8 Firearms Myths Hollywood Still Can't Get Enough Of

One of Hollywood’s favourite toys and an endless source of fascination for civilians, the ‘silencer’ has been a staple of spy films for as long as they have been made, with its signature sound being everything from a breathy ‘phut’ sound to a distinctly sci-fi ‘pew-pew.’

Problem is, apart from the fact that a ‘silencer’ is more correctly called a suppressor, there is, in fact, not a great deal of silence in silencer.

Unsuppressed firearms routinely produce sound in excess of 140 dB, as loud as a jet engine at take off. The supposedly 'quiet' suppressed firearms are metered in at 121 to 137 dB, roughly the equivalent of a rock concert or a jackhammer. Over an extended period that is loud enough to cause hearing loss. In fact OSHA standards allow no more than a single exposure to impact noise of 130 dB over a 24 hour period.

Why, then, are suppressors used? To make the sound unrecognizable as a gunshot. To the untrained ear the noise could easily be dismissed as something else, and to a trained ear the shooter rendered difficult to locate. As a Finish sniper in World War 2 put it: ‘A silencer does not make a soldier silent, but it does make him invisible.’

Hollywood created the myth of the silent firearm. It now needs to undo that myth, if not for the sake of the action, then for the ears of anyone who decides to take one to the range.