It's the neighbors

[Walt]

The neighbors are not fond of my air gun noises. My new Gamo 440 makes too much noise for them, so they say. So far I pulled the gun apart and did a clean and lube tune and reassembled. All the internals are stock. The rattles and twang are gone but the power plant is still loud. To compare I have a B26 that has a lube tune and  a Maccari kit installed. Compared to the Gamo it is very quiet. No complaints about noise. I have seen a new spring and guide kit on Rich from Mich's site but it's $70. Anyone used one of his kits? And most importantly did it bring down the sound of the power plant operation by a significant amount? Are there any other tricks to bring the sound from the power plant down?  I am trying to keep costs down.  I don't want to be into the gun too much if I have to trade the gun off as a last resort.
W

[davee1]

yep...I have a similar problem, only its my 350M that makes the noise. Dont know about the kits...and you probably already know this but just in case....

A sliding glass door or a window partially open by say 4 inches is a great sound suppressor. The entire house absorbs the sound and the pellet flys out to your target. Some of my windows dont have screens on them so I can use them for such a feat. Its surprising what kind of angles and positions you can use to get shots off using this method. "They" cannot stop us.

this may not be helpful...but you could always just punch them in the mouth...

but seriously speaking, I guess you could do a CDT turbo tune...from what I hear it should cure that problem.

[Big_Bill]

Noise is relative, but you rifle may be dieseling making excessive noise.

Or your neighbors don't like to see guns in the neighborhood, and just say that the noise bothers them !

Again, I don't know what lubes you used and where, but if you see some smoke coming out of your barrel, it's dieseling ! too much oil getting into the compression chamber, and this can hurt the spring and the rifle.

hope this helps...

Bill

[SGTMEATSAUCE]

Also how about a dampner on the end? And of course don't shoot Raptors or lightweight pellets that break the sound barrier....

[Walt]

Thanks for the input guys. I am almost positive it's not dieseling. No smoke and probably 300 or so shots have gone down the tube. I used moly and heavy tar for the tune. I don't think the pellets are making the noise. I use 7.9 to 8.6 grain. It seems to me that the power plant is the culprit. The kit I saw on Rich's site had a plastic spring guide and a top hat. I am wondering if that's the secret to quieting down this power plant?
W

[SGTMEATSAUCE]

1st if you find a way to quiet it down more let me know, 2nd when I filled my hollow stock with a Nerf football(thick foam, cut it in half, stuffed it in with a chisel) it cut down on some of the fuss, took out some of the tintiness made it more deeper of a sound.....

[Walt]

Mine's got a wood stock so I can't stuff it with anything but that sounds like a good idea. I just wish I could get an idea if the better spring and plastic guide will suppress some noise. I am a little concerned about putting $70 bucks more in the gun to find out I still can't shoot it in the yard without the no gunner getting on me.
W

Noob here, so take my comments as such.

I quieted by old Diana Model 27 somewhat by adding neoprene washers at either end of the spring, to prevent metal to meal contact and dampen harshness and vibration a bit.  I'm told the spring torques and de-torques as it travels, so maybe adding a thin stainless steel washer between the spring and neoprene washer would be a good idea, too. Could be, the cocking lever is being contacted by the piston as it moves forward, so a small rubber bumper here might help.

Car stereo shops use Dynamat and generic equivalents to quiet cars.  This has foil, asphalt, and adhesive backing.  It's ~1/8" thick.  Maybe some strips of this stuff, judiciously added to the inner surfaces of the stock or hidden outer surfaces of the gun (where otherwise covered by the stock) would help.  Noise happens when hard materials like metal or wood vibrate.  That's how percussion instruments work.  The Dynamat stuff dampens vibration, and therefore noise.   Just a speculative thought, without benefit of testing.

[crazy4salmon]

Tell your neighbors they are in Shelton now. If they don't like they need to move back to Bellevue or Redmond. :p  Just a guess, too bad the big city is getting bigger. Neighbors are like women, "cant live with them, and cant live without them."HeHeHe.    Good luck, they probably don't like seeing a gun, as mentioned earlier.

Dan L

IF MY NEIGHBORS COMPLAINED ABOUT MY GAMO 440 BEING TO LOUD I WOULD GIVE THEM A FEW DAYS OF MY 12-GA THEN I WOULD GO BACK TO MY GAMO 440 TO SHOW THEM HOW QUIET IT REALLY IS LOL

[Machinist]

Irish has a point - a clay pigeon slinger and an afternoon of "trap" with buddies would make your Gamo "quiet" by comparison. But, there is another slant on this that worked for a guy I know.  When a neighbor would come out to complain, he would invite the neighbor over and ask if they had ever shot an airgun. Whether they had shot before or not, he always offered and urged the neighbor to tryout his gun and gave gentle pointers along the way. About half the time, the complainer became a shooter. Of those that did not become shooters, most quit complaining as long as he shot when a neighbors babies weren't napping. The trick was getting them to shoot, once that happened they were either hooked like we are or had a new appreciation for the hobby. Worked for him - might work for you. Diplomacy and honey seem to  have something in common.
Good Luck!

[Rixtrix]

about possible solutions to your "problem".

Ric G