A couple of days ago a friend of mine asked me which airsoft suppressor should he buy. Well, a better question is do airsoft mock suppressors or silencers work and should you get one.
The answer is not that simple because it depends on which type of airsoft gun are you using and why do you want to get a suppressor. Airsoft silencers make your replica look tactical, cool, and more realistic, but in most cases, they don’t really do anything to silence your gun because if you’re using AEG or GBB, most of the noise comes from the main body of the replica and not from the barrel. It’s a different story with springers.
But are there any actual benefits of using a silencer with your airsoft guns? Why are people putting suppressors on their airsoft replicas? Keep reading to find out more.
Table of Contents
What Is Airsoft Suppressor?
Airsoft suppressors or silencers are just attachments for airsoft replicas and most of them are just for visual effects only as they add to a realistic look of the airsoft rifle, especially if you put them on your barrel instead of an orange tip you get when you buy an airsoft replica. Like all other silencers, airsoft suppressors are actually a hollow tube made to reduce the noise coming from the barrel.
What Do an Airsoft Suppressors Do?
Silencers on real guns are designed to silence or suppress the gunshot sound from the barrel when shooting. That loud sound is a result of the explosion and expanding gasses caused by the ignition of gun powder.
But airsoft replicas don’t have exploding powder or gasses. When you shoot from airsoft gun most of the noises come from the main body of the replica caused by the motor, gears, and piston. In AEGs the noise comes from the motor and gearbox, while in gas-powered guns most of the sounds come from the slide and the gas. These sounds don’t come from the barrel so it’s actually very difficult to silence the noise with a silencer that’s mounted on top of a barrel. So do airsoft suppressors do anything? Do airsoft silencers work?
If we talk about reducing the noise, no, in most cases airsoft suppressors don’t really do anything except changing the noise of the replica as they disrupt the air which leaves the barrel.
But there are also airsoft silencers that actually do reduce a noise coming from your replica to some extent. These are foam filled suppressors which absorb excess air from the end of the replica’s barrel and although they do silence your gun a little don’t expect miracles – if you shoot in some close quarters or on a range others will still hear you due to the sounds produced by gearbox or gas system.
It’s a different story with spring-powered guns, like sniper rifles for example, which are quieter than AEGs or gun powered guns as they don’t have a loud gearbox so there is little noise coming from the body of airsoft replica (the noise comes from the piston hitting the front of the cylinder). So if you put a silencer on your sniper rifle it’ll change the sound and make it harder for your opponents to pin-point your exact origin.
Do Airsoft Suppressors Affect Accuracy?
If you were wondering do airsoft suppressors affect accuracy, the answer is no – silencer will not help you with accuracy, nor increase it nor decrease it.
As we wrote in this article regarding FPS, if your airsoft replica isn’t accurate enough you could try adjusting hop-up, clean the barrel, or use heavier BBs if you have a gun with higher FPS as heavier BBs are more wind-resistant which will increase accuracy. If you’re not familiar with the term, hop-up stands for High Operation Power Up and is a mechanism that creates a back-spin effect on airsoft BBs to increase their range and accuracy.
And if that didn’t help, maybe you have a gun with poor hop-up or barrel. In that case get a new, more precise replica, like the ones from Tokyo Marui, Japanese manufacturer known for build quality, reliability, accuracy, and range of their replicas.
Do Airsoft Suppressors Affect FPS?
One more thing silencer doesn’t have an effect on is FPS – no suppressor will decrease or increase the velocity of your airsoft replica. You can read more about FPS and how much does it actually mean in our article “What’s The Highest FPS Airsoft Gun And Does FPS Even Matter?”.
However, some airsoft players reported on forums and Reddit that they actually did manage to increase the velocity on some gas-powered guns, specifically TM MK23 when they added a suppressor.
Do Airsoft Suppressors Use Baffles Like Real Silencers?
Real suppressors are metal cylinders with internal sound baffles used to slow down, cool, and reduce the energy of the escaping gasses reducing the noise from the gun.
Airsoft suppressors don’t use baffles to reduce the noise – most of them are just hollow tubes intended to make your replica look more realistic and tactical. But there are some airsoft suppressors that use foam to reduce the noise to some extent.
Benefits Of Using Airsoft Suppressor: Why Some People Use a Silencer For Airsoft Guns?
So you might be wondering, if suppressors don’t reduce the noise why should I even get one? Why do some people use a silencer for airsoft guns? Well, there are actually a couple of reasons and benefits of using airsoft suppressors. The first reason why many players are putting suppressors is simply because it makes their airsoft replicas look more tactical, realistic, and cool. Think about it, what looks better, an orange tip or silencer? Also if you’re playing stealthy or you want to camouflage yourself you don’t want an orange tip ruining your concealment. So this is one more reason to put silencer instead of having an orange tip on a field.
The second reason is to cover barrel extensions. Some players are increasing inner barrel length in an attempt to increase the range and accuracy of their airsoft replicas. Sometimes finding adequate replacement barrel can be a pain in the ass so instead of having a replica in which inner barrel sticks out of the end, which makes you replica look ugly, players can easily cover it with a suppressor. This not only makes their replicas look much better and realistic but it also protects the inner barrel from damage.
The next reason is that they actually do silence your gun to some extent if you use them with NBB (non-blowback gas-powered guns) or spring powered guns. As we already wrote this type of airsoft gun is quieter than AEGs or GBBs as they don’t have a loud gearbox or motor so there is little noise coming from the body of airsoft replica.
Also, many tracer units look like suppressors. If you’re not familiar, tracer units are attachments for airsoft guns which makes your BBs glow in dark. But keep in mind they won’t work with any BBs – you need tracer BBs which are coated with a layer of phosphorus.
Conclusion: Do I Really Need An Airsoft Suppressor?
So as you see, you don’t really need an airsoft suppressor. They are not an essential piece of equipment as most of them are just mock suppressors which don’t actually reduce the noise but are purely decorative making your airsoft replica look more realistic and cool. However, if you get a foam-filled airsoft suppressor, you will reduce the noise from the barrel to some extent although this won’t help you much if you’re using AEG or GBB as most noises come from the main body of the replica. It’s a different thing if you play with a sniper rifle, as springers are not as loud as AEGs or GBBs.
And as we wrote, there are some other benefits of using suppressors, for example to cover and protect longer inner barrel, so it really depends on why did you want to get a silencer in the first place.
