Realizing that I am somewhat anal, for some time, I have wanted to know how my rifles all compared relative to report output.
A few weeks ago, I purchased one of the <$30 decibel meters on Amazon and ended up returning it because it just didn't work consistently.
Last weekend, I purchased a Reed R8060 (shown) decibel meter, and set it up inside my basement to where I could shoot through an OPEN exterior door into a hillside about 60 yards out. The basement is large and quiet, eliminating any wind noise or other variables often found outside. The decibel meter was mounted on BOG tripod, with a BOG Death Grip tripod immediately behind it to where the rifles would all have a distance to the meter of 1' to 2.' I then proceeded to fire three shots from each rifle, looking for consistency in the readings, and if consistent, recording the loudest report. Interestingly enough, I didn't have any rifle that produced a decibel level extreme spread across the three shots of more than .2 decibels.
I'm not really certain what difference all of this information makes, as I won't shoot any of these any different, trade them, sell them, or whatever as a result of the tests. I just thought it would be interesting to know. I did look up the accepted normal report of a .22 long rifle as a comparison, and it is said to be +/- 147 decibels.
This exercise was simply another good excuse to spend time with my rifles. The quality of the Air Arms products came through once again, combined with the shrouded barrels and Donny FL Sumo moderator - the most quiet of the pcp rifles, and while certainly not the most powerful, they have proven time and time again to not only be exceptionally accurate, dependable and maintenance free, but extremely deadly.
I'm certain many of you own many of these rifles set-up nearly the same. I thought you might enjoy seeing the results.
A few weeks ago, I purchased one of the <$30 decibel meters on Amazon and ended up returning it because it just didn't work consistently.
Last weekend, I purchased a Reed R8060 (shown) decibel meter, and set it up inside my basement to where I could shoot through an OPEN exterior door into a hillside about 60 yards out. The basement is large and quiet, eliminating any wind noise or other variables often found outside. The decibel meter was mounted on BOG tripod, with a BOG Death Grip tripod immediately behind it to where the rifles would all have a distance to the meter of 1' to 2.' I then proceeded to fire three shots from each rifle, looking for consistency in the readings, and if consistent, recording the loudest report. Interestingly enough, I didn't have any rifle that produced a decibel level extreme spread across the three shots of more than .2 decibels.
I'm not really certain what difference all of this information makes, as I won't shoot any of these any different, trade them, sell them, or whatever as a result of the tests. I just thought it would be interesting to know. I did look up the accepted normal report of a .22 long rifle as a comparison, and it is said to be +/- 147 decibels.
This exercise was simply another good excuse to spend time with my rifles. The quality of the Air Arms products came through once again, combined with the shrouded barrels and Donny FL Sumo moderator - the most quiet of the pcp rifles, and while certainly not the most powerful, they have proven time and time again to not only be exceptionally accurate, dependable and maintenance free, but extremely deadly.
I'm certain many of you own many of these rifles set-up nearly the same. I thought you might enjoy seeing the results.
