Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

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slackercruster
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Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by slackercruster »

Do .22 shot shells have any detrimental effect on a silencer?

Thanks
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by poikilotrm »

Sounds like a bad idea.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by doubloon »

Video please.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Joshua@CapitolArmory »

I can't recommend doing it, unless for some reason you're angry at your can and want to punish it severely.

...although now that you have mentioned it, I may give it a try. We've got a Sparrow that tamed down half a dozen or so rounds of 5.56, that little guy may be up to the challenge. I'm curious what kind of damage it would actually do.

(The AR with the sparrow was in a vice and we were behind cover, and yes we have it on video. No, it wasn't impressive at all.)
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by jdasilva »

Joshua@CapitolArmory wrote:I can't recommend doing it, unless for some reason you're angry at your can and want to punish it severely.

...although now that you have mentioned it, I may give it a try. We've got a Sparrow that tamed down half a dozen or so rounds of 5.56, that little guy may be up to the challenge. I'm curious what kind of damage it would actually do.

(The AR with the sparrow was in a vice and we were behind cover, and yes we have it on video. No, it wasn't impressive at all.)

I want to see!!!!!
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by RJT »

Joshua@CapitolArmory wrote: I'm curious what kind of damage it would actually do.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and say it won't do any damage at all. .357 "snake shot" barely kills a snake at anything more than pissing distance away, and I'd bet it packs more of a punch than .22lr "shells" :D
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by JasonNC »

Another request to see 556 out of Sparrow!!
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by OJB4 »

JasonNC wrote:Another request to see 556 out of Sparrow!!

I'd like to see that too! Any visible damage inside the can after shooting?
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Joshua@CapitolArmory »

I'll put up something fairly soon and toss a link in here. It isn't nearly as impressive as you want it to be, just as a heads up.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by JeffWard »

The 22LR shot may spread enough inside the can to strike the farthest baffles or end-cap. 22LR barrels are rifled. The centrifugal force or the imparted spin will cause the shot to spread faster. It may not damage the can, but you may end up with a bunch of shot rolling around inside. I wouldn't worry much about a can with stainless baffles, but aluminum baffles??? Yikes.

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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Joker31D »

I think I'll watch someone else turn their can into an empty krylon can. but subscribing anyways. :?
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Fulliautomatix »

I guess that's one way to shot blast lead and powder residue out of the baffles. :lol:
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Tony M. »

Back in the early days, Maxim cans were rated for shotshells.

I couldn't recommend it, but I've shot .22 shotshells through one of my cans with no ill effects, and no shot rattling around inside the can afterward.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by a_canadian »

I have doubts about the rifling actually imparting significant rotation to tiny shot. Seems more likely that the shot would travel fairly true, if in an ever-widening pattern, like any shotgun. A bullet spins because it is a snug fit, so snug that the lead (or whatever casing) actually deforms, such that part of it engages very closely with the rifling. Shot wouldn't do that. Unless the shot shell pellets were delivered in a cardboard sleeve of some sort which could act like a bullet I don't see how rotation enters into the equation, even in a fairly long barrel. Now whether the spread rate inherent with a shot shell is going to be problematic could well be a factor depending on the barrel length. Seems the most chaotic motion is likely in the first few inches of travel, so perhaps there'd be greater risk of baffle damage when using shot shells out of a short-barrelled pistol? Just guessing, but it seems more likely the shorter the barrel.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by jh1990 »

Still want to see that video of the sparrow with the 5.56!

I shot a .22 shotshell through a sparrow with no ill effects. No lead shot rolling around either. Still wouldn't recommend it. It was an accident; I had a bunch of random .22 mixed in a bucket.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by doubloon »

a_canadian wrote:I have doubts ...
In a shotgun the cup has a pretty snug fit, if it didn't it would be hard to get any velocity out of the burning powder behind it.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-o-t ... un-barrel/

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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by a_canadian »

Okay. Schooled me. So there's no way in hell anyone with a grain of sense should fire a shot shell through a suppressor with aluminum baffles.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by TROOPER »

That rifling is going to complicate things a bit -- as already previously mentioned. If you go through the effort of getting a shotgun barrel rifled, you'll start to see your patterning "donut". Obviously it won't be apparent at incredibly short distances - like 1 foot from the muzzle, which is what you'd need to have happen in order for damage to a silencer to occur - but you will notice this phenomenon at moderate distances. I'm sure this will be somewhat true for the 22 LR as well.

Whatever you're intending to use the shot-shells for.... consider switching over to shorts instead. The shot-shells have no real benefit on anything at modest distances, and very weak benefit at closer distances.

All of that said: they make 44 Mag shot-shells, but my understanding is that they're loaded very weak... a little under 44 Special, actually. If a person could get true 44 Mag pressures behind those shot-shells, and with that amount of pellet, I'd stupidly have considered buying some for my Marlin. Later, after having spent the money, I'd have realized that the shot is too small to be anything other than novelty, and certainly less effective than 410, which is itself not ideal for too many things.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by doubloon »

a_canadian wrote:
Okay. Schooled me. So there's no way in hell anyone with a grain of sense should fire a shot shell through a suppressor with aluminum baffles.
To be completely fair I did provide a link to 22lr which doesn't seem to spread as quickly or in a donut like the shotgun.

I could be wrong but I don't think 22 shotshell has a cup and I don't think that plastic bubble provides a lot of containment.

But I still want to see video of how to turn your 22 can into a baby rattle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDtd2jNIwAU MUSAFAR!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI This is Water DavidW
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Tony M. »

Last shot is a CCI shotshell.

https://youtu.be/hWo5_zepsCg
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by a_canadian »

Yet another video where a suppressed weapon is being fired at a metal plate. BANG-DING!!! Nasty.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by doubloon »

And it left no marks on the outside of the suppressor. Amazing.

He didn't say anything about stray pellets rattling around inside the can so maybe it works.

Not a catastrophic failure but I'm not sure one shot without inspecting the innards is a confirmed success for me. YMMV
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Tony M. »

doubloon wrote:And it left no marks on the outside of the suppressor. Amazing.

He didn't say anything about stray pellets rattling around inside the can so maybe it works.

Not a catastrophic failure but I'm not sure one shot without inspecting the innards is a confirmed success for me. YMMV
It's my video.

What the video doesn't show is that it was stopped for 90 seconds while I inspected the suppressor. There was no shot rattling around, and no signs of anything touching the baffles.

As I said, I wouldn't recommend it, but it did work for me.
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by doubloon »

Tony M. wrote:...
It's my video.
...
SWEET!

So there was no shot left rolling around inside the can at all?

Would you try a full magazine of them or was one enough to give you pucker?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDtd2jNIwAU MUSAFAR!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI This is Water DavidW
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Re: Are .22 shot shells OK to use with a silencer?

Post by Tony M. »

doubloon wrote:
Tony M. wrote:...
It's my video.
...
SWEET!

So there was no shot left rolling around inside the can at all?

Would you try a full magazine of them or was one enough to give you pucker?
I've shot another half a dozen or so through the can with no shot in the can or marks from baffle contact, but I didn't get video of it, as I was shooting pests in the yard.

I think the CCI shells are fine in my gun/can combo, but I don't think I'd try the old winchester crimped types... that would be a hard pucker factor for me.
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