How do silencers on handguns work?
In: Engineering
Exactly the same way car mufflers work. They were, in fact, invented by the same guy, Hiram Percy Maxim.
The sound of a gunshot has two major components. The first is the bullet breaking the sound barrier, and silencers can’t do anything about that. The second component is the charge of rapidly expanding hot gas that exits the muzzle right behind the bullet. The gas is generated by the burning powder, and comes out moving *very* fast. This causes a very loud noise, like popping a balloon.
A firearm silencer works by redirecting the gas into expansion chambers inside the silencer that allow it to expand, cool off, and slow down before it exists the barrel. Slowing down all that gas makes the pressure wave exiting the muzzle much tamer, and brings down the noise quite a bit.
[Here’s what one looks like on the inside](https://www.range365.com/sites/range365.com/files/images/2018/08/max.ns_.1911.8.jpg)
Latest Answers