silent weapons.. airguns vs. bows and crossbows

reply to post by mindfreak21


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oh, yhaxks for the link, i was not aware that fiberglass wowld hold up so well, i just went outside and yried, it and i was quite disapointed, i thought since it worked so well on the air gun it wood work good on a 10/22 but it was still too loud, but mutch quieter than before, the inside tube is about 1/2 inch, i think, so maby if it was smaller it would work better..

i have made two supressors for air gun and paintball gun, constructed of 2'' abs plastic shell and a 1/4'' pvc inner tube with many large holes in it, imbetween i have insulation to absorb the shock/sound.. it works well for airguns but as i just said not so well for my ruger 10/22, does any one know anything about makigg silencers? or know of any how-to sites that will explain how?

if we must revert to the old ways then I would prefer throwing knives, vital targets such as eyes, throat should be sufficient.

imo, naw, i have been throwing for six years, and lately about twice a week for an hour or so and i gotta say, its not like in the movies, knives rotate, and so there is only a one in ten or so chance that it will hit tip first, i throw 15'' throwing knives because they rotate slowly(once every sevin or eight feet i think, but the farther away the faster so for every rotation it is abuot minus a foot of two) i can walk up to an object and know how far i have to be for one rotation, and ocasonally i get it rite and can do two, but any more than 15 feet will be imposable. you cood just get a bunch of the six inch throwers that are everywhere, but they will be hard to stick even one rotation with because they are so small and rotate ablut once every three feet so if you are even two inches too far away or to close it will just bounce off, but maby if you threw like twenty from far away one of two would stick..

so imo large bowie or 15'' throwing knife good for close up, but anything else will be almost imposable.

Originally posted by mindfreak21
imo, naw, i have been throwing for six years, and lately about twice a week for an hour or so and i gotta say, its not like in the movies, knives rotate, and so there is only a one in ten or so chance that it will hit tip first, i throw 15'' throwing knives because they rotate slowly(once every sevin or eight feet i think, but the farther away the faster so for every rotation it is abuot minus a foot of two) i can walk up to an object and know how far i have to be for one rotation, and ocasonally i get it rite and can do two, but any more than 15 feet will be imposable. you cood just get a bunch of the six inch throwers that are everywhere, but they will be hard to stick even one rotation with because they are so small and rotate ablut once every three feet so if you are even two inches too far away or to close it will just bounce off, but maby if you threw like twenty from far away one of two would stick..

so imo large bowie or 15'' throwing knife good for close up, but anything else will be almost imposable.

good post but where we differ is that the moment my knives aren't/stop working after 15+ft you say, I pull out the hatchet ...still i have faith in knives

thats true, i have many tomahawks, i have the sog tomahawk and its nice because of the verry strong handle, but i would take a traditonal one over the sog any day of the week wit traditonal kawks you have alot more distance than a knife, but still you have to know the exact distance to your target but if you are off by a foot of so it will usually still stick.

I've hunted with just about all the weapons mentioned, including recurve bow,compound,crossbow and slingshot. The crossbow takes the least amount of skill of the weapons mentioned. It is noiser than the other bows, but being able to carry it cocked and loaded is a big advantage in a hunting situation. That said, I personally prefer the compound. I find it easier to carry, quieter and more satisfying to use. In a pure survival situation,the crossbow is probably the better choice. My pick is the Excalibur line, as I think the recurve design is simpler and more foolproof. Also,they are very durable. Mine was dry fired a couple times with no damage. I would avoid it at all costs, but it did survive the ordeal. I don't know that a compound crossbow would fare as well. Most good modern compound bows are extremely durable and tough, I wouldn't worry too much about breaking it under normal use. Replacement strings/cables would be a good idea though.

I shoot recurve bow at the gun club every week,and with practice you can get quite good with one of these. They are very quiet and also very simple. If you know what your doing,you an build your own longbow. To think that you'll just whip up a servicable bow out of whatever sort of materials you have and be able to use it successfully is wishful thinking. Building the bow and it's arrows is less simple than it would appear,and I'd not want to try to learn it in an emergency. I use my recurve all summer to shoot gophers,and find it to be great practice. The bow I'm shooting is a Bear Grizzly 52# @28DL and it was built in the mid 60's. It still shoots great,which gives you an idea of just how tough and durable these bows can be. I'll probably get a 45# when I buy a new one,as you really don't need any more than that and you'll usually shoot better with a lighter bow.

