Preserving hunters' hearing

BY RICHARD COSGROVE

Significant noise and recoil reduction, blast elimination, and better shooting arise from rifle suppressors.

It felt like I'd just been kicked in the back of the head; I looked around and about five metres above and 10 metres to my left, Terry had opened up on a mob of goats with a .223 he had borrowed from me. The blast and noise was truly excessive, and I started seriously thinking about a suppressor for this rifle.

We are quite lucky in the South Island to have some good suppressor manufacturers to choose from. I ended up going to Gunworks Canterbury and gunsmith Robbie Tiffen. After an exceptionally quick four-day turnaround (when it is normally seven to 10 days) I picked up the now suppressed .223 and went to the range to re-zero it.

The first three shots keyholed each other to display a level of accuracy I'd never had from the rifle. Combined with the reduced noise and lack of blast, it was now a joy to shoot.

I became an instant convert, a decision reinforced by a rabbit-shooting trip in South Canterbury. I've since had all my rifles suppressed by Robbie.

Nestled in Yaldhurst, Robbie works with his wife Amanda and three staff. He started his training as a gunsmith in 1983. A visit to a hearing specialist in the early 90s brought the news that his hearing was permanently damaged. Told to stop shooting or face the total loss of his hearing, he investigated the making of suppressors.

At Trentham in 1995, Robbie shot with the first suppressed rifle at a National Rifle Association competition shoot. A crowd of about 60 watching him were amazed at something many thought impossible - a suppressed high-velocity rifle.

The biggest benefit of a suppressor is the noise reduction. Contrary to the Hollywood image, there is no such thing as a silencer. There are only suppressors, and you can never totally suppress a high-velocity shot because the bullet is still travelling above the speed of sound. Most normal shots produce about 160 decibels, and the threshold level for hearing damage is 140 decibels.

The goal is to get that noise below the 140-decibel threshold and therefore save your hearing. Robbie and his team have provided many thousands of New Zealand hunters with a compact and effective unit offering substantial noise reduction. He and several manufacturers now offer full-barrel suppressors.

One of the main concerns for shooters getting an over-barrel suppressor is that you need to cut your barrel. Cutting a few inches off the barrel does cause a loss of velocity. Robbie, in experiments, has found this to be around 20 feet to 30 feet per second per inch of barrel removed, depending on the calibre.

Some shooters might revel in the blast and noise, but shooting with a suppressor is actually a joy. Blast is no longer evident, noise is significantly reduced, and recoil is generally cut in half - and you find yourself shooting better. Included in an over-barrel suppressor is a muzzle brake, baffles and isolator tube.

Apart from restrictions for game-bird shooting, no New Zealand laws prevent the use of suppressors in New Zealand. The NZ police and the Department of Conservation are big users of suppressors to meet OSH requirements in training and operations.

They are also allowed in many other countries, especially in Europe where shooting clubs have faced litigation over hearing loss. Suppressors will become increasingly common as more shooters realise the benefits.

Fish and Game don't allow the use of a suppressor for game-bird shooting, but I predict this will change, especially because we have more and more lifestyle blocks springing up on the edges of our cities. Anything that saves our hearing and makes us shoot better will lead to more enjoyment.

- © Fairfax NZ News