Design and Construction
The suppressor is typically a hollow cylindrical piece of machined metal (steel, aluminium, or titanium) containing expansion chambers that attaches to the muzzle of a pistol, submachine gun or rifle. These "can"-type suppressors (so-called as they resemble a beverage can), may be detached by the user and attached to a different firearm of the same caliber. Another type is the "integral" suppressor, which consists of expansion chambers surrounding the barrel. The barrel is pierced with openings or "ports" which bleed off gases into the chambers. This type of suppressor is part of the firearm, and maintenance of the suppressor requires that the firearm be at least partially disassembled.
Both types of suppressor reduce noise by allowing the rapidly expanding gases from the firing of the cartridge to be briefly diverted or trapped inside a series of hollow chambers. The trapped gas expands and cools, and its pressure and velocity decreases as it exits the suppressor. The chambers are divided by either baffles or wipes (see below). There are typically at least four and up to perhaps fifteen chambers in a suppressor, depending on the intended use and design details. Often, a single, larger expansion chamber is located at the muzzle end of a can-type suppressor, which allows the propellant gas to expand considerably and slow down before it encounters the baffles or wipes. This larger chamber may be "reflexed" toward the rear of the barrel to minimize the overall length of the combined firearm and suppressor, especially with longer weapons such as rifles.
Suppressors vary greatly in size and efficiency. One disposable type developed in the 1980s by the U.S. Navy for 9 mm pistols was 150 mm (5.9 in) long and 45 mm (1.8 in) in outside diameter, and was designed for six shots with standard ammunition or up to thirty shots with subsonic (slower than the speed of sound) ammunition. In contrast, one suppressor designed for rifles firing the powerful .50 caliber cartridge is 509 mm (20.0 in) long and 76 mm (3.0 in) in diameter.
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