Silenced Shotties?

[Kye 77]

We went out lamping for Jack Rabbits last night, couldnt take the dogs, to hot,...

I was using a Remington 870, NO choke, and size Five shot...there was a few about and we ended up getting 10...after a few shots, i noticed that the shots started to feel lighter on the shoulder...i checked the empty cartidges on the truck bed, and there was a few size Five shot...but the rest where 8 1/2's!!!...i dropped two Jack Rabbits (Hares) at around 50-55 yards with an open barrel and a shot size i would use on Quail or Dove!..it just goes to show if your a fair shot (im NOT a great shot, but due to the warmer climate at the minute we get out with the guns a fair bit) you CAN kill game with unusual shot/calibre/choke size!...I have seen rabbits killed cleanly at 40 yards running with a .410 HushPower...i would feel confident in killing rabbits up to 50 yards with a 12Ga version...each to there own though...all the best.

Kye,..

[Guest Deerstalker]

GOOD HUNTING ALL HUSH DO YOU HERE IT

[COMPO 54]

I haven't got a hushpower ,

but was considering getting the hushpower silencer for my baikal 410,

 

i have read the hushpower details on the internet and they work by allowing the gasses to escape after the shot has left the cartridge and before the shot leaves the barrel, on my understanding this shouldn't affect the performance only the sound, the same amount of force goes into making the shot leave the cartridge.

 

Apparently a shotgun makes noise as the gases leave the barrel and the hushpower thing allows it to leak out the sides!

 

Its the same bloody cartridge, so the distance etc.should be the same!

 

The only thing i have heard is they are difficult to aim due to the size of the barrel, but most people can adjust to this

 

COMPO

[Guest A Sick Old Man]

I know what you mean re a rimmy Deerstalker, I have a 10/22 and very effective it is too,

 

but I am buggered if I can hit a running rabbit or a bird in full flight with it :search:

 

I would need to be as good as you, and that's not going to happen in my short life, so I will get a 410 and a bag of dried peas and have a crack :11:

 

Just have to be more sneaky, I will have a look at the ammo,

 

Cheers, Sick :sick:

[Guest Deerstalker]

Your right sick old man you aint going to do it in your short life mate it takes years of f**k ups to get as good as me. :11: :11: compo respect mate your knowlage is fantastic but i think you will find the hush powers loose some energy mate. Why did you just cut and paste the gumf from the hush power site.

[COMPO 54]

Deerstalker

As requested

 

COMPO

 

 

 

 

The Saddlery & Gunroom, 368 Main Road,

Westerham Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 2HN

Tel 01959 573089 Fax 01959 575590 email us

 

 

 

 

 

 

COUNTRY & SHOTGUN

Bruce Potts tests the Hushpower .410 single barrel shotgun

 

For people who enjoy rough shooting with a shotgun, but would like to avoid the anti-social noise the guns can produce, the answer is close at hand. The Saddlery & Gunroom are now the owner of the famous ‘Hushpower’ name, and can now supply silenced versions of .410 and l2bore single barrelled shot guns, as well as a ‘universal’ 9†silencer for .410’s (which fits to the barrel of your own gun), and they can even add a moderator to your own semi auto or pump shotgun.

 

Lifting the shroud

The .410 and l2bore are both single barrelled folding Italian shotguns, which have been converted by the Saddlery & Gunroom to take a full barrel length sound moderator - which is claimed to reduce noise by 90%. This is some claim, so I decided to try one out, and the chance came when I saw one in my local gun shop, F A Andersons at East Grinstead. I duly collected the gun and set about taking it apart to see exactly how it worked, how inaudible/audible it was after shooting, and how it patterned with a selection of readily available .410 ammunition. The first impressions are of a purposeful looking tool with little elegance, but with a definite air of authority, and only weighing 6 lbs. The classic folding .410 design is standard enough, the difference lying in a fully shrouded barrel with a full Length aluminum outer sleeve of 1.5 inches in diameter. The design is very simple and effective, which becomes evident when the shroud is removed. This is done by unscrewing it clockwise, until it is free from the large fixing plate welded to the chamber of the gun. When it is removed, the exposed barrel reveals the heart of the system 6 holes precisely drilled 1.5 inches apart along the 25 inch barrel and penetrating both sides. All the vent holes are chamfered, so as not to interfere with the smooth travel of the shot up the barrel. This honeycombed effect serves to cool the expanding gases behind the projectile of shot as it moves up the barrel, and thereby escapes into the shroud enclosing the barrel via the above-mentioned holes. As the shot leaves the barrel it passes through three further baffles -much like a conventional .22 sound moderator. The cooled gasses then exit to the atmosphere a split second later at reduced velocity, to impart a muffled report without any of the crack’ inherent with an unsilenced shotgun. This is the theory, so I trotted off to the farm to put it into practice. And to test a variety of different length ammunition, therefore testing the silencer efficiency at differing ranges. Incidentally, the barrel can be folded right back to the stock for ease of carriage.

