Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters No cans in Canada

GWPGUY, we are NOT allowed silencers in Canada. And many other things!!! I don't live at the farm anymore so only have 100yd range now along with one neighbor. There ok with the shooting now & again but have a new baby. So, was trying to think of away to make things even quieter. I've already moved one shooting bench away & under a lean to for the 22rimfire at 50yds but would like to construct a large (silencer) to shoot through, sauna tube, car tires, plastic culvert just for the rimfires but would need one for quieting a 223 as the bench for the 100yds is right up against our lot line. Not shooting any large caliber anymore. Any ideas??? Much appreciated gentlemen. THANKS. GWPGUY. 👍🏻🐾👣🇨🇦

It's been done. There was discussion in an older Gun Digest if I recall correctly - may have been Handloaders Digest or maybe both. Maybe somebody with back issues or CD version of Gun Digest -or Handloaders Digest - will chime in. My copies are in storage. Unexpected issues including keeping it clean and the fire hazard from unburned powder. Much like a prone firing line for rimfire shooters lead from primers can accumulate for a health hazard. Also can be and is banned as a silencer in some jurisdictions despite differences in attachment and form.

I like the tire idea but how about shooting through an insulated box maybe. Insulating the tires? Kinda along the same lines. Some extra safety precautions would have to be exercised of course.

PM DigitalDan, he put one together a few years back.

Consider loading subsonic for the .223. No matter what you do on the shooting position end, a supersonic round will have a sonic boom crack to it. Hodgdon has data. If you don’t reload, $100 will get you started with a Lee Loader, scale, etc.

There is much discussion on the internet. Mostly using tires with different foam and fillers for more noise reduction. I don't remember it but the internet says Ken Waters built a range silencer and wrote about it for Wolfe. I'd talk to an attorney in the local jurisdiction before I put money into getting around the law. Here is a bit from the internet.

Straw bales really soak up the noise.

4'x15" square, 1/4" ply exterior w/foam insulation. Loudest sound with a 10/22 shooting SV ammo is the action cycle. Muzzle inserted past the first baffle. The shooter will hear a notable pop when they shoot, but those standing to the side hear little other than the action. With single shots or bolt guns it is very quiet.









Target holder and deflector. 1/4" AR400 steel plate, 45* angle, bucket filled with concrete scrap. Holds target backers 18"x18"

I shoot in a residential neighborhood and nobody hears what is going on. The set up is functional for any subsonic ammo. The "silencer's" serial number is BR549.

Holly cow guys thanks. Real good ideas, will wait till spring when it warms up! Digital Dan, if your back here later was wondering how far the spacers were apart? Didn't think it would be critical but just curious. Thanks again guys, sort of had the idea in my head but didn't want to go to the trouble of building it and it not working. GWPGUY. 🐾👣🇨🇦

First two have a 6" spacing and somewhere around 9-10" for the next 3. The last spacer/baffle is about 6" from the end.

For whatever it may be worth, one of my friends brought over a .45 cal air rifle and well, I figured it was an air rifle, so blaze away. Turns out it was launching 300 grain lead bullets at ~1,300 fps (Air Force Texan). The neighbors heard that! My backstop was not impressed.

GWPGUY;
Good morning to you sir, I hope you're warm, well and dry if you're getting winter the likes of what we're getting.

In addition to what DigitalDan has shown us - and it's very, very cool thanks much - I'll add a couple observations.

At the range I'm a member of, we installed berms which bounce the sound up more than it used to. I'd think and it's an I think, not an I know by any stretch - but I'd think that any sort of barrier or trough for the first 25yds would be somewhat helpful.

The rifle range benches are set up so the muzzle is into a box which is bench width, has a front that is bench height and then there's two layers of carpet hanging down on top. The carpet is low enough that it's a pain for anyone taller than me to set up a spotting scope standing and see the target butts.

The front and bottom are lined with carpet too, again as a guess I'd think that the surface and texture of it help dampen echo and break up sound waves somewhat?

If GRF sees this, the range in the very middle of the city of Lethbridge has huge beams on top of the range too, surely for safety so one cannot launch a bullet into the subdivisions beyond, but I'm guessing again they break up the sound waves somewhat?

Sound it a funny thing and after attempting to become at least competent at game calling, I can say that sound travels downhill better than uphill, all things being equal.

Also it doesn't take much wind at all to blow sound all over the place.

Hope that all made some sense and was useful.

All the best.

Dwayne

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated!!! Cool ideas & can't wait for spring now. BC 30cal, ya were getting a good storm here in ont. rt now. Nothing as bad as my buddy is getting in Manitoba right now. Actually I remember real storms & real winters, 1950s 1960s looong time ago. Now a days it just snows a bit & they cancel the school busses. Had to walk a mile to catch my bus!!! No not up hill both ways & in bear feet. Thanks again everyone for all the info, much appreciated. GWPGUY. 🐾👣🇨🇦👍🏻

Dwayne; based solely on my observations prior and post renovation (anecdote sample of 1) the baffles at the range in Lethbridge do seem to reduce the sound or at least the distance to sound travels.

I remember a gun writer years ago published plans for a range silencer. It involved three 55 gallon drums welded back to back, making, in effect a 12 foot long suppressor. Ends cut out to accommodate the bullet. Something used as filler inside to diffuse the sound. Jamison maybe?

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/55_gallon_drum_suppressor_for_range_use_/20-366753/


I was right. Jamison was the writer. This thread references his suppressor. However it was two drums, not three as I stated.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?2839-55-Gallon-Drum-Silencer

Plenty of YouTube videos to show you how to make your own.

"Development of a Muffler for Small Arms Range Noise Mitigation"

https://rangeservices.nra.org/media...or-small-arms-range-noise-mitigation.pdf

How long did it take you to get your Form 1 approved from the ATF?😂

Never happened, they're too busy ROTFL.