EFFECT OF WEAPON SOUND SUPPRESSORS ON DISPERSION: AN EXPLANATION

Abstract

A widely perceived idea that circulates among the marksmen and sniper community is that rifles equipped with sound suppressors will yield nonnegligible reduction in dispersion when compared to that obtained from the same rifle under the same firing conditions. In order to verify and quantify this assertion, an experimental investigation was carried out to verify the effect of suppressors on the observed dispersion. Firing were performed indoor at 200 m using a bench mounted Mann barrel fitted with a Remington bolt action 700. The ammunition used for the trial was the Remington .223. A commercially available mono-core sounds suppressor was used for the trial. The results show a clear reduction in dispersion when firing the weapon using the sound suppressor. Orthogonal high-speed cameras located at 1 m from the muzzle were used to document the first maximum yaw for each projectile fired. On average, the first maximum yaws were found to be smaller when using the sound suppressor. This indicates that the gas flow around the projectile within the suppressor acts as a projectile stabilizer following its exit from the barrel.