Understanding Firearm Suppression
The Challenge
For almost thirty years, AWC has concentrated on firearm noise suppression. The focus of much of our efforts has been on the reduction of muzzle blast, as it is the most significant portion of firearm noise. The remaining elements of firearm noise include the signature of supersonic bullet flight, the cycling noise of some weapons, and lastly, the sound the bullet makes when it hits its target. With the exception of bullet impact noise, AWC has successfully worked on each of these elements and, along the way, we have positively affected recoil, accuracy, weapon longevity, shooter fatigue, hearing health and suppressor investment value retention as well. If you're shopping for superb suppression and you're only being told about dB ratings, well, you're only getting part of the story and, as you will read, probably an incomplete and inaccurate one at that. What follows is how AWC approaches the science of suppression; we appreciate your interest in this subject.
Types of Suppressors
In one sense, AWC builds only one type of suppressors, we build the highest quality American made suppressors. From raw material selection, production, product assembly, to final inspection and testing, AWC manufactures 100% of our products in our Phoenix, Arizona facility. AWC, proudly made in America by Americans.
Having said that, our product focus has been on two different technical approaches to achieving superior suppression, they are muzzle and integral silencers. The most common, the muzzle mount silencer, is properly attached to the end of the firearm’s barrel. The second, the integral silencer, is integrated in a dedicated barrel design. Only within the last number of years, due to the advancement in metallurgy, machining operations, and good old fashioned R&D has AWC's muzzle mounted suppressors come to rival even our own best integral designs in regard to sound suppression. As you will read, when buying either muzzle or integral AWC suppressors, our customers are purchasing the most advanced designs, highest quality materials and quietest devices we believe can be made. Our products are truly a “buy one and be done” investment.
The Art and Science of Quiet
Over almost 30 years of Research and Development work we have found that real breakthroughs in sound suppression came from four separate elements; addressing noise from the individual noise elements listed above, addressing the collective result of the combined noise elements, paying particular attention to new materials and construction techniques and incorporating the real world requirements of our customers, the operators. Whereas we are very much aware that the pure physics of sound generation and its dissipation has very real constraints, we remain vigilant in seeking out the operator’s guidance in helping AWC understand which “real world” field requirements are important and must be attended to. Weight, size, materials, dB level and uniformity of point of impact are not mutually exclusive and we spend literally hundreds of hours working to insure science and art create the best outcome. Simply put the requirements set forth by precision tactical shooters operating at 1,500 yards is vastly different than the requirements of a close quarter combatant operating in full auto mode within the hull of a cargo ship. Our designs and resulting products have been deeply and broadly adopted by civilians, soldiers, police and agencies throughout the world because of our approach to design and product performance and longevity.
Muzzle Blast
Muzzle blast is caused by high pressure gases suddenly escaping from the end of the barrel into the atmosphere as the projectile exits. Reducing that pressure results in less sound exiting into the external atmosphere where the operator or others might hear it. Within the suppressor, pressure is reduced by capturing, managing and dissipating the expanding gases, reducing the gas' temperature (cooling), delaying the gas' exit through trapping and turbulence, and doing this in a way that can take the resulting abuse time after time while delivering improved accuracy. Whether in a single shot .50 BMG or a full auto machine gun, how well a suppressor works on a given weapon depends on how efficiently gas pressure management is accomplished and, as importantly, for how long as product integrity must be maintained for the life of the silencer. Muzzle blast management is inherently dangerous, especially in large caliber or high fire volume suppressors. Simply put “good enough” isn’t anything other than dangerous. AWC produces suppressors only from the highest quality, time tested alloys. We severely restrict the use of aluminum as we have seen the results when things go wrong with aluminum. Our suppressors, through the use of 100% circumferential welding, a production technique we pioneered is among the strongest and therefore safest suppressors in the world. We should also note, that our designs completely eliminate flash signature to the point where we have cases on record of military operators, drenched in gasoline, returning AWC suppressed fire without igniting themselves.
Sonic Signature
At AWC the vast majority of our suppressors are designed to handle full powered cartridges, we remove the muzzle blast and flash and provide the quietest operation possible for supersonic bullet velocities. AWC silencers are “tuned” to specifically address the frequencies of full powered loads, maintain full projectile velocity and produce astonishing suppression and improved accuracy. But there is more to the story. After controlling the audible effects of muzzle blast, we turn our attention to another crucial and sometimes overlooked area, the audible crack of the bullet. As any operator knows, a bullet that travels supersonically makes quite a bit of noise throughout its flight path. Whereas there is little that we can do to mask the sound signature when a supersonic bullet exits the barrel, AWC has done some excellent work in controlling the velocity of .22 caliber rounds within our integral barrels so they do not go supersonic. When using our integral .22 suppressors, this velocity control is made possible by how our technology is integrated into the barrel. The outcome is the complete elimination of both muzzle blast and flash plus the elimination of the second largest sound source, sonic signature. It is a remarkable effect to, well, not hear! In our .22 integral bolt action rifles, what you will hear is the trigger sear and firing pin strike. As such, in all instances, using “subsonic .22 rounds” becomes an unnecessary expense and is to be avoided.