I've been shooting compound for about 4 years now and have managed to kill several deer with it,as well as various small game. It takes considerable practice to ebcome effective with it, but with plenty of practice and a well tuned bow most people should be able to achieve an effective range of about 50 yards. Some people can do considerably better, but it takes alot of practice. I have one bow set at 64# and another at 72#,which is really not necessary and it'll get turned down soon. Most of the deer I've shot have been complete passthroughs,even hitting ribs going in and out. You need to learn some tracking skills if you plan to bowhunt,as anything larger than small game will almost always cover some distance before expiring.

The slingshot was a rather unsuccesful experiment. I practiced a fair bit and thought I was doing well until I went out after gophers with it. A friend and I spent an afternoon chsing the little buggers around,never hitting a one! I've decided the bow is the way to go,or wlse the .22 with some subsonics. As mentioned, CCI's Cb round s are as quite as most airguns(or even more so) and quite effective.

I mentioned the centrefire rifle adaptors that allow you to shoot a lead slug using .22 blanks(powerhammer loads) in another thread, and I managed to track down the gentleman that makes them at the gunshow this week. His website is Gamgetter.ca, I recommend checking it out.

thanks for the post, i am concidering those power hammer converters, how quiet are they? i guess they have a 22blank powering it so its gotta be a lil noisy but is it enough of a bang to where my neighbors quater a mile away would hear the bang and turn their heads to see whats going on?(my neighbors dont like guns) and it uses round balls rite? i have a bunch of muzle loader ball molds and lead so it would be easy and convinent for me if..... man.. im gettin off topic.lol. aaannyyways.. did you say you hunted with a sling shot?

Those power hammer loads usually come in 4 ranges of power,and the number 1`s are very quiet. They are only good to maybe 20 yards, but if you go to a 2 or 3 they will double that range. I found the hottest loads to be a bit much in the 270,although not bad in the .444. In the .270 I`d stick with 2 or 3 level loads, as they don`t cause leading and the empty cartridge extracts easier. They do all you can ask of this type of adaptor anyway, and keep things nice and quiet.

I attempted to hunt with the slingshot and figured I`d start on gophers and then move on to grouse or rabbits if it proved successful. Turns out that even with all the practice I did beforehand, I couldn`t hit those little gophers,so I abandoned the idea and decided to stick with the bow.

I have contemplated trying out a spear from a treestand though. I practiced throwing from a 2nd story roof and did pretty well, I think with a few months of practice I could be consistent enough at 15 yards or so to make it work. The big problem is the amount of movement needed to make a throw, hard to get that by a deer even from a treestand. Might work better for a bear over bait, or hogs if you have them in your area. Actually saw a video of a guy doing just that successfully while standing in a tree. Coud be a fun thing to try,although I don`t think I`d be relying on it to provide food in a survival situation.

reply to post by JDBlack


Very powerful, but they take a lot of practice to gain any accuracy. That said, a few people hidden behind bushes slinging at you is gunna make you scarper fast, no matter how bad their aim! Using golf-balll sized ammo, creates a very intimidating weapon. Id say not so great for stealth hunting, unless you put the hours in, but a ecent wapon for intimidation purposes. when loaded with a missile they also happen to make an excellent mace/club type weapon. A space-saver too, just wrap it around your waist!

Just re-read the OP and realized that you specified 1200 fps or greater airguns. You said you have a .22. Have you tried heavier pellets? You should give them a try because with heavier pellets you get sub sonic shots. For example if your rifle shoots an 8gr pellet at 1500 fps that would give you almost 40 fpe. If you use something like these:

Beeman Kodiak Extra Heavy 22

Youd get a 21.14gr pellet going at 923 fps from the 40 fpe or these:

Eun Jin 22 Cal

would give you a 32.4 gr pellet going at about 745 fps from the 40 fpe. Both should cut down on the sound while still transferring the same amount of energy to the target.

Calcs made using this page:
How to calculate foot-pounds and velocity