It's interesting how silenced guns still make the quiet thip thip sound in movies.
I wonder if sound guys end up keeping it because that's what the audience expects.
I saw this mentioned on TV awhile back, can't remember where though,
The name 'silencer' is an inaccurate name and always has been. They've never made a gun completely silent. If you hear a completely silent gun in a movie or show that it is wrong. I'm not sure if the 'thip thip' sound used is accurate either, it rings a bell that guns are louder than that when suppressed, so that could be a TV/movie thing because the audience expects it, but I'm not certain and I'm certainly no gun expert.
I also have no idea where the name came from, whether it was once a genuine name or if it was a movie/TV invention (like so many TV/movie things) but I do know that it isn't used these days and the more accurate term of 'suppressor' is, and should be used.
You're right, i should say 'supressor'
And I think maybe i didn't say that right. What i'm saying is that guns DON'T make that sound in real life. (as you explained)
From what i've heard (no gun expert either) at BEST it'll sound like a loud nail gun. A more THUNK than thip lol
"The name 'silencer' is an inaccurate name and always has been. They've never made a gun completely silent."
No human has ever experienced "complete silence", so by your line of "reasoning", nearly all uses of the term "silent" are inaccurate.
"I also have no idea where the name came from, whether it was once a genuine name or if it was a movie/TV invention (like so many TV/movie things)"
Hiram P. Maxim invented the device and he called it a "silencer", therefore "silencer" is the correct name. See US Patent #958,934 for example:
Whatever be the particular form employed the result is that the energy of the whole body of gases is much more effectively dissipated within the silencer and the passage of gases from the silencer under sufficient pressure to cause an undesirable noise as they escape into the surrounding atmosphere is much more effectively prevented than would be the case if no such means were provided.
The term I've been told to use is "moderator", but we are talking terminology here.
A truly silenced gun would be something like :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welrod
The purpose of the device is to make it quieter, but in particular, to eliminate the sharp crack which is characteristic of a firearm ; allowing it to be confused with something else.
Anything is better than nothing :
In On Deadly Ground, Steven Seagal uses a pop bottle
In Payback, Mel Gibson uses a cushion
There are only a handful of movies where Hollywood gets firearms and gun handling right. Everything else is just garbage.
shareI once saw a list of movie guns :
Flat-sided, for kicking across the floor
Clicking, for when a revolver has run out of ammunition
etc.
In 1966 I visited the set of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and the prop guy showed me the trailer where they kept all the guns. They had beat-up, non-functioning guns for dropping, and even fake guns made of pressed leather, dyed black, for throwing.
shareChecking on Youtube, there is a wide variety of the quality of the suppression, many of which don't sound much quieter than without it. This video is of an Osprey suppressor, which Affleck is shown using on his 45. It's incredibly quiet, "dry" or "wet"(which it explains).
(Link won't work. Cut and paste on Youtube.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1-IOu3m11Y
Hey thanks! Great video!
Honestly that's even quieter than I thought it would be.
Imagine that same gun in a house at night with people sleeping in the next room. No way they wouldn't hear it. In movies they're often ninja-like stealthy with those things.
As I kid, I used to sleep through my mother doing the vacuuming.
shareWhat cracks me up is when someone charges a semi auto in a movie or TV and 5 minutes later they do it again..I know it's all for the "effect" but Jesus Christ I think we get it. Not to mention Almost all of the cops do the same thing..I was always taught to be locked and loaded at all times. I could go on but it won't make a difference
shareOr like when someone holds a pump-action shotgun at someone, then a few seconds later racks the slide ?
Perhaps it is like Mad Max 2, or some of Dirty Harry ; where few people would trust their life on a gun being unloaded. Once they are sure it is loaded, that is another step. In many cases, guns are a sufficient deterrent ; so if you have to pull the trigger, that is a back-up to it failing.
What really bugs me in modern movies is that every time someone holding a gun moves it, even slightly, it makes a lot of clickety-clack sounds, as if everything on it is loose and rattling around. It's ridiculous.
shareIt may be apocryphal, but I heard of three people being interviewed :
A cop who had been stabbed
A firefighter who had been burned
A soldier who had been shot
They each described the feeling of pain as :
A stabbing pain
A burning sensation
Like being shot
However, the description didn't match the injury.
If we saw a character suffer one injury, and describe it as another, we wouldn't believe it. Sometimes movies do have to pander ( at least a little ) to our expectations.
You cannot silence a revolver ---- There is a huge gap between the cylinder and the barrel --- The gas escapes and makes the sound
The RussianNagant revolver is the only one that can be silenced as much as an auto ----- When the trigger is at full cock, the cylinder slides forward and goes around the barrel The Ammo is recessed in it shell
They stopped making them in 1950 Used to be could pick them up fro less than 100$ Ammo became impossible to find,,, I'm told som 32 caliber rimed ammo with fire in them