Make a BB Gun Silencer

Do this at your own risk! The ATF has put people in prison before for making Airgun silencers. If someone at the ATF can manage to make it work on a real gun, i.e a .22 rifle, your Airgun silencer is classified as a real silencer and you will be prosecuted under the 1934 National Firearms Act.

Having said that, you have an Airgun and you would like it to be just a little bit quieter. This wiki should help you with that.

Steps

Reducing your Gun's Mechanical Noises

  1. Keep your gun clean.
  2. If there is a hammer in its mechanism that strikes a metal plate at the end of its movement, a small piece of thin sound-absorbing material, such as plastic, mounted on the plate will reduce this sound.
  3. Repeating this action throughout the gun's firing mechanism will reduce the mechanical noise of your weapon.

Silencing the noise of your gun.

  1. You must calculate how much air expands in your gun's firing chamber. The silencer you build must have enough internal area to contain this volume of air.
    • In broad terms you must construct a can that mounts to the end of the gun that is closed on both ends. Inside the can there are several baffles. Through both ends and each baffle there must be a hole opened that allows the projectile to pass through. The hole should be a little bigger than the projectile to allow the projectile to pass through the ends and the baffles without touching the sides of the holes. The holes must also be exactly in a straight line, otherwise the projectile may strike the sides of one or more of the holes which will affect its trajectory.
    • Get a BB gun, preferably a rifle-like one. (It is possible to try this with a BB pistol, but it's a lot more difficult.)
    • Get a long (1 to 2 feet) pipe with a large enough diameter to fit over the front sights.
    • Fit the pipe over the front sights, so that is not at an angle that would prevent the BB from exiting the gun as it should. Optional: Use tape to secure the pipe.
    • Load and fire the BB gun. You should hear a low-pitched "thump" instead of the usual "pop".
    • Try different types and lengths of pipe.
  2. To lessen the concussive blast to lessen sound, substitute an open ended egg carton taped to the barrel for the pipe. It possesses greater sound absorbing qualities and won't obscure the sights of the BB gun.
  3. If you want to get some steel wool and line the inside of the pipe or bottle with it, the steel wool will absorb the sound a little better. Your BBs might hit it though if the suppressor isn't on straight.



Tips

  • You can also try making a bottle silencer.
  • Try longer and shorter pipes for different effects.
  • Try different types of materials (metal pipe).
  • To fully silence a shot from a BB gun or any gun you have to understand the causes of the noise that accompanies a shot.
    • The first is mechanical. The trigger clicks, the various pieces and parts of the weapon's internal parts move, perhaps a next round is loaded which requires other moving parts. To effectively silence a weapon these mechanical sounds must be reduced.
    • The second is percussive. The BB, or other projectile, is shot because a small body of air behind the projectile rapidly expands pushing the projectile out of the barrel. However the expansion of this air is caused, there will always be noise associated with its expansion. To reduce this noise the air behind the projectile must be captured, contained, and muffled.
    • The third cause of the noise of shooting a gun is connected to the velocity of the projectile. The more powerful the weapon the faster the projectile. In very powerful weapons the projectile may break the sound barrier causing a small sonic boom. To reduce the sonic boom the velocity of the projectile must be reduced.

Warnings

  • Do not do this with a real gun for it is highly illegal.
  • Never point a BB gun at anything or any human you do not intend to shoot.
  • Depending on local laws, you can be prosecuted for this.

Things You'll Need

  • A BB gun (rifle-type, preferably).
  • A pipe or plastic bottle.
  • Some tape.
  • A knowledge of your local law
  • Optional steel wool

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