Can any handgun be fitted with a 'silencer' (Surpressor)?

Question

In Hollywood you see the protagonist pull out a handgun, then screw a silencer in to the end of the barrel. Does any handgun take a silencer, and are silencers a 'unversal' fitting?

If not, what sort of handgun takes a silencer- is it the type of handgun, the calibre, what? And how do you know if a gun is suitable for silenced use?

Just curious. Thanks!

Answer 1

Suppressors first of all need a means to attach to the firearm. The most popular method being a threaded muzzle on the barrel and a corresponding thread pattern on a supressor for the given caliber. So, they are both caliber specific and specific to the thread pattern of the muzzle on the firearm. They work best with the subsonic loadings, like the others mentioned.
Suppressors do work on a few specific models of revolvers. One of them is the Model 1895 Nagant Revoler. The reason is that it uses the cartridge as a gas seal between the cylinder and the barrel (most revolvers don't do this). The idea was that no gas would escape the action when the bullet made the jump from the casing in the cylinder to the barrel. These high pressure combustion gases rapidly expanding are what makes the bang when the gun fires; much like uncorking a champagne bottle but on a larger scale.

For a little techincal history: The Nagant M1895 is called such because it was developed by Emile Nagant (from Liege, Belgium). The M1895 Nagant was adopted by the Russian Czars' and continued under Soviet production until around 1945 or 1946. A suppressor equipped version was made. Sergei Mosin was not involved in the development of the revolver so it doesn't bear his name.

Back to the topic at hand: When speaking of suppressing a handgun; all of the specifications you mentioned are part of the deciding factor whether a supressor can be effectively used. The best handguns to supress would be semi-autos or gas-sealing revolvers. The caliber should have a sub-sonic loading (most do).

Answer 2

Silencers do not work as well in real life as in movies. They are much bulkier and do not totally silence a gun. Some guns have problems with fitting a silencer. In the first 007 film "Dr. No", Bond was issued a Walther PPK, but when he put a silencer on his pistol to use against Professor Dent at Miss Tara's, it was a 1910 Browning, not the PPK. He had the PPK again when he took off the silencer. There was less room on the barrel of the Walther than on the Browning for the threads a silencer needed. There are many considerations. One is that a typical revolver has some gap between cylinder and barrel that allows some powder to escape, and that causes noise. The Russian Moison-Nagant can be silenced though. When one pulls back the hammer on it, the cylinder moves forward to enclose the barrel. This is the only silent revolver. Another problem is that supersonic loads have sonic booms that causes noise. Subsonic loads are best for silencers. If a supersonic load is used, a second silencer is needed to slow down the bullet to avoid the sonic boom. That makes a quite bulky silencer that ruins the balance of the pistol. Modern semi-autos have the problem that the chamber opens in recoil, and some noise escapes. Such a single-shot as the Thompson Center Contender is better than a revolver or a semi-auto for silencing. Best for silencing are such guns as the Welrod that was designed specifically to be used with silencers.

Answer 3

To answer the first part of your first question, no not any handgun will take a silencer. For example, a silencer would not work on a revolver because a lot of the sound comes from the gap between the cylinder and the barrel.

For a pistol, a silencer would not be a universal fit, even of guns of the same caliber. This is due to the differences between designs.

Also note that even a well designed silencer would not do much good for supersonic rounds since they create a mini sonic boom.

Answer 4

Decent stopping power. Well, the order of 'power' that is at least decent, and going up, is 9mm-->40S&W-->45ACP-->10mm Find the most potent one you can shoot well, and pick a gun chambered for that. Note, SHOOT WELL, not just blaze away at the target. If that is a 9mm for you, well then great, if it is a 40 or a 45, even better. Second is practice. I too don't think you need to set the bar at $100, aim more at $600 and you will be fine. I consider H&K, Sig, and Walther to be top tier guns, but then again you pay more for them. Glock, Smith&Wesson, Springfield XD, Ruger, Beretta, Browning, CZ are all second tier. Very good reliable guns excellent value will last forever, just not quite as uberfancy as the first three. I also recommend getting a standard size or a compact. I find subcompacts are just too small to get a good grip on it, especially if it is your ONLY handgun.

Answer 5

Actually, Moisin-Nagants were rifles. The gas sealed revolver that would actually work with a noise suppressor was simply a Nagant Model 1895 Revolvers.

As an interesting bit of firearms trivia, the Imperial Russian Army issued single-action models of the Nagant to enlisted men, and double-action revolvers to the officers. Both models had the gas seal action.

The Model 1895 Nagants soldiered on in the Soviet Army until after then end of WWII when they were finally retired and declared surplus. Even into the 1950's and 1960's, the Soviets supplied these old revolvers to insurgent groups around the world.

Doc

Answer 6

Depends

If you are talking about a home-made type of sinelncer... then yes, just about any weapon can be fitted for one

Most legal commercially available silencers requier a threaded barrel. THis is to screw the threaded ilencer in to.

Usually lower velocity / pressure weapons are best suited to silencing. I have seen/heard .45 silenced fairly effectively

Answer 7

Silencers only work in the movies. In real life they are hardly worth the trouble. They are bulky, many of them take oil, you have to have the barrel of your gun extended and threaded and unless you leap through hoops and drop a lot of cash, they are illegal. There are other legalize problems with suppressors too, to numerous to talk about here (ownership vs. possession, where can you possess them, when, under what circumstances, etc.). AND they have few practical applications. What do you want one for, to reduce the muzzle blast when you target shoot? Guess what, hearing protection works better and is perfectly legal.

Best.

H

Answer 8

silencers are not a universal fitting, you need a different one for different calibers.

as far as as what handgun will, most semi auto pistols will take them, as long as they have a barrel which is "threaded" and protrudes from the slide so that the silencer can be attached.

Answer 9

Tsubaki Sanjuro: Unless I am very mistaken, the Mosin Nagant is a rifle not a revolver.

Answer 10

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