User blog comment:Dr. Feelgood/Suppressors and bullet dynamics/@comment-1260687-20100310011713

Numerous things here:


 * 1) The worst thing to happen for a sniper (or any shooter) is fr his shot to miss the target, or strike a non-immediately-lethal area
 * 2) Suppressors work by allowing propellent gases to expand and cool, thereby reducing the velocity of what is already (usually) subsonic ammunition, reducing velocity and causing a corresponding reduction in penetration and lethality, especially for rounds that are dependant upon shearing, or mushrooming on impact.