Thread: Welding to or porting 12gauge barrel

Suppressors on shotguns, particularly 12 ga, are more trouble than they are worth. They add a lot of weight forward which inhibits your swing, and they are not very quiet, even with subsonic loads. The main problem is the size of the hole, and the fact that the suppressor has to be designed so it will not catch the wad, which also makes it inefficient in trapping and slowing gas. It is easier for the gas to follow (and overtake) the wad instead of going into barrel ports. Also the baffles have to have tapered rear edges to allow the wad to pass without catching, which also does the same to the gas. I have been designing and commercially building suppressors for over 40 years and have never yet got good results with a shotgun - quieter yes, but not much! During the Vietnam War the US developed a silent shot cartridge for the .44 Magnum revolver for the 'tunnel rats'. The only reason it worked was that the special cartridge case remained sealed after doubling it's length when fired and the gas was fully contained.