The Silencerco Maxim doesn’t look like other pistols because it isn’t. (Gun Digest photo)
Fiction has a hard time with this whole business of silencers (aka suppressors, if you want to look smart), so I’d like to draw your attention to something that’s going to make everything a helluva lot easier. Continue reading
Silencers (aka suppressors) usually receive some goosing up in the physics department when they’re used in fiction. But what about the old pillow-as-silencer trope? Is there any truth to that?
Short answer: no. Pillows do a bad job of containing the explosive gases released by a gunshot. Hell, they can barely contain snoring.
Here’s a handy chart detailing the noise levels of silenced (aka “suppressed”) firearms. This is excerpted from an infographic from Silencerco.
The takeaway: silencers/suppressors aren’t as convenient as fiction would like to think. Get creative in those stealthy scenes. What other ways are there to be silent but deadly? (er, wait…)
The Writer's Guide to Weapons 