Long gone are the days when loud sounds from gunfire were considered a great advantage, because they sowed panic in the camp of the enemy. The current generation eschews open battles, weapons are increasingly used in special missions on enemy territory. For successful execution of orders, a quiet and silent weapon is required, which at the time of use will go unnoticed.
The era of small arms began at the time of the creation of smokeless gunpowder, and with it, engineers began work on a device for suppressing loud gunfire. One of the first such a device was designed by the French Colonel Humbert. The sample was a nozzle, inside of which was a ball located slightly below the barrel. At the time of the shot, the bullet flew out instantly, the powder gases that appeared threw the ball so that it closed the hole of the device, preventing the noise from escaping. It was the first silencer for weapons. The device was effective only in a horizontal position, shooting directed down or up could lead to rupture of the barrel of the rifle, thereby crippling people.
A more reliable and effective silencer for weapons was created by the famous inventor of the machine gun, Hiram Maxim. From year to year, improving his model, Maxim Jr. founded his company for the production of sound suppression devices.
The silencer for the weapon was a cylindrical nozzle located on the barrel of the weapon. The sound was absorbed due to the loss of energy of the powder gases, which expanded and cooled upon firing. At the same time, the silencer was also a flame arrester.
The efforts of engineers were first appreciated by ordinary hunters. The silencer for weapons turned out to be very useful in forest areas, where the sound constantly scared away animals. Even during World War I, the army preferred conventional weapons. It was only during World War II that the effectiveness of silencers became very popular. Partisan wars, scouts used the noise suppression device that the Mitina brothers developed.
The best developments of the latest generation of silencers can reduce the sound of a conventional pistol by five hundred times. An explosion of powder gases is practically absorbed, there remains only the noise of automatic reloading of weapons. Machine guns and large-caliber rifles also have the option of using a silencer, but the results are slightly worse. But every year engineers in the field of military weapons develop improved models. Perhaps soon a kind of device will be created that can completely absorb the sound of a shot.
There is not only a silencer for rifled weapons. In addition to military models, there are civilian weapons, hunters still love a device that suppresses noise.
In many countries there is a rule: it is prohibited by law to acquire and use a silencer for smoothbore weapons. This applies only to military models, to pneumatic assault rifles and rifles, sound absorption devices are not regulated, which means that they are allowed.