ponzer04 wrote:John A. wrote:If you own the spikes and are happy with it, great.
I've been very clear that I do own the Spikes and that I am happy with it. The purpose of this post was not to stroke my own ego. Years ago, when I was looking, I would have loved to have found a post like this this, showing all of the options in one place, where people givve opinions or personal testimonies.
Also, I'm discussing a very specific niche (in semi auto), which, no, your bolt gun does not fall into. Unless there is a bolt-action silencer combo. Tell me about it maybe someone will want to know about it when they search this later.
As for my "purpose for use", my personal purpose, when I was looking was a convenient package, warranty, hearing safe, and short. "Purpose built" was defined in my title- "SBR/silencer combo". That's it. I really wasn't going any deeper than that. Just a rifle that was purposely built with a silencer
bangbangping wrote:Still would go with "none of the above".
Why is that? What else is out there for a rifle/silencer combo that you would prefer?
I have studied virtually everything that I have gotten my hands on for almost 2 decades. I have looked closely at what manufacturers do and have a pretty good understanding of not just what works, but why. I'm not tooting my own horn. It's been a personal passion of mine for many years now.
With that said, I have designed and built multiple suppressors. Some dedicated cans like you mention, and others that can be moved around from gun to gun.
I can say that I think that I have done well for myself in that regard because I can only think of one or two cans that may (big may) outperform mine.
So, while I do not have anything against a commercial can, I believe the quality of mine are for the most part, superior in design and materials. Why? Because they truly are purpose built.
Dellet pointed out to you that if you're only using commercial designs and with commercial ammo straight out of the box, you are not going to ever reach the point of "most accurate" "Most reliable" "Most quiet".
And he's absolutely right.
He touched on some of the why from a ammo manufacturer viewpoint, now I'm going to touch on it from the suppressor viewpoint.
See, when a commercial manufacturer makes a silencer, there are many things that they have to do. And the biggest of which is to simply pad their sales to a comfortable level to be able to separate as much money from the consumer as possible.
Many consumers want the most quiet numbers on paper, totally ignoring that db numbers in the industry are mostly a big joke.
They can change from day to day, purpose built ammunition and a host of other things. It is not until you actually get behind one can you determine which you like "the best". This can get into tone, peak duration, prior hearing damage which one person may perceive and another be totally oblivious to. Even depend on your immediate surroundings due to reflective slapback echo. Being in a wooded area compared to an open prairie or a parking garage, hallway etc.
So, I'm not entirely certain that an empirical test could even physically be done.
Many consumers will have a different idea of what they want their silencers to LOOK like when they attach it to the gun, rather than how it sounds (you proved that in my statement above where I told you that a good suppressed bolt gun is going to be the best choice but you didn't like that reply because "MUH AR".)
You didn't ask how it could be more quiet. You didn't care that you could get better performance from a bolt gun than using on a semi auto or none of that. It totally blew right over your head. I'm not knocking you for that because most consumers are the same way, but you did prove my point about consumers only wanting what they want. So, that's why manufacturers make the models that they do for better or for worse.
Some like traditional thread on silencers, some like silencers that will be largely hidden underneath of handguards, and a large number of other things. But it will almost always go down to weight and db numbers on paper, so they will also look at how much a can weighs or what the largest diameter can they can use the way they want. I have no problem with any of that, but it is what it is.
I personally have higher expectations, and like I said, if I were to be forced to only have a commercial can, I would feel like I've been short changed at the grocery store.
While I am thinking about it, I wanted to point out something about the barrel on the compressor you added above.
The compressor barrel in front of the gas block is not actually the barrel that you are seeing in the photo. What you are seeing is a barrel sleeve so the barrel is better protected from where the suppressor slides back over top of it. That is referred to as a Reflex suppressor. See this video for detailed photos of that part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9QZ_RKRQcg
Reflex suppressors have been successfully used in Europe for many years. Just do a google for reflex moderator (because they don't call them suppressors over there)
If you want my humble opinion about it, it was machined that way for 3 reasons.
1. Lighten weight (first and foremost--see my earlier reply about one of the main things consumers look for)
2. It will disrupt some of the reflex gas back over the barrel to the front of the gas block--everything behind the gas block is just for weight reduction because it doesn't do anything to aid in suppression and
3. To act as a heat sink. This is old WW2 technology and nothing really new or futuristic. I'm not knocking it because it does give the barrel more surface area to aid in cooling. It works.
So, as you can maybe see, the Spikes compressor didn't really do anything that hasn't already been done before.
I don't have a personal complaint about how it's made, though I can think of one way (without seeing what the baffle stack looks like) how it could be improved upon just by the photo of the barrel you uploaded. It's not even a true integrally suppressed upper. It's a reflex can.
You want a purpose built suppressed gun?
Look at the Welrod or the Delisle carbine. Now those, are purpose built suppressed guns.
And now that I have written that, I just wanted to point out that neither are automatic or semiautomatic function. They're both bolt actions