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8/8/2019 Soldier Of Fortune August 2010

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By DC Hartmann

Iwas first introduced tosuppressors at a place calledWounded Knee in 1973. Coolstuff. No Ruger 10/22 has evercaptured my imagination

since. Please be aware there is ahuge down side in using a goodsuppressor in conflictthey mighthear you giggle after a shot isdelivered. Bad ju-ju. Ive usedsuppressors for over 30 years offand on.

For years suppressormanufactures have been diligentlyworking on designing an acceptable.45ACP pistol silencer. Althoughmany great products are available inthe market place, until this yearthere has never been any truehearing-safe .45ACP suppressorsfor handguns. A silencer is deemedhearing-safe when a 10-shotaverage, including the first-round

pop, is under 140 decibels. Severalsilencers currently on the market are

hearing-safe, but only when shotwith the use of an environment suchas water or grease. Silencerco hasachieved this amount of soundsuppression while shot dry, orwithout the use of water or grease,with their latest .45 ACP silencernamed the 45Osprey.

In fact, not only did they make ahearing-safe .45ACP silencer, theyare coming in well below therequired 140 decibel mark. On theHK USP Tactical with 230-grainRemington UMC ammunition,Silencercos 45Osprey is metered at132.5 decibels while shot dry. This isan accomplishment worthy of thehighest regard. Why? Purely because of the size of the bore holeand size of explosion. A suppressoris most effective when it keeps thegasses and explosion in the silenceras long as possible, releasing themslowly well after the bullet hasexited the suppressor. Because of

the large size of the .45 ACP round,the bore hole is also large, whichmakes it much more challenging toaccomplish desired suppressionlevels. The 45Ospreys unique formfactor and baffle design have beenable to tame this tremendousexplosion, even with the large borehole, without adding excessivelength or diameter.

The 45Ospreys Unique FormAt Silencerco the traditionalround-tube pistol silencer is now athing of the past. Why? Well,round causes problems. One of themost important contributors tosound suppression is the amountof internal volume the silencer pos-sess. The more space the gassesand explosion have to occupy, themore effective the suppressionlevel. That does not mean the an-swer is attaching a silencer that isthe size of a 2-liter soda bottle, ei-

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ther. The trick is to obtain the mostinternal volume without obstructingthe sight picture. Which means ifone attaches a silencer with a sub-stantial outer diameter, it will blockthe view of the target and render thesights of the host weapon useless. Si-lencerco worked around this chal-lenge by first designing an eccentricsilencer, which means the bore holedoes not run down the center axis.Instead the bore hole is in the upperhalf of the silencer, allowing for thegreater mass of the silencer to sitlower and out of the way of thesights.

Yet there is another challenge. Awide silencer is equallycumbersome. A round silencerwith the desired internalvolume for maximumsuppression is quitewide, which makesholstering yourweapon while thesilencer is still attachedimpossible. This is why Silencercoditched the traditional round tube.The 45Osprey more resembles theshape of a box; with its flat side walls,it is not much wider than the hostweapon, allowing it to be holsteredwith silencer still attached.

The 45Osprey is not just a square

box on the end of your firearm.Careful consideration was applied tothe cosmetic design. Inspired by thelook and feel of many host firearms,the 45Osprey has many features togive it that I gotta have it look. The45Ospreys back cap, which housesthe Nielsen device, has milleddiagonal lines which mimic the gripmarks on a handguns slide. Its frontcap has an intricate serration thatmakes the silencer itself look like aweapon