Ghost -- too much Fiction got put into the non fiction book..
The only credible account I have heard was from Maj. John Plaster [Ultimate Sniper (In)fame(my)] - where he shot at VC with a suppressed Swedish K in 9mm ported bbl and old wipe type suppressor - the SIONICS and (name escpaes me now) where the ony two types of suppressor used on the M16 and CAR-15 rifles in Vietnam NONE where anyway near silent - they where not wipe cans either but early baffle designs - they did not degrade the velocity.
I both read Plaster account and had it retold by Gene "recon" Econ of 1SFG fame (and some minor mention in the CF Somalia Inquiry...) Futhermore I've seen the Vietnam SOG weapons collection and shot a few and seen others fired.
Secondly I am a big fan of the Enemy not knowing I am shooting at them 1) they tend not to shoot at you since they dont know where you are 2) they tend not to look for cover making it easier to play 1 Little 2 Little 3 Little Indians with them. 3) I'm not very sporting, a buddy of mine shot over 30 Talib's one night under 300m - they never came close to hitting him... I'm a firm beleiver in a Fair fight is the one I win.
Caesar - NSR is Non Standard Responce - Instead of a head shot in responce to a failure to stop drill you simply keep firing into the COM until the target goes down -- a plate cannot take that many round before it will fail and 5-6 should be enough to penetrae as long as they are similarily located. The theory behind this is the head is a very hard object to hit when you and the tgt are both moving - as well it pivots on three axis so it bobs and weaves on its own as well as the body.
CTC Gagetown - the Inf School has shot the C9 and C6 suppressed - for a while there was great interest in a suppressed C9 as the #4 man weapon in the .50cal HTI sniper det.
3rd Herd -- my experience with Russian weapons is on older stuff and nothing suppressed - I thought the AKSU-74 "Krinkov" was high speed for them
I have noted the Russian SF units (at least CT guys) are adopting M4's and US gadgets...