22LR suppressor question. Ideas?

[SigShooter]

I purchased a Ruger 1022 Target from a friend that had the barrel threaded and used his 5.56 suppressor on it several times. When I shot it with his 5.56 suppressor the gun was almost dead quiet, noise from the action of course.

After purchasing the rifle from him I purchased a Silencerco Sparrow (.22LR) suppressor for use with it and my SR22 pistol. When using my suppressor on the 1022 it does not suppress the noise at all, it sounds as loud with it on and is does with it off. Obviously I know that my suppressor is different from the one my friend had and a different caliber but I still expected it to suppress the sound some. I have even tried ammunition labeled as “subsonic” and doesn’t change. Does anyone have any ideas as to what is going on?

The interesting thing is if I use my suppressor on my SR22 pistol it is dead quiet, less noise than a nail gun. This surprised me because when shooting the SR22 without the suppressor it is WAY louder than my 1022, almost as loud as a .380 or 9mm.

Appreciate thoughts/ info as I am new to the suppressor thing…

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[simon99]

Two things...

Regarding your 10/22, the noise you're hearing is coming from the action being so close to your face compared to using it on a pistol where you are holding it at arms length away from you. Secondly, are you using the suppressor wet or dry? Though it sounds weird, I use electricians wire pulling lube in mine.

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[simon99]

If it bothers you too much, you can get a bolt lock for your 10/22

here's a source -

JG Bolt Lock

 

[SigShooter]

Thank you for your input and I will look into the bolt lock.

As for the noise, I have had others out shooting with me standing off to the side a decent ways and they have mentioned the same about still hearing a lot of noise. Could just be the way it is I suppose. I have been using it dry, once again new to it so not sure about using it wet. I am assuming that will cut some noise too?

 

[simon99]

Yes, wetter is better.

 

[civilian75]

It is hard to tell what's going on. I'll share a couple of thoughts:

* The 5.56 can will have more volume, hence, will exert lower back pressure onto your 10/22. So maybe the bolt is cycling with a bit more "enthusiasm"? How much of a difference will that make in your situation, I don't know. But I know from working with other suppressors/firearms combos, it can make a huge difference.

* I am pretty sure most if not all 22LR ammo will be subsonic on your SR22, whereas, on a 10/22, only high quality subsonic ammo will remain subsonic while also reliably cycling the action.

* With 22LR cans, I don't think wet v. dry will make much of a difference.

* Before you spend money on a bolt lock, try just holding the bolt closed with your hand to see what results you get.

The Sparrow is specified to reduce 41dB!! For a 22LR can, It doesn't get much better than that.

 

[erudne]

clean the can

 

[BillM]

What ammo are you using? Standard velocity CCI 22 is sub-sonic in my 22/45.
The same ammo is sub-sonic most of the time in my 10-22 with the 12.5" Tac-Sol
SBX barrel.
Same ammo is NOT sub-sonic 99% of the time with my 16" Savage SV-FR.
All shot with the same Liberty Kodiak TL suppressor.

If I were to guess, I would say your ammo is going super-sonic in your rifle.

FWIW, CCI sub-sonic (40gr?) will cycle the action of my 10-22's, but Remington and
Aguilla will not.

 

[SigShooter]

Thank you all very much for the additional info and things to consider, and yes I have cleaned the suppressor prior to this post.

Lots of different things to try, including trying some more variations of ammo.

 

[PDXSparky]

Standard velocity CCI 22 is NOT sub-sonic 99% of the time with my 16" Savage SV-FR.
All shot with the same Liberty Kodiak TL suppressor.

If I were to guess, I would say your ammo is going super-sonic in your rifle.

Really? CCI standard velocity stays subsonic out of my SV-FR with a SS Sparrow on it.

Also, Federal bulk stays subsonic when I shoot it in my M&P 22 or Browning Buckmark with the Sparrow on them.

I do agree with the guess, the bullet is going super-sonic.

 

[erudne]

I wish I could post the pic of my suppressed ruger from my life in OZ, it was a Maxum type, cost about $30 US, was a bear to keep clean.
Sub sonic Winchester was .60 a BX, cycled the action just fine but very dirty.

 

[Modeler]

* I am pretty sure most if not all 22LR ammo will be subsonic on your SR22, whereas, on a 10/22, only high quality subsonic ammo will remain subsonic while also reliably cycling the action.

This. The round coming out of your pistol is subsonic due to the short barrel, the round coming out of your rifle is supersonic.

 

[Misternt]

What kind of "subsonic" ammo are you using? Try some CCI standard or Wolf or SK standard.

My 10/22 with CCI standard is very quiet with a sparrow compared to without:
Sparrow suppressor on 10/22 - YouTube

 

[BIG_GUNNUT]

clean the can

Actually suppressors are quietest a little dirty.

 

[Nwcid]

There are lots of pieces of info in here I will put them all in one.

There are 2 noises from a firearm. First the high pressure in the barrel escaping into the lower air pressure. The second is the bullet breaking the speed of sound.

