Note that it's still 122dB. That's quiet for a firearm, which is normally 140dB or more, but still louder than a car horn.

I think the proper way to read the quote is that you'll definitely hear the sound, but it won't necessarily be obvious that it has come from a firearm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welrod https://www.chem.purdue.edu/chemsafety/Training/PPETrain/dbl...

Wikipedia says 122db, but I don't think that's correct. Other sources say 73db, and describe the sound as less loud than that of the bullet impacting the woid of the target, at least with fresh baffles. (Too lazy to include links, first page google results)

Ah, Wikipedia also says that volume elsewhere in the article.

The linked Forgotten Weapons goes in to detail about the rubber seals, which the projectile pierces through when the weapon is fired.

The rubber partially reseals, but after a dozen shots or so the weapon degrades to the performance of a normal silenced pistol.

This probably explains the discrepancy. It is indeed very quiet, and my interpretation of the quote is wrong.

A modern equivalent based on an M&P 9mm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aljJ2jPTa1c&feature=youtu.be...

It is Hollywood quiet.

You can't really tell volume from a youtube video for obvious reasons.

You can’t tell the SPL from a YouTube video but you can clearly tell the silencer reduces the attack and sustain of the gunshot noise by a substantial degree. It also doesn’t echo as much.

That's obviously the point of the progression from unsuppressed to maximum suppression; to convey the relative amplitude.

That was insanely quiet. I’ve never heard a suppressor that quiet before!

>The Welrod MkIIA is a semiautomatic pistol

It's not. It's a manually operated pistol.

I recognized the name because of some video games I played in the past.