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This British infantry rifle is one of the quietest rifles ever made
[WATM] In 1943, at the height of World War II in Europe and beyond, two men met at a building overlooking the River Thames in the Westminster area of London. One of the men was Air Ministry engineer William Godfray de Lisle and the other was an officer of the British Combined Operations Department, Maj. Sir Malcolm Campbell. Campbell’s office oversaw raids on German positions throughout the European theater. De Lisle was there to show the officer a new weapon he’d designed. It was a .22-caliber rifle designed with an internal suppressor, supposedly one of the quietest weapons ever made. The men decided the best way to test its volume would be to fire it over the heads of the Londoners below and into the river. No one heard a single shot. Campbell ordered De Lisle to create a 9-millimeter version, and later a .45-caliber version of the same weapon. The .45 would be just as quiet and even produced no visible muzzle flash. At 50 yards, no one would hear the weapon’s discharge. It seemed to be the perfect clandestine weapon. Its firing test revealed a decibel range that topped out at 85.5, the same volume of a truck passing by. Without any kind of suppression, a normal handgun will create upwards of 168 decibels. Most suppressed firearms will only be slightly lower, between 117 and 140 decibels, which is the same volume as many firecrackers. Not exactly the level of noise a secret operation might prefer. The bolt action of the De Lisle weapons was actually louder than the shot it fired. Posted by: Besoeker 2023-01-22 |
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