles are silenced because they are used at long range not short. In short a sniper is a hunter and uses a hunting rifle.

The Silenced weapons of WWII were usually SMG's that were used by clandestine organizations like the SOE and OSS they were used to assassinate people and eliminate guards. Because they were short range weapons for the Allies some famous silenced weapons were the Deisle Carbine, the SMLE with a silencer sleeve over the entire fore grip good for about 4 shots before it had to be replaced, the Silenced STEN Gun used for close ranged assassinations and silenced Wilrod .32 Cal silenced pistol also used for assassinations.

I don't know about the Axis powers but i would say that the Japanese didn't have silenced weapons and Germany and Italy wouldn't have used them until the end. But the uses would have been for the same reasons as the Allies used silenced weapons for.

Answer 6

The OSS experimented with a silenced M1 carbine. According to the book, little is known about its use or effectiveness in the field. Reports say that using the standard carbine round, the rifle made only a "piff" when fired.

Winchester's .22 Hornet rifle was tested with a silencer for use as a sniper rifle.

England supposedly built a silencer for the US Mossberg rifle.

There is also a report of a sniper taking out a German observation post with a "bolt action model...(possibly)...a Springfield, with a fairly short scope on the top, and it had a long, fat tube on the end of the barrel." The sniper took aim and the witness reported hearing just a CLICK. The German officer located about 425 yards away was instantly killed.

That is about all this book says about WW2 silenced rifles. They do talk about the M3 grease gun and the STEN MK2 along with pistols.

Picture of "Grease gun": http://www.topguntours.co.uk/Resources/M3%20Grease%20Gun2.jpg

Answer 7

PAAALEEZE! There is no such thing as a sniper rifle. It should be a sniper's rifle. It is a rifle used by a sniper. Lee allegedly used a 6.5 Italian Carcano. The Texas Tower Sniper (among other weapons) allegedly used a 6mm Remington 700. Vietnam era US snipers used (among other weapons) the Winchester Model 70 .30-06. There you have it. H

Answer 8

Suppressed Rifles

Answer 9

It's hard to "silence" a rifle. You may silence the initial pop, but the sonic boom of the bullet is going to be fairly loud and noticeable to anyone within a few hundred yards. I'm sure that they were experimented on by all sides, but it is not worth putting a suppressor on a rifle. The results do not outweigh the negatives. A suppressor, especially for a rifle, adds weight and diminishes accuracy and on a rifle the shot would hardly be any quieter to your oppenents, it is very impractical. You could have better results by using subsonic ammunition, but you do not have the range and power of standard ammo. Putting a suppressor on a sniper rifle and using subsonic ammo would greatly reduce the effectiveness of the rifle. There were suppressed pistols used in WWII, like the High Standard HDM. But there were no suppressed rifles that I have heard of being used in WWII.

As for civilians and police, the National Firearms Act which was enacted in 1934 highly regulated the possession of suppressors, automatic weapons, and short barreled rifles for civilians. You could still own a suppressor but it was more difficult to do so, I'm sure not too many people owned them, especially for rifles, in the '30s and '40s no less. And Police have no need for them. Police Marksman are typically needed in hostage situations where percise accuracy is needed. Supressors lessen the accuracy of firearms and thus they would not be used on a Police rifle. And also Police usually make themselves known to the criminals and do not usually need to be hidden.

Answer 10

No, at least Ive never heard or seen them with suppressors.

I am a federally licensed firearms dealer and sell LEGAL suppressors and machine guns.

A suppressor makes tactical sense in combat or police operations because if everyone on your side has suppressors and you hear gunfire...you know its the bad guys.

With a rifle firing normal ammo, the bullet will be supersonic...a suppressor will reduce the muzzle blast but the bullet will make noise...but with a suppressor it is difficult to pinpoint whe the round came from, its also nice to shoot withoout hearing protection.

Suppressors, make a rifle MORE accurate. Ive fired thousands of rounds thru suppressors...when firing with no suppressor the muzzle will jump and the muzzle blast makes staying on the target hard...with a suppressor it does not jump as much,

But to answer your question, have never seen a WW2 rifle with a suppressor...but have seen many grease guns fitted with them