Glenn R. McMannly
Member
Same with electronic video games.
What's the truth: Revolvers and suppressors?
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Same with electronic video games.
And nobody makes a good holster for 'em anyway.
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The S&W M39 (Mk22 Hushpuppy) was modified with a slide lock to make it a single shot for ultimate suppression.
I believe at least some of the tunnel rats in VietNam used suppressed 1911s that had a slide lock to keep the action closed after the shot was fired. All the firing noise had to go out the front of the barrel (and so through the suppressor) and there was no "regular" action cycling noise. The shooter had to unlock the slide and cycle it manually to load a fresh round, but he could do that at a time of his choosing.
44wheelman
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I also put a can on my Dan Wesson .22. The result was about a 50% noise reduction. It was a 10” silhouette model with the gap set to nearly drag on cylinder (around .002/3”). We could shoot without ear plugs, but wouldn’t do it for extended periods.
Yendor357
Member
Suppressors, in general, are kind of a cool trick. If you shoot with neighbors around, I’m sure the neighbors appreciate you using one. To me, they’re ugly, add unnecessary length and weight. But worst of all, they’re dirty, and gassy. Ask anyone who runs an AR platform. They do ok in a bolt action rifle.
I resent having to pay the government $200 every time I want to buy one. By law, I have to have a muffler on my truck, but I need permission to put one on my firearm? That what happens when the government gets involved in anything.
Suppressors are old technology. With electronic hearing pro that filters out loud noises and amplifies soft noises, why bother?
I resent having to pay the government $200 every time I want to buy one. By law, I have to have a muffler on my truck, but I need permission to put one on my firearm? That what happens when the government gets involved in anything.
Suppressors are old technology. With electronic hearing pro that filters out loud noises and amplifies soft noises, why bother?
kwill1911
Member
No, sorry, not true. The only VN era pistol with a suppressor and slide lock was the MK 22 MOD 0 (based on the S&W Model 39-2) and it was used exclusively by the SEAL teams. The so-called tunnel rats were Army and lots of guns were tried and a number of experimental models were proposed by the Army's Natick Labs and ACTIV group but none were very successful.
kwill1911
Member
Mostly agree. They've been around for 100 years and not much has changed, in spite of what the manufacturers' would like us to believe. They are bulky and expensive and the paperwork is excessive. There are a few applications where they are still useful, however. Killing feral hogs, for example.
Fred Ward
Member
A 22LR running subsonic ammo has a much lower noise level than 50 percent. Also, FRP can be eliminated with a very small drop of oil at the muzzle before the first shot.
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To my knowledge as well, SEAL teams (and possibly other SOF) were the only unit(s) issued M39s in the VN era.
I wasn’t aware of the modifications that changed them to MK22 Mod0 .22LR. I thought they had remained 9MM. I guess given the “tunnel rat” scenario that makes sense, but you say that was an exclusively Army mission. Learn something new every day.
So two questions:
1) What did that mod wind up increasing the magazine capacity to, 10 or 12?
2) Did that make the resulting MK22 Mod0 subsonic pretty much solely an up close and personal assassination/execution weapon?
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Along with rifles and semi auto handguns, revolvers can absolutely be suppressed. NY and NJ have been doing it for years. 
kwill1911
Member
The USAF bought quite a few Model 39s in the 1960s and 1970s because it became the pistol they issued to General Officers. They did not issue them otherwise. Their standard side arm with the 4-inch Model 15 starting in 1962.
The USN bought hundreds of Model 39s to issue to the SEAL Teams and officers that requested them.
The MK 22 MOD 0 was a modification of the Model 39-2. It was 9mm and used standard magazines. The modifications were 1.) a suppressor system; 2.) a slide lock so that the action did not cycle; 3.) subsonic ammo; 4.) various plugs and caps to keep water out of the pistol. There were only about 110 of them made and they were exclusively a SEAL weapon.
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I did know a Marine who claimed to have been a tunnel rat, but he never mentioned what weapon he used. I simply assumed it was the standard issue .45 (possibly suppressed as that would have been best for that mission). But it sounds like you’re claiming he was full of it…which I guess was a possibility.
I'm happy with the results. And I didn't need salt, only a Banish Backcountry Suppressor, Witt Machine clamp on adaptor, Hornady sub sonics, and a Diamond D chest holster to carry it with. I never followed up with the thread I started...one of those why bother things, nobody here would believe it anyway, or those that might would tell me I'm nuts and don't need it.
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Now that IS what I believed from the outset (though I didn’t know the change made them MK22Mod0s), thought they would have just called them a different-.
Additionally, although certainly a possibility I’ve never even heard of .22LR subsonic, nor did it seem likely that S&W would go through the trouble to modify a firearm so much to accommodate the .22LR essentially simply to gain an increased capacity on so small a run of guns.
kwill1911
Member
S&W did make a .22LR pistol for the USAF that was suppressed and had a slide lock. These shipped in 1968.
Just last night, I was watching a british crime drama. The bad guy took a two liter coke bottle, stuffed it full of steel wool, and duct taped it to a revolver. When he shot is victim, on a busy beach, through a towel, no one noticed. it was quite as a morgue. All kinds of magic on TV! 
In the real world, I would think that a Nagant could be silenced better than an auto pistol. That said, I know as much about supressors as I do about flying an F-16.
In the real world, I would think that a Nagant could be silenced better than an auto pistol. That said, I know as much about supressors as I do about flying an F-16.