Maintenance of Sound Suppressors
AWC silencers are practically maintenance free. Some level of care is required to insure optimal efficiency and service life. AWC silencers are built from corrosion resistant materials and are designed for maintenance and cleaning without disassembly. In most instances the only maintenance required will be periodic flushing of the suppressor with hot soapy water, followed by rinsing. Understandably, the quality of ammunition used dictates cleaning frequency. Technical manuals are supplied with each silencer, or a user can access the technical manual on our web site. Many customers ask us if our suppressors disassemble for cleaning. The answer is no, they do not and for good reason. We have been at this long enough to have once made disassemble suppressors and came to recognize the true technical drawback of their design. At AWC we have a proprietary baffle and chamber design that specifically moves spent material out of the suppressor. We have inspected customers rimfire suppressor, some a decade old with tens of thousands of high velocity rounds fired, and they were still world class quiet and deadly accurate. . Whether centerfire or rimfire, read our manuals and follow the directions for a lifetime of superb performance. For those that simply must clean, we provide a very inexpensive “jet” cleaning tool that our customers can use to effortlessly clean our silencers.
Sound Measurements
Few firms have been making suppressors and measuring the results as long as AWC Systems Technology. We have measured so much, and for so long that over the last 30 years the companies who make measuring equipment have sought us out so that their own products could be improved. As such, we have seen it all when it comes to the ugly game of whose suppressor does what, when and how. We want you to own the best suppressors in the world and we strongly and verifiably believe those are made by AWC.
If for one moment we felt that publishing dB results gave any meaningful measure of how to judge one suppressor from another we would still be doing what we did for decades, publish numbers. But, we do not publish dB data, nor do we apologize for this policy. We, ourselves, have been frequently deceived by our own dB data. That which we found to meter wonderfully underperformed in the field, in use, because of one important and inescapable fact about noise, It's so important, we'll set it off by itself:
The problem with decibel readings is that it expresses a pressure level of sound, and gives no insight as to the "quality" or frequency of the sound.
If we, the "experts", can be deceived users are at great risk of being deceived. That deception is now a crucial part of some of our competitors marketing campaigns. Far too often we have seen cases where the very best meter claimed that device "A" had a lower reading than device "B". However, observers unanimously agreed that device "B" sounded significantly quieter in all respects. In other words, the dB reading was the least accurate way to judge the true, and more importantly, applied use of a particular design. That leads us to another inescapable truth, again, important enough to be set off by itself:
We at AWC, do consider data produced by our meters, but we are more interested in how the device sounds in actual use as perceived by the parties who use them. The sound meter's opinion is considered, but it doesn't get the final word on what we build. AWC maintains extremely close contact with our clients, more so than any other suppressor company over the last 30 years. We rely on our own and our clients experience, intelligence and field requirements for the final design attributes. As a result, the bottom line is that we build the strongest, most compact, and highly effective units on planet Earth, and the vast majority of our customers remain with us for their lifetimes.
We strive to design our suppressors so that the shot fired sounds "unlike" or "not characteristic" of firearm noise. We are aware of several units produced by other companies that do, according to the meter, produce less noise than our device of similar nature. However, when these devices are compared in real world live fire tests our devices are noticeably more pleasant to the human ear. Several well known silencer aficionados have observed these tests and agree with our attitude toward the decibel. They say our suppressors have the "sweet sound".
If you still need more proof, consider this. A good example of this "deception" is the comparison of sound between a .308 caliber rifle and a .300 WIN MAG rifle. The meter will tell us that both rifles produce the same decibel level of noise. Upon firing these rifles, however, all would agree that the .300 WIN MAG sounds much louder. What the decibel meter doesn't tell us is that although both rifles produce the same peak sound pressure level (SPL), the .300 WIN MAG holds its peak duration longer. In other words the .300 WIN MAG sound remains at full value longer and IS louder while the .308 goes to peak and falls off more quickly. dB meters fail in this, and other regards.
Our experience has been that a few unprincipled manufacturers have published false data in order to appear "competitive. We have seen instances of an 8 year old suppressor from one manufacturer being tested against a can so new, that the firm hasn't figured out how to manufacture it yet in quantity. In short, if you're being told that the main selling point of a suppressor is its decibel readings, beware! We, at AWC have gotten our balance on the issue of dB metering and we believe that you, the client, hopefully our client, will serve yourself well by following our lead on this topic.