 

Hushpower in action

 

To cock and open the action, it is the familiar top lever shotgun style which breaks the action and exposes the non-ejector chamber. A cartridge can then be slipped effortlessly into the chamber, and the action snapped closed and made ready to fire. There is a cross-bolt safety which, although a little stiff in operation, does a fine job of locking the trigger thereby disabling it until required for firing. Firing impressions were odd at first, as the trigger was squeezed I could hear the firing pin strike the cartridge, before the gentle lift of the shotgun and a very muffled report from the front end -followed by a plume of white smoke gently escaping from the muzzle. Not only had the moderator stifled the crack of the .410, but it had greatly reduced felt recoil and muzzle flip, altogether a great improvement over the standard gun. That was using .410 Eley two inch cartridges with no.6 shot, next I tried Winchester two & a half inch and three inch magnums to see if there was any great difference. As expected with the longer case lengths, each factor stated above - regarding the gun’s noise, recoil, and movement from aim -all increased proportionally. Although this was still far superior to the same cartridge combinations without a sound moderator fitted. Down range tests at 10 yards show good shot dispersal and density from the full choked barrel - this will equate to an effective range of approximately 30 to 40 yards maximum. It was interesting to see a tighter pattern with the two inch Eley cartridges than the Winchester two & a half inch cartridges. I was very impressed with the gun. and decided to see if the claims that the .410 was inaudible at 50 yards was true. Having a colleague fire the shotgun with each length of .410 case, I retired 50 yards down range and took protection behind a clay pigeon trap set-up for safety. The Hush Power was then fired with each cartridge length and to be truthful it was only audible as a muffled pop -rather like that of an unsilenced air rifle. This was over dead ground, but when firing against a woodland edge there was a small increase in noise caused by echoing back from the trees but nonetheless, still very quiet.

 

Conclusions

 

I can see why these weapons have become firm favorites with professional vermin controllers, game keepers, and people who value minimal sound disturbance and privacy. The real proof of the pudding was when my colleague and I returned to the farm house to be questioned by the owner, who wondered if we'd had a wasted journey, because he had not heard any shots! Suffice to say he was well pleased when we Showed him the 8 rabbits we had harvested, and right there we had a convert to the Hush Power. If you have an existing .410, and cannot afford the price of the converted shotgun, the Saddlery & Gunroom also produce a universal fitting sound moderator, which is 9 inches long and locks to the taper of the barrel. Owners of pumps or semis can have them silenced at the Saddlery & Gunroom work­shops from around £180.00 depending on the make of gun.

 

 

SHOOTING SPORTS MAGAZINE

Bruce Potts tests the Hushpower 12 Bore Moderated shotgun

 

Having tested the .410 Hushpower moderated shotgun earlier in the year I was eager to get my hands on its big brother in the form of their 12 gauge system. Nothing really prepared me for the size of the can that forms the guts of the Hushpower system. At a full two inches in diameter it really gives it that artillery piece prowess, but uncannily it is light and pointable as well as swinging nicely on the shoulder. This is primarily due to the aluminum outer casing and honeycomb of the forward baffles and open expansion chamber that contribute little to the overall weight. As with the .410 variety, the base gun is the classic, folding barrel 12 gauge Pedretti, which is almost unbustable and forms a good solid base from which to perform the conversion. If you like you can have your own shotguns converted and the supplier - The Saddlery and Gun Room also provide a moderator for semi­automatic shotguns, which I wilt test in a later issue. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy then a 9â€, .410 unit can be fitted to the end of the barrel which works well but adds to a gun’s overall length

 

Can Can

Not so the Hushpower. the full-length moderator is one continuous tube from breech to muzzle with only the inner baffles adding any extra length at the end. The guts of the system can be seen once the outer sleeve is removed by unscrewing it from the permanently attached base block that mates with the chamber. Once unscrewed, the outer body easily slides off to reveal that the barrel has two sets of five holes drilled in parallel approximately 1.5†apart. along its 24†length. They are positioned at 12 and 6 o’clock to each other. At the end of the barrel is a collar that ensures it sits central to the outer sleeve. This makes sure the actual tube aligns with a further eight baffles - much like that on a conventional .22 Rimfire moderator which adds further to its sound muting qualities.

