Randy,
I agree with your correct use of 'suppressor' and not 'silencer', but you still had used the word 'silencer' in your original description of the carbine which Pete had provided to this discussion! However, allow me to provide some general information which may shed some light on this subject.
A Maxim silencer/suppressor (as shown in the 1924 Pacific Arms catalog) probably contained baffles and/or a diffuser which was intended to reduce the speed of the escaping gases and to some degree the speed of the bullet. If this was the case, the action of the Luger carbine would have been limited to single shots as a result of energy being absorbed by the suppressor. Bearing in mind the high velocity of the DWM 471A cartridge, a sonic crack would still be heard/created with this bullet at the muzzle or down range and, therefore, the use of a Maxim sound suppressor with this type of cartridge would hardly make any noticable difference in sound reduction. Do you believe the DWM factory would make a special barrel and extension without knowing these facts, or is this your imagination? If we consider another German manufacturer, the Mauser factory in this case, they never adapted a suppressor to a Mauser C96, so why should the DWM factory be any different considering that Mauser was more 'adventurous' in design and marketing than compared to the DWM factory? Furthermore, I do not think that during the early 1900's a suppressor was a widely used device for a small caliber pistol or sporting carbine and, therefore, its limited use had no important or practical benefit for the manufacturer or customer. For these likely reasons, I believe that this modification was done in the US and not at the DWM factory.
Now, let us consider the other scenario of a simple suppressor similar to the dummy one which you show with the carbine. Well, that type of suppressor would serve no useful purpose in sound suppression except maybe as a flash suppressor which would not affect the functioning of the action. So, why should the DWM factory go through all the headache of making a special barrel when I am nearly sure that the carbine would not create muzzle flash (during the daytime). This leaves the question(s) if all the additional work was done for 'esthetics' or actually a useful reason.
Albert
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