I beg to differ with the statement real Special Forces doesnt use there knife. Many many silent kills are better done with a knife. The Spetsnaz or Spets natz as most of you call them have a heavy training regiment of silent kill techniques using cold steel. Not to mention one of my friends who actually honestly was a navy seal about 20 years ago (currently teaches his own MA in Las Vagas) talks about using knives a whole lot. Now granted the silenced pistol concept works fine however they still make sound if your paying attention. Not to mention that improper bullet placement may make them jerk the trigger of the gun from the shock of the bullet entering the brain. It is much more efficent to use a bladed weapon due to the natural response of the person to grab for the knife or hand. This gets there hands away from the weapon. However a proper throat decapitation is necesary as well. If you just do the blade accross the throat like your dragging the blad from ear to ear it will not cut the larinx. IF you dont cut that the reaction of muscles breath being exspelled etc will cause horrible sounds. That I know from car wreck victoms.
I have to agree with much of that, but most people don't have the training to kill silently with knives, which is what I meant. There are, of course, ways of killing silently; through the occipital region of the cranium, by shattering the C5 cervical vertebra, up through the gap in the mandible, or by severing the jugular vein by cutting along the sternomastoid. Or, of course, by severing the spinal cord from the front by stabbing through the pit just by the clavicle.
But this conversation is taking a distinctly sinister turn, don't you think? I blame it on an addiction to medical textbooks (yes, I'm studying to become a lawyer, but I recently bought "The Practice Of Anaesthesia" just for fun...).
The SAS have been known to use suppressed .22 pistols like the Ruger series for taking out guard dogs; they're very quiet, though I'd be wary of relying too much on a round as weak as that.
Possible the best suppressed weapon, IMO, is the DeLisle carbine - basically a .45 ACP sniper rifle, and one of the few truly silenced firearms. It was barely louder than the firing pin hitting the round.