I've made a few stills and while I've never made whiskey I have made a hell of a lot of rum , stills are illegal here but can be readily bought in pretty much any home brew shop in the country , no one really worries unless you try and sell the stuff you are making , don't worry about any of that stuff any more , never have more than one or two beers these days
Silencers , Suppressors , I really don't like the terms , suppressor isn't too bad but I like the term Sound Moderator better as none of them actually silence a firearm but they do make it quieter , except of course in the movies and that is where most of our politicians get their firearm knowledge or lack of it from
A 308 Win is some thing around 160 Db to 169 Db but with a moderator can be bought down to some where around 135 db to 142 Db or so , 140 Db Plus is considered to be the point where sound causes permanent hearing damage , a moderator can't do any thing about the super sonic crack so most rounds made for use with a moderator tend to be sub sonic , and start off around 159 Db and end up around 125 to 130 Db when moderated depending on a lot of factors including barrel length and brand of moderator
Most sound moderators in full bore calibres drop the noise level by 25 to 35 Db
135Db is about the sound of a normal 22 rimfire rifle using high velocity ammo , most people using a moderator on a 22 rifle use subsonic ammo and end up with a noise level of around 80 to 100 Db or so , the quietest ones I've seen and heard were home made and considerably larger than the commercial ones
So basically a moderated centre fire rifle will be around the noise level of a High velocity 22 rimfire and a moderated 22 rimfire rifle using sub sonic loads will be around the noise level of some one dropping a encyclopaedia volume from a height of around 5 feet onto a tile floor
Moderators used to be legal in South Australia and were made by a company there GSA , they used to sell for under $10 when I was a child and around $50 on the black market here in Qld when I was in my 20's and weren't too bad at all much like the old Parker hale model , hundreds of thousands were made and when they were made illegal only about a thousand were handed in so there is still a lot out there , also they are legal in NZ and so most Kiwi's bring one or two with them if the come to live in Australia so I've had the opportunity to see and hear quite a few of them
Many years ago I new a guy who made up a Lee Enfield single shot in 45 colt , he used a 300 gn cast bullet and the rifle had a 16 inch barrel , he made up a moderator for it and it was 22 Inches long and about 2 inches in Dia , it fitted back over the whole barrel and used that section over the barrel as a expansion chamber , it worked very well , the shot was about the same as dropping a encyclopaedia volume from a height of around 7 feet onto a tile floor
The main use of a sound moderator is so you don't damage your hearing or annoy your neighbours , although it does make it a little easier when doing pest destruction work , using a moderated 22 you can take out a lot of rabbits on a warren as it not loud enough at 100 metres to frighten them too much
Our authorities are worried about criminals using them which is just plain stupid , the only place a moderator is all that quite is in the movies and if a crim wanted to use a moderator then all he has to do to moderate a 22 using standard velocity ammo is to shove a piece of plastic conduit over the end of the barrel so there is about 8 to 12 inches over and put a couple of pieces of electrical tape over the end , the first shot will punch the hole and will actually be slightly louder than the next shots , really not much difference between that and a real factory moderator
Moderators are very expensive in the USA , and they can be had with the latest technology and materials , some years ago I saw a test between a very expensive american made titanium moderator and a cheap $50 NZ model , both on the same rifle , one at a time obviously and while the american made one was just slightly quieter it wasn't enough to warrant the extra $1150 to pay for it
If they were legal here would I have one , shit yeah , in a second , my hearing is not all that great and any thing that helps to stop it getting worse is a help , plus in the middle of summer here wearing ear plugs or muffs is painful
David
