This is another post from guest contributor Ozone. He’s a frequent range partner of mine and has also accompanied me on my Twilight Run‘N Guns and Desert Brutality. His previous post was about his Overwatch Precision trigger, but today we’re talking abut silencers. If you want to see some of his match footage, here’s a link to his YouTube channel. If you like his writing, let him know in the comments. -S_S
So you want to shoot suppressed……..K.
I received my first suppressor in January of 2017. I thought I learned all there was to know. I read hundreds of pages of white papers, articles, customer reviews, hours of videos, talked to several class 3 dealers in my area, and when it came to finally pulling the proverbial trigger on buying a can, I was nervous. Here is what I wish I would have known then and some real world experiences I have now that may be helpful.
What is your intended purpose?
Are you hunting, competition shooting(prs or more action based), just plinking in the backyard, Law Enforcement, prepping for the big igloo, or a mixture of all the above?
Suppressors are rated for the type of use or duration of use. Do you need a full auto belt fed rated can? The answer is 99.9% of the time is…NO.
I use mine for competition and hunting. Even on stages with high round count its not glowing or melting off. I have the Liberty Mystic X. Its full auto rated for traditional handgun calibers(9mm, 380, 5.7fn,ect). The majority of you are not operating or laying down 800 rounds per minute bursts of covering fire. If it’s just going to be used for hunting to take the edge off of supersonic crack of a shot. Things like weight and sound reduction may matter more. Law enforcement or for training use length may be more of a factor than someone shooting a bolt gun in the field or flat range.
Sound reduction IS NOT as important as you think.
At the end of the day the majority of ammo used in rifles is supersonic and even suppressed is not hearing safe. 90dB is what OSHA claims is the threshold hearing safe working conditions. The threshold for pain is the commonly used 140dB level. So if your AR15 suppressed is 134 dB instead of 165dB unsuppressed it is still causing damage. Having the quietest can is cool and neat, but the “tactical” advantage a suppressor gives you is, it becomes very difficult to tell where the shot is coming from. I have had deer run towards me after a shot and caused others not to spook in adjacent fields. The sound of the bullet breaking the sound barrier will still exist. This being said I enjoy a quiet shooting rifle and it is especially useful when introducing new shooters to our activities. A suppressor should reduce the sound level about 20dB plus or minus 5dB.
“I have had deer run towards me after a shot and caused others not to spook in adjacent fields.”
Suppressors will negatively affect the performance of your rifle.
No such thing as a free lunch. A suppressor will increase the felt recoil in a stock semi-auto firearm. The muzzle rise will be less because the baffled stop the expanding gases from exiting the muzzle as quickly and directionally. However the increased gas pressure will cause the bolt to retract and cycle more violently. (Another thing call of duty got wrong.) This can be overcome with adjustable gas block, specialized bolt carrier grounds and heavier buffers. My point here is that it is not just plug and play. There are considerations to make when selecting components for a suppressed gun.
The other issue stemming from the over gassing experienced is increased carbon build up in the receiver of the gun. Most AR pattern rifles can go 1000’s of rounds without needing maintenance to function properly. Throw a suppressor in the mix and iv have to clean about every 500 to 700 rounds or malfunction will begin to occur regularly when the rifle runs 100 percent unsuppressed. The pictures below are from a 300blk pistol going from clean to 680 rounds to clean again.
Conclusion
In conclusion a suppressor can be a very useful tool for a variety of uses. There are many pros and cons. This post may seem anti suppressor. I am not at all. The regular author can attest to that, even when it has been to my detriment. Consider this an introduction to the topic and I will dive into more suppressor related topics in the future.
Once again, I’d like to thank Ozone for his contributions to the site.
We’ll see you next Friday. -S_S
Pro-Gun Millennial 