Originally Posted by Droc

airsoft guns make their noise from the mechbox. The gears and the winding of the motor. The clack of the piston is more of a vibration through the mechbox and out through the body.
Now some of that sound travels out the barrel, but next to none. Want proof?
I saw this on arnies or somewhere.
Take a longer gun, such as an M4 or AK. lay it down. Use a microphone connected to a computer with audio equiptment and place it 1/2 inch from the mechbox and fire. Then place the microphone 1/2 inch from the tip of the barrel and fire. Then, if you really wanna be sure, run 2 microphones, 1 to the mechbox and one to the barrel.
When you magnify the time on the computer, you can see that the loudest point is the mechbox winding the gears back and then the piston firing. But still, more sound comes from the mechbox rather then the barrel.
Ill thread on a silencer. db emmitted remains the same.
just for fun, place a microphone 3 feet away and fire the gun...then drape a towel over the mechbox area only and fire...there is your sound change.
With airsoft silencers, since most are just fakes and dont use baffels, all they are really doing is changing the tone...but the volume is about the same.

If AEGs were a combustion gun, then sure, a silencer could muffle the sound of the gas and air pressure, but since there really isnt much air actually being moved, the loud bang your hearing isnt the air...it is the piston slamming into the mechbox. The sound your hearing is more of an impact vibration thats emmittting from the mechbox and the surrounding reciever that its touching.

You may make your gun quieter if you had a real silencer or one with baffels and foam, but its hardly going to be noticable...the tone will change, but for the most part, the db remains the same.

If you want to make your gun silent, foam around the mechbox and use a silent piston head to cushion the piston.