Airgun Silencers

Airgun Silencers

www.diffcal.co.uk

I've always used a 'silencer' on my rifles, especially my bigger calibres. It is an obvious thing to have on anything bigger than a .243 as it not only quietens the gun down, but also helps improve accuracy. To have one on a rifle, rim-fire or cente-rfire, there needs to be a slot on your firearms certificate specifically for it and the one you buy must be 'proofed' and marked as such for the calibre you are using.

My Custom Tooley .338 has a massive silencer on the end of it. I can shoot this with no ear protection and whilst it still makes a bang, is well worth having. (Yes I know it makes it heavy but you get used to it and I don't take standing shots with it anyway).

Over the top? Custom Tooley .338 with custom built sound moderator

So it might seem strange that you would need a silencer for an air rifle. After all, unlike firearms or shotguns, there's no real big bang going on.

 With an airgun you will hear a sharp crack from the muzzle. That's the compressed air expanding after it has pushed the pellet out of the barrel. This can disturb whatever you are shooting at or it can disturb your neighbours.

A lot of the cheaper air rifles come with a fully fitted silencer such as the Gamo Whisper X.

Pre-charged airguns can be more effectively moderated than spring- powered airguns as there is no real moving parts such as the spring with them but it is still worth having one on a spring gun  as what the shooter hears is not what will be heard downrange. A rat or rabbit will only hear the twangs of a springer as something distant and it is unlikely to bother them too much.
Silencers need to fit your gun perfectly. Fortunately most modern air rifle are 'plug and play' with  a thread already there to accept a screw on silencer quickly. It is well worth zeroing your rifle with the silencer on it as the addition of one can change your aim slightly (I never shoot without mine).

My Evanix Sniper Carbine is my 'everyday gun' for pest control, and despite it already being quiet I replaced the muzzle break with a BSA Silencer.

The only problem of  having a silencer is that it can make your rifle rather long and unwieldy and this would explain the move towards bullpups and carbine. This is one of the reasons I chose a carbine rifle myself. A lot of rifles these days are 'bull barrels' with an inbuilt silencer shrouding the barrel, however it is still worth putting on an additional one on.

Silencers start at around £35 for a basic one with a 1/2 UNF thread (the standard fitting of most modern airguns).  The one shown above is rubberised and works well with guns such as the Gamo Coyote.
Weihrauch make some very good silencers and these are available for between £50 and £60. These along with the BSA equivalent are probably the most popular ones we sell.

If you want a better look to your gun, there are all sorts available such as carbon fibre or camo covered ones

Overall there is no reason not to have one, especially if you are using a modern gun with a standard thread.