Hacker News Reader

Comment by ezekg | Hacker News Reader

If this is interesting to anybody, CGS recently created 3D printed suppressors using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), but with Titanium instead of SS [0]. It allows for new geometries to suppress the expanding gasses that just weren't possible with CNC'd parts welded together. SIG also started producing suppressors with DMLS [1].

I don't have one (yet), but the results on sound signature look to be pretty impressive [2].

[0]: https://cgsgroup.com/product/hyperion/

[1]: https://www.sigsauer.com/suppressors.html

[2]: https://pewscience.com/sound-signature-reviews-free/sss-6-71...

View on HN

I have a Helios QD Ti suppressor (same company, also 3D printed out of titanium) - just got ATF approval after about 6-7 months. It was pretty pricey (around $1300 IIRC), but it's very cool. Super lightweight, suppresses very effectively. Almost feels like dense plastic because it's so light. Sheds heat very quickly - safe to touch much faster than my Omega 300. They claim it's good up to 300 Norma Magnum, which is extremely impressive for the weight.

The American suppressor market is super interesting, because the $200 flat tax, extreme physical stresses, and low weight limits conspire to incentivize some of the most advanced high-temperature high-stress metallurgy outside of jet engines. In most other countries, where suppressors are unrestricted or even required (!), it seems like there's not nearly as much incentive to go straight to the ultra-high-end like most American suppressor mfrs have done.

I'm in California so I can't suppress my firearms because that would put the rest of the population in grave danger. That being said, the most impressive thing of the sintered suppressors rather than the sound signature for me was the reduction in blowback. I heard them on pistols and semi-auto rifles though, I suppose to truly hear it I should have seen it on a bolt action.

SIG’s new DMLS suppressor line supposedly has less blowback than unsuppressed, which is incredible. Gas to the face sucks.

>I'm in California so I can't suppress my firearms because that would put the rest of the population in grave danger.

California, a state known for regulations that ostensibly promote safety, has banned safety devices despite their already being extremely heavily regulated at the federal level.

He is making fun of California laws prohibiting suppressors being idiotic.

As a non-American, this seems... fine?

Are there legitimate uses of a suppressor I'm unaware of, or are they truly only useful for clandestine violence?

They are in fact basically never used for clandestine violence in places where they are legal (which is most of the US). On the other hand, there is a clear legitimate use of them: protection of hearing when you are shooting your own guns for fun, which is a legitimate activity that millions of Americans engage in every day.

Banning suppressors is kinda like as if European countries today banned possession of English longbows. These very much can be effectively used for violence, as Agincourt has shown. However, nowadays, they emphatically are not used for that, and if modern European government loudly declared a war on longbows, and went after the owners, one would think that they went crazy: shooting longbows is a pastime of medieval reenacters, not criminals.

They make guns quieter and reduce recoil. All around more pleasant to shoot and reduce hearing damage. Guns are loud enough that exposure to even a few rounds in close quarters can cause hearing damage so suppressors should be in regular use as safety devices. They don't make guns safe without earpro, they don't make them silent, they don't even make them that quiet. You will still know if one goes off nearby. This is one of the things about hollywood that pisses off everyone who knows squat about guns, and why we try to refer to them as suppressors rather than "silencers".

Suppressors are legally required in many european areas, and completely unrestricted in many countries even with restrictive gun laws. They are primarily a nuisance reduction and hearing safety device. The US's strict regulations mostly stem from people watching spy movies and failing to understand that they are not realistic.

John Wick isn't a documentary.

Firearms with suppressors are still very loud (>130 decibels or about as loud as an ambulance siren) [1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silencer_(firearms)#Effectiven...

Guns are stupidly loud. A suppressor can literally save you from permanent hearing damage if you are forced to fire one inside a confined space.

https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2018/code-pen/part-6...

Suppressors are just flat illegal in California. So much as possession of a suppressor is illegal.

Some places, cops will visit if they think you are buying too many oil filters because you might be making and, presumably, selling suppressors.

I wonder if the methods could be used for acoustic suppression of other things, like fans.

For example the foam used in the below one wouldn't be useful for a kitchen hood fan.

https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Noise-Reducer-Silencer-Inline...

Just give me an actually quiet vacuum cleaner...

central vacuum.

Quiet for me, but not for thee.

in crawlspace/garage where it's typically installed there is no thee

Yeah. I live in an apartment because house prices are crazy. So not for me...

miele c3. quietest vacuum i ever had

Reply on news.ycombinator.com