 

So how does it work? Simple - as the shot charge passes down the barrel the expanding propellant gases are bled off via the ten primary ports. This allows a quantity of gas to escape into the full length outer sleeve to slow down and cool off. As the shot column leaves the barrel as it passes through the eight further expansion chambers still within the sleeve that forms a ten-inch extension to the overall length. Finally the column enters the free air followed by all of the propellant gases. which by this time have cooled sufficiently by their diverted travel around the labyrinth of expansion chambers to emerge into the atmosphere. It is this cooling action that reduces the usual, un-silenced, booming crack of a normal 12 gauge to that of a Hushpower whimper.

 

Hamster Sneeze

 

Mike, the gunsmith of The Saddlery and Gun Room explained - that to take full advantage of this system in a 12 bore gun it is advisable to use subsonic ammunition. And kindly supplied a couple of boxes of Gamebore’s #7.5. subs, which run at a velocity of lO5Ofps so keeping below the sound barrier. It therefore does not have that sonic boom characteristic of standard velocity ammunition. Couple these with the Hushpower’s efficient silencer system and you have a muzzle report that sounds like a hamster sneezing. The data that came with the gun stipulates that at 100 metres a standard 12 bore produces 90.0 dB of noise, which only drops to 80dB at 300rn Whereas the Hushpower firing subsonic ammo produces half that at 100 meters. (45.°Db) and is inaudible at 300m. Ambient/background noise was set at 44Db so you can see that even at 50m the Hushpower is nearly inaudible to an onlooker. This has great advantages if you run a clay shooting ground that has problems with noise pollution. Especially as a standard 12 bores retort can be heard at up to 1.5 kilometers. More importantly, it allows me to efficiently conduct pest control in semi urban areas and stabling without drawing too much attention to myself or belying my position to any wary game. This is especially useful when elevated shots have to be taken at say a squirrel were a .22LR not possible due to the excessive carry over.

 

Operation Hushpower

 

This is the theory, so to prove it, I went to a friend’s paddock and stabling area which had become almost unusable due to the rabbit excavations. Rimfires rifles are no go. due to outlying buildings and air rifles have taken their toll on numerous lamping sessions, and running snots where a 12 bore shines could not be attempted.

 

The basic chassis is a single-shot Pedretti and typical of its breed is a simple gun to use. The Hushpower versions loses nothing in handling or performance. Push the top lever, which also cocks the trigger, to the right and the action will swing down to open. it’s a non-ejector so the empties have to be removed by hand, but this isn’t a problem. Like the un-silenced version the barrel can be fully folded back to meet with the stock to form a very compact Package.

 

All you now have to do is drop in a shell and snap the barrel shut and you’re ready to fire. A simple cross-bolt safety manually secures the trigger and the low comb beech stock with plastic butt pad ensures proper sighting down the barrel albeit a tad larger than normal! The trigger itself is a bit stiff but it broke cleanly enough. I only say this because, instead of the ear splitting crack of a normal shotgun you are more conscious of the trigger noise on the Hushpower due to the decibel reduction. Reduces it? Yes it does. With the Gamebore subs you are instantly aware of the lack of felt recoil. I reckon almost 40% at the shoulder, which in turn stops muzzle flip. It’s difficult to accurately describe the report, its a bit like a pre charged airgun with a hollow tin can resonance to it. All in all very quiet, and you can actually hear the passage of the shot up the barrel, and in flight. If aiming at flying game the noise is less, than say into a solid background such as a wood as there’s a certain amount of rebound shockwave but still a considerable reduction from a standard 12 gauge. Using normal velocity cartridges through the Hushpower quite obviously increases the level of noise, but compared to an un-moderated 12 bore all the sonic boom is removed leaving a hollow muted report. This is what is evident to the shooter, but a more accurate test is to listen to the report down range. After all that is where your game is going to be hearing it from anyway. Safe behind a wall of straw bales at 50 yds, I got my colleague to fire five rounds. Their signature offered no lasting, carrying noise only a very hollow ‘phut’ with a characteristic ring from the outer sleeve followed by the air disturbance caused by the shot in flight. At 100 yds and behind a stable block it was difficult to hear the report above the ambient noise of cars etc. And only the white plume of smoke which gracefully exits the barrel reveals that firing had taken place. Shot patterns were tested on a 30" circle at 25 yds and showed tight density equates to a fully choked barrel Point of aim was a bit low, caused, no doubt by the increased diameter of the moderator. The solution - aim a bit higher.

