Not So Obvious Tactical Advantages Of Suppressors

Overview:

Sound suppression is obviously the reason for suppressors, but there many other tactical advantages to placing a suppressor on your rifle. In this video Rob discusses the role that suppressors play in reducing the muzzle and sound signature of shots for hunting and tactical engagements. There's also the ability to hear the impact of the round which provides clues as to whether the bullet made contact with a solid or hollow object. In the context of room clearing, suppressors aid with command & control by potentially differentiating your team's shots from those of an enemy.

Skip To Video Topic:

Intro - 00:00
Sound and Muzzle Signature (ex. Elk) - 00:30
Sound of Impact - 03:19
Command & Control - 04:35

Transcript:

Hey everybody, Rob Orgel. In today's video I wanted to talk about the tactical advantage of using a suppressor. Now of course I'm talking about rifle suppressors and potentially in tactical situations. So first we're going to have the reduced sound and reduced signature day or night. That's going to do a lot to allow me to continue engaging a target and reduce their ability to key in on where those rounds are coming from. Now let's break down this part because it's a bit more complicated into the recipient of those rounds. Let's hone in now on elk. The rule of elk is what I like to call the rule of three. It makes it very palatable and easy to understand. An elk will hear me three times before he takes off. An elk will see me twice before he takes off. An elk will smell me one time before he takes off. So having said this, let's hone in on just the sound aspect. As I set into position with my weapon, get my round in the chamber, prepare to engage that elk. When I send that first round, the bullet reaches the elk before the sound of my rifle does. How do I know this? The speed of sound is 1100 feet per second. So let's take round numbers and pretend your elk's at 1000 yards just because that's easy round numbers. 1000 yards is 3000 feet because three into one. We already know that. So my bullet will reach that elk relatively quickly, depending upon your cartridge and speed, probably around one to 1.5 seconds-ish, don't quote me, that the sound of the bullet is going to follow for quite some time. And that's the sound of the rifle going off. So as the bullet reaches that elk, it breaks the sound barrier and drags the sound barrier with it. So as the round pulls over that elk, he'll hear "SNAP!" And that elk might have a startled response, like, "What was that?" Now elk usually have racks, and those racks break tree limbs, and they hear things go snap over their head from time to time. And it's not necessarily alarming to them. So they might do a, "What was that?" And if a second or two later they heard "Boom!" which is the sound of your rifle, they have now heard you twice. Which means if you made any noise setting up or tromping your way through the forest, that might be three times and they might take off. Meaning you're probably going to get one shot, maybe two, on your elk. If you have a suppressor on your rifle, especially at given distance, they'll hear "SNAP!" Again, a common sound for them, might startle them. And then they hear "Pfft!" in the far off distance, which might not even register to that animal. So it might give you a second or third shot. I even know a guy who fired 12 rounds at a deer. Now that deer is still alive today. Of course, he was in the army, but he had not received precision rifle training yet. He started training with me, and the next animal he shot at died immediately. Training is a very important aspect of your engagement, whether it be defensive or whether it be at an elk at distance. These are important things to not overlook. Toys are fun, but these are just tools. We need to have the training behind it to be proficient with these tools. So the sound barrier, ripping and dragging over the animal's head, is one sound. This might give you additional shots. So you've got signature reduction via sound, you've got signature reduction via muzzle blast, and then you've got the recipient of those rounds hearing the round rip over and not hearing a shot immediately thereafter or seeing a muzzle flash. These are three main tactical advantages to having a suppressor on your weapon. An added bonus that happens to be one of my favorite tactical advantages to using a suppressor while it'd be hunting or otherwise is that when I fire my round, if I'm wearing hair protection, it dampens out a lot of what's going on. Usually when I'm hunting, I don't wear hearing protection, especially in combat engagements. Hearing protection isn't always an option. So the sound of my bullet thump the rapport of the impact. From the sound of how that round hits, I can tell, did I hit berm? Did I hit a steel target? Did I hit the upper chest cavity of a target which gives a hollow thud? Or is there a wet crunch? In which case it's a headshot. There has been several occasions when I fired my rifle and said that was a headshot. And a buddy of mine will laugh because I must be joking. And then we get down range and find out that was a headshot. How did you know? The sound of the impact. That wet crunch is usually going into that brain and splattering. That you can hear from hundreds of yards away. Just like that upper chest thump, that is very obvious to me that something has been hit in their chest because it's a hollow cavity versus that deep dark thud that's like a rock or a berm or something like that. In which case you did not make contact with that animal. This is just one more flavor of intelligence we can gain while using a suppressor to get that tactical advantage weapon. I'll add one more subcategory and that's command and control. If it's a tactical environment and you and your buddies are practicing clearing rooms, if you're coming through those rooms and hearing suppressor, suppressor, and then you hear boom, you should know right away that that's not one of your buddies shooting, which means you are receiving fire. If your whole team is suppressed, this gains a bunch of information without even making direct eye contact with that enemy force. One of a few tactical advantages. If you like this video and want to hear more tactical advantages, please like, comment, subscribe, and in the comment section below tell me what your favorite advantage is to silencers. As always, stay safe and keep training.