Acoustics Question: Projectile Flight Noise 𐃘 How to keep it down?
For a good while now, I am trying to reduce the noise that my shooting causes.
I've looked at the following:

➠ Eliminate spring guns.

➠ Use lower power (of course, that's a given).
➠ Use a silencer, that is both long and has a large volume and small passage ways.
➠ Tune for a shorter sip of air that is at a higher regulator pressure (e.g., 8% below the max. on the power curve is better than 2%).

➠ Avoid paper and cardboard targets. Instead use some type of synthetic/ plastic sheets and draw bulls on those.
➠ Soften the impact using rubber mulch or similar filler material. This is primarily for target shooting, but can also be done for shots on quarry if they often show up at the same places (e.g. a bait station).
➠ On quarry: Use slower impact velocities, smaller calibers, and projectiles that enter the flesh smoothly (pointed heads, or domes, rather than wadcutters and hollow points).

That's a new one to me!
Twice now people have been telling me at private shooting ranges that they could hear the flight of the projectile wizzing by!

➊ What's quieter? Slugs or diabolo pellets?
¿Domed pellets or hollow point pellets
➋ What's quieter? Faster or slower projectiles? (below the speed of sound, that is)
➌ Is there an ideal quiet velocity — for either slugs or pellets?
For example: I wonder if the whizzing noise of my projectile would be less it I shot a .22cal pellet at 30FPE, or a .30cal pellet at 30FPE, or a .22cal slug at 40FPE?
Thanks for any input you might have! Physics was never my strong suit — I barely passed it....

Matthias
