How loud is the sonic crack inside?

[ThaDoubleJ]

I got a Tirant9 on the way, and I've heard some videos online of the difference between super and subsonic rounds traveling down range, but I'm curious as to the volume difference inside a building? Is the sonic crack crazy loud, or would 9mm 115s or 124s be slightly louder than a 147 through the silencer?

[Bendersquint]

I got a Tirant9 on the way, and I've heard some videos online of the difference between super and subsonic rounds traveling down range, but I'm curious as to the volume difference inside a building? Is the sonic crack crazy loud, or would 9mm 115s or 124s be slightly louder than a 147 through the silencer?

I wouldn't say "crazy loud" but it is definitely alot louder.

[ThaDoubleJ]

So if I'm going through all the horror of paperwork and waiting, then using 147s is the way to keep the volume safest?

[doubloon]

What he said only longer and some factory and reload 147s will occasionally go hyper on you so just don't freak out the first time you shoot a 147 and it still hurts your ears ... it was just a hot load.

Small indoor range (<~25yds X < 12 lanes) and the reflection of the sonic crack off a suppressed supersonic round borders on painful, it's an ear ringer. Outdoors the sound "volume" is exactly the same, it's just not reflected back at you from a cement wall. To experiment on a smaller level take two big balloons pop one with a nail in the middle of your back yard and pop the other in the middle of your bathroom with the door closed. Same pop but odds are you will may regret the second one without hearing protection.

IIRC someone on the interwebs once measured a sonic crack downrange to be around 135dB +/- 5dB depending on who measured it and what they were measuring. At any rate, it's > 130dB being reflected back to you in a small space.

Just like the two balloons the sound of the sonic crack is the same whether suppressed or unsuppressed. Unsuppressed you don't notice the crack so much (indoors or out) because it's muffled by the > 150dB muzzle blast right in front of your face. It's like popping the balloon with a firecracker instead of a nail.

The sound difference between 115gr/124gr (supersonic) bullets traveling through the air and 147gr (if properly loaded subsonic) bullets traveling through the air is probably >100dB or more depending on how close you're standing to the bullet when it whizzes by your head. The only real noise you're dealing with when using subsonic rounds is the amount of noise your suppressor allows out of the muzzle. That being said, the noise from a suppressed subsonic round will sound louder indoors than out just the same as the sonic crack.

It's all very complicated and nothing like the movies.

[ThaDoubleJ]

That's good info, thanks. I'll keep gathering up 147s while I hash out a threaded barrel and tap my foot waiting for the ATF.

[Detroitammoco]

You should give mine a shot. My 147 averages 950 FPS and they are as quiet as a Bob gun when suppressed. Check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtEwwOP ... ata_player

http://www.Detroitammoco.com

[ThaDoubleJ]

It's all very complicated and nothing like the movies.

I would agree. I finally got my can, got my barrel, got my Viridian, and fired 12 rounds of 147s. My ears aren't in very good shape to begin with, so I can't tell if the shots rang them or not, but I can say it sounded nothing like a car door slamming, or "pew pew" in the movies. It sounded like a gunshot, just quieter. One things for sure is true though, now I want more cans.

[rimshaker]

To get the full experience, you really have to shoot outdoors and hear what subsonics truly sound like.

Just as a ONE time thing outdoors, shoot a single round unsuppressed without hearing pros. Then start shooting suppressed. You'll start worshipping silencers from then on lol.

[ThaDoubleJ]

Just as a ONE time thing outdoors, shoot a single round unsuppressed without hearing pros. Then start shooting suppressed. You'll start worshipping silencers from then on lol.

Been there. My primary paternal role model is a man's man, believes you can get used to gunshots. He can't hear people talk and yells all the time for some reason. I'd say from about 5 or 6 until I was in my 20s I never used earplugs. I probably just didn't know what to expect from the Tirant. I've heard a 22 can once prior to firing my Tirant, and that was the day it came at the FFL that I got the transfer with. I really need to find a place to shoot and put some rounds through it, get a better feel for it.

[jrh888]

Just as a ONE time thing outdoors, shoot a single round unsuppressed without hearing pros. Then start shooting suppressed. You'll start worshipping silencers from then on lol.

Been there. My primary paternal role model is a man's man, believes you can get used to gunshots. He can't hear people talk and yells all the time for some reason.

And he probably has tinnitus too.

When I rather more young and got my first 30.06, it only took one shot through my Jeep door openings (doors off, top on) with my left ear inside the Jeep to cause permanent hearing loss and tinnitus. Shooting like that would be similar to shooting indoors, so I would be careful about trying it even one time.

[rimshaker]

I meant one time with a 9mm pistol only, not a full power rifle round like 30-06. Too dangerous. I don't want to experience a big rifle round without hearing pros....not even once.

[ThaDoubleJ]

I clearly remember being handed a Taurus 9mm when I was probably 8 or 9 and shooting it with bare ears. It was devestating, but I wanted to be cool, so I kept going. I also got to experience an accidental discharge of a 32ACP in a building with no ears on. Loud, but not fall down loud. What really started me on this line of questioning and road to getting a can was my fiveseven. That pistol is stupid loud, and firing it next to my car I realized how it reverberates off solid surfaces and decided it wouldn't make the best nightstand gun.

[jrh888]

I meant one time with a 9mm pistol only, not a full power rifle round like 30-06. Too dangerous. I don't want to experience a big rifle round without hearing pros....not even once.

I understood your intentions and likely knowledge, but my post was intended as a "better safe than sorry" true tale. A hot .357 Sig or hot 10mm load might cause hearing damage as well.

I do appreciate you explaining to me why I knew that something was wrong with my use of "30.06". I was typing while working, but I knew that something was wrong with my post. The cartridge is a .30-06, but the Texas penal code requiring a "30.06" sign to prohibit concealed carry is § 30.06. (I used a dot instead of a dash. )

[aries14482]

DON'T PLUG YOUR EARS BE A MAN! WHAT? QUIT MUMBLING!

I've experienced a massive difference between firing a suppressed AR15 out in a field (sounds like a "snap-hiss") and firing suppressed 5 feet from a wall. The reflected sound from the wall made the AR15 sound as loud as if it were unsuppressed and rang my ears.

[ThaDoubleJ]

I've since joined a range, and I know what you mean. Firing in one of the 50yd berms that come all the way back to the shooting position, the Tirant is way louder than firing at the 200yd berm, which is wide open on both sides. I've since gotten a Leonidas and an Axiom, which both make the Tirant seem very loud in comparison. What's amazing is how much quieter the FiveseveN is with the Axiom on it. I never imagined you could drop a 160db pistol down to something pleasant to shoot, even with supers. Same thing you describe, pop-sizzle. Louder than subs in the Tirant, but in a different way.