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by livueta
1433 days ago
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That's not quite accurate: talking supersonics, even if the sound isn't made hearing-safe or movie quiet, the tone goes from a sharp crack to a kind of thud. It's difficult to describe but this change in the quality of the sound makes it a lot harder to tell where a shot is coming from by ear alone. Suppressors are also generally excellent at suppressing muzzle flash, moreso than flash hiders. Same idea as the tone thing. They also reduce felt recoil impulse and muzzle climb, so controlling the weapon across a string of shots is easier. A genuine downside is they make direct impingement platforms get really gunked up really quickly. Also, gas to the face via the charging handle. However, the advantages are so significant that basically nobody who has the option shoots unsuppressed. That includes most military forces; if cans suck why does everyone use them? Re subsonics: that'd be true if you were simply underloading a designed-as-supersonic round, but a lot of the point of stuff like .300 blackout / .458 socom is to compensate for velocity loss with a fat heavy projectile. |
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Compensating (performance-wise) for velocity loss isn't easy, the "kinetic energy vs. momentum" isn't (AFAIK) settled, as every parameter (including projectile frangibility...) plays a role. My experience is limited, however when it comes to penetrating hard material with a metal-piercing round or to obtain a massive cavity (and shock) on a soft target with an frangible/expansive one, I will pick supersonic rather than subsonic-and-massive because there is too wide of a gap, just as (and for similar reasons) I will prefer a long gun to a handgun. A .300 Blackout (supersonic) develops (E0) ~1800J, while the subsonic version only develops ~700, this seems a "massive" difference to me, exhibiting the difficulty. "There is no replacement for (speed of) displacement."