SOUND SUPPRESSORS FOR SMALL ARMS WITH AN ADVANCED EXPANSION CAMERA

Abstract

The paper deals with information about sound suppressors for firearms when an annular expansion chamber and two-point mounting attached to the firearm barrel are used. Those patented designs are examined, as from 1910, when the patent for a sound suppressor with such chief essential features was granted. Designs of patented sound suppressors and mechanisms of their operations presented by the authors of inventions are described. The most-used designs of sound suppressors with an annular expansion chamber of the Reflex Suppressors type (Finland) are considered. The authors presented their designs of sound suppressors with an annular expansion chamber. The disadvantages of such designs are reported, including the authors’ designs. When creating mufflers (devices to reduce the sound level of the shot - PSUZV) shot sound for assault rifles (machine guns), sniper weapons, machine guns using high-energy ammunition, to obtain acceptable values for reducing the sound level of the shot muffler need to increase the volume of the hollow volume . This leads to problems in the operation of the weapon with the silencer and ensure the consistency of the barrel of the weapon and the silencer with a single point attachment to the cut of the barrel. One way to solve this problem is to create a muffler with an optional expansion chamber that covers the outside of the barrel and is gas-dynamically coupled to a traditional expansion chamber that protrudes beyond the barrel section through a permeable partition. The main structural elements of such a muffler - inflatable and overhead expansion chambers, a permeable partition between them and two points of attachment - in the cut of the trunk and, as a rule, at the end of the overhead expansion chamber. Information sources, in which data about the special features of thermogasdynamic processes in sound suppressors were published, are listed. In accordance with the results of their analyses variations needed for the sound suppressor design are validated to improve its characteristics. The sound suppressor design, in which outlined variations were realized, is described and the results of fullscale tests are presented. The conclusion about rationality of using the authors’sound suppressors is made, in particular for highpower ammunition of firearms.