Wednesday, November 26, 2014

U.S. Navy SEALs Sure Like Their Quiet Pistols

"Sea commandos have had some iconic silenced handguns."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The big draw back to the "teams" is that they are so overrated, that everyone thinks they can do anything. It would do well to remember that the SEALs have gotten their asses kicked every time they have lost the element of surprise or deviated even slightly from the " sneak in and kill 'em all" scenario. They are not so much "commandos" as much as they are assassins. They are very good assassins but they are not equipped or trained to act as infantry special forces. Remember the invasion of Panama, where TWO SEAL teams were nearly wiped out by Panamanian NATIONAL GUARD forces when they lost the element of surprise.

Mitch Rapp said...

Contrary to the first "anonymous", SEALs success ratio is high enough to justify their existence.

On another note, one very important firearm was left out of the article, making it an incomplete piece of toilet paper.

The weapon of choice for SEALs and spec ops guys is the "Amphibian". In service for over thirty years with many improvements since it's arrival on the scene, the Amphibian kicks ass on all the other 'silent' pistols.

It started out as a modified Ruger MK 1 semi-auto .22LR pistol. The barrel was replaced with one that was an integral suppressor. Not only did the suppressor silence the already relatively quiet .22 round, but it also bled off pressure before the round left the barrel making even high velocity .22s slow to sub-sonic speed. No custom ammo necessary.

Because the weapon operates with low pressure .22LR ammo, it was designed to operate even when full of water, hence the name "amphibian". AS a matter of fact, the manufacturer recommends pouring a couple tablespoons of water into the suppressor if the user wants to quiet the weapon down even more than what dry firing offers.

The amphibian makes a lot less noise than a pneumatic nail gun. It's so quiet that the user can easily hear the bolt as it gets kicked back and loads the next round. But because the weapon is chambered in .22LR, the bolt does not make a lot of noise anyway.

When fired, the round hitting the paper target and the empty brass hitting the ground can easily be heard. Snapping your fingers is about the same loudness as the pistol, except that snapping your fingers makes the much louder 'crack' sound. The sound the amphibian makes can be described as about the same as hitting the bolt release on an AR with the rifle wrapped in a jacket.

How do I know these things? After waiting a full nine months for the ATF to process my transfer application, I finally received my transfer stamp and now possess a brand new Amphibian.

Improvements have been made since it was first supplied to our SEALs in about 1980. Mine is based on a 2014 model Ruger MK-3. It has about the same accuracy as a target model MK-3.

A beautiful weapon, the Amphibian is the King of all suppressed pistols. It's report can easily be mistaken for a sneeze. I have 'suppressed' pellet rifles that are much more noisy.

Not for folks that live paycheck to paycheck, my Amphibian cost $1600.00 plus the $200.00 ATF transfer tax, for a total of $1,800.00. Manufactured by AWS in Arizona, look it up and take a look. Mine is the flat black model. It comes in stainless too.

I added Crimson Trace grip laser and had a custom holster made for it by "Battle-cloth".

If you have to do some pest control and it absolutely-positively must be done quietly, the Amphibian is your weapon of choice.

Anonymous said...

I am glad you love your new murder tool, Mitch. But from the tone of your post I have to ask; Are you old enough to own firearm? Are you SANE enough to own a firearm? Will your "pest control" efforts involve killing the guy next door, his dog , his cat or his kids? Have you been recommended for a VA or LE M.H.E. in the last ten years?