BIG GUN SILENCER

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 138, 28 January 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

BIG GUN SILENCER

Several things give away the position of a leg gun when a is tired, the two chief being the noise and the smoke. Thanks to smokeless powder, however, the latter has practically been done away witii. The silencing of a big gun is amore difficult problem, and though in the case of rifles and small arms the report can be made almost negligible, the g'gantic rush of gases when a big shell is iired prevents a complete silencing. A silencer which the French are using is so effective that no .sound of tiring can be heard over a greater distance than a hundred yards or so. The silencer is attached to the muzzle .if tin' gun. As the shell leaves the gun a small shutter springs up and preventthe explosive gases escaping in the Usual way. It is the sudden fierce rush of gi- wiiieh causes the "bang!" when througli two channel* with nothing like the rush that : s caused in the ordinary way. It is inipo.s-ible to ston the gas-' escaping altogether, for the pre>-ure lso territ'"' that the gun would be h;o\\ 11 to nieces.