 

Covert Control

 

All well and good on primary testing, now to some actual rabbit shooting. The next day provider some good sport. We moved the rabbits from thistle patches in the paddock. which were untouchable with an airgun. but now became fair game for the Hushpower. It took a while for them to cotton on to the new tactic of walking up to them and not sneaking about on all fours! After 12 hushed shots with little felt recoil - 10 rabbits were accounted for before they all became wise and stayed put - below ground. Where this seemingly unusual system comes into its own is in situations like the stable area. Here an un-silenced 12 bore would be out of the question but the Hushpower shines. In this world of politically correct attitudes and our sport being under the microscope, not making a song and dance about your shooting is greatly appreciated. That’s why so many professional pest controllers and companies use Hushpowers in all their forms, to dispatch quarry quietly and effectively, you can’t get greater praise than that. If you want to drop into The Saddlery and Gun Room, either Howard or Jon will be more than happy to show you the Hushpower system.

 

 

 

Back to page you came from

[COMPO 54]

Further to the above, i may have a job (paid) in the grounds of a big country hotel, and due to the guests i will have to get a silencer before i can shoot rabbits in the gardens..

[MR TEA POT 1,287]

P&G throw that fecking crap gun away :11: :11: :11: you know you shoot nothing with it :11: :11: :11: i only wish i shot as much with my 12 as you with that pea shooter seriously though iv got a 3 inch mag cooey complete with silencer and regularly take rabbits and other things at over thirty yards it all depends i8f you can SHOOT :11: GOOD HUNTING ALL WOODGA :ph34r:

hi woodga,i know its a post from the past, just browsing.I also have a cooey 3 inch what silencer have you got on it?thanks bigeddie

[shottyscotty 3]

Ok I had my name down for a silenced 410 at our local gun shop but they never got back to me and i was quite relieved coz someone told me it was only good for like 10/15 yards??? True or not? How much does the silencer knock off your range in the 12 bore version?

Most of my shooting is either near houses or in the middle of about 12,000 game birds so I need to be quiet or its an air rifle job coz them birds don't half get jumpy

Cheers , gnipper

i have a webley bolt action 410 and an investarm 410 and i have found them good with no5 and no4 but dont rate them with any smaller shot sizes as they dont seem to pattern too brillaintly and there good for about 35 yard maybe more but im not a very good shot

i have also shot a few hare with mine and killed them cleanly enough

[Tyla 3,179]

I have a silenced Cooey .410. Its very quiet with 2" carts but personally I cant hit a barn door with it! My mate does fine with it though so I reckon its down to the individual

[Will F 0]

A silenced 410 shooting birds at 40-50 yards? An oak tree 40-50 yards high. I think someone needs to get a tape measure out lol. Even one of the tallest oak trees in England would be about 30 yards high.

[andyf 144]

The 'Silenced' bit makes no difference at all, at the end of the day it's a .410 with next to no shot in it (compared to a 12G). These things have their uses, that's a fact. But if you think it's going to be 'silent' forget it, quieter yes but is that what you want?

The .410 is not a 'Boomer' anyway, my experience is that a high velocity .22 crack is not that disturbing to the birds and bee's (only the people who live nearby). So if your 'silenced' .410 keeps the vegetarian lady with the horse and 1/2 an acre at the edge of your shoot happy, go with it!

[elvolcan 0]

This might be so baldy man but it dont realy mater as the chap asked for an opinion and shit face brummy says i hijacked the thread. Then some brain dead keeper comes in to back him up. Like i said i dont like them i think there shit OK ! I would say it was brummy who didnt like my answer as he was selling one well tough .

 

JRC

 

Just Remain Calm

[Sterry 0]

I remember this palava. lol.

 

Has anyone tried Bikal stealth, its the silenced,synthetic .410, it looks pretty "functional" which i suppose is what you want from a gun that you are going to go out lamping and not doubt get knicks and dents on the 4x4s roof.

[whippeter69 88]

I remember this palava. lol.

 

Has anyone tried Bikal stealth, its the silenced,synthetic .410, it looks pretty "functional" which i suppose is what you want from a gun that you are going to go out lamping and not doubt get knicks and dents on the 4x4s roof.

I had a look at one in the local shop, feels very nice and has got a good weight balance to it. The action is a bit noisy but im sure the cartridge wont make much more noise than the action.