Silencers are made to reduce #1. They make it so there is not a sudden change between high pressure and low pressure which = removing the "boom". The only way to reduce #2 is use ammo that stays below the speed of sound in the selected firearm. Well there is also a 3rd noise and that is of the action of the gun. With semi auto it is the bolt going back and forth on its own, and releasing some of the high pressure of the bolt. With a non-bolt action you will not get that extra gas out the bolt and the action noise will not come until you manually work it.

Since we are talking .22 here I will continue on that. With .22 handguns almost all ammo will stay subsonic. .22 hand guns are very loud because you have high pressure and unburned powder (simplified version) coming out quickly so it is louder. This is true for any caliber, have a longer barrel and the noise is reduced. This is why silencers are very efficient on the .22 pistols.

Here are a couple of thoughts for you;

Had you shot any other suppressed .22 prior to shooting your buddies? If not I wonder if your perception has changed. The 10/22 was quiet, but now after hearing your pistol it does not sound so quiet now? I have a few threaded 10/22 and they are reasonably quiet but louder then many of my other threaded rifles. The only gun I ever had that was louder was the Buckmark rifle, and it was way worse.

Make sure you are shooting ammo that is actually staying SS in your gun. I know many people reliably use SV ammo and it stays SS for them, that does not mean it is for you. Any ammo that breaks the speed of sound is going to have very little change in noise suppressed or not because there is very little #1 so there is very little the silencer can to do.

Some claim replacing the bolt buffers with "plastic" ones make a huge difference. I have them in some as I got them with something else. I do not notice much of a change. I do keep them in, but I don't know if I would spend the money to replace them.

The bolt lock. It is a cool deal. I built a totally tricked out 10/22 to replace my 77/22 as my go to gun. I added a bolt lock to it and it did exactly what it claimed. I actually found the noise level to be about the same but the tone of the report changed. It was a tone that I did not care for so I pulled the lock out and sold it.

 

[BlindedByScience]

You can replace the recoil buffer in your 10/22 with a plastic rod, that will eliminate the often loud "clack" when the bolt ends its rearward travel. I could tell the difference, the buffer was cheap, easy to install, worth a try, IMHO.

I agree with the other posters; on my MKIII with my Sparrow, it's almost silent except for bolt noise, and the rounds never go supersonic downrange. On my 10/22 it's still almost silent but about one in three rounds go supersonic downrange and you'll get the 'crack' when they do. Suppressors can't suppress that sound....

 

[Audrey]

Ammo plays a big role. We did some testing with different types of standard, quiet, and sniper ammos. It made for a fun afternoon.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

A lot of the noise a suppressed 10/22 makes is the bolt slamming the stock Ruger steel bolt stop pin.. replace it with a Volquartsen polymer pin

 

[Misternt]

I shot my 10/22 suppressed with blazer 22LR and it is LOUD hurt my ears and required ear pro to shoot. Was not impressed at all. I shot CCI standard and it was really quiet.

The same blazer out of my MK III 22/45 lite sounded about the same as CCI standard out of my MK III 22/45 to me.

You can shoot a MK III or 10/22 with the bolt held closed. On a MK III hold your thumb over the bolt while firing. On the 10/22 hold your charging handle forward. There is bit of a difference especially in action noise. From what I read and my experience it wouldn't be worth giving up semi auto action and the extra parts / cost to use devices to lock bolts all the time.

There's a lot of people that advocate using polymer buffer pins in 10/22's. They argue that the bolt on steel pin is noisier and increases recoil. Also a steel pin in the aluminum receiver being slammed thousands of times supposedly will elongate the receiver hole. Personally I use them in my 10/22's as they are pretty cheap.

 

[samfinch99]

Not to beat a dead horse but i agree with pretty much every reply here. I use a Ruger Charger with a 5.25" barrel as my Sparrow host. I installed the shorter barrel (comes with 10") in an attempt to save money attempting to avoid needing to buy subsonic ammo to keep the thing quiet. It did work as everything i shoot through it stays subsonic (no sonic boom/crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier), however if i use bulk stuff like Thunderbolt or Federal, the muzzle blast from the powder charge following the bullet out the muzzle is louder than I and my neighbors like (not a city dweller). So the bulk pack gets saved for real range time and my subsonic is for quiet time. It really does whisper with Remington Subs, and I've never had one jam with those, but Winchester Subs wont cycle my action. Standard ammo great as well for me, but in a rifle platform most ammo is going to go supersonic unless it states on the box that the FPS as being right around 1000fps less.

A must have if attempting to go all whisper like, is the bolt stop or bolt buffer everyone talks about. KIDD over at Coolguyguns.com has a nice polymer buffer with a metal rod running through the middle for ease of install. I personally use a blue nylon Tuffer Buffer. It is real quiet. It is made from a really soft rubbery nylon material. I think it was $4.00 on ebay. If you have problems with cycling when running subs try a lighter weight recoil spring. I think i got mine for $12 from KIDD, though i never installed it due to having way more Remington subs that run fine than i do other other brands.

I got the best solution: Just tax stamp that thing and put 8" barrel on it and a folding stock and you got yourself a nice sub gun that'll fit in a backpack for some squirrel hunting while on a hike. Thats my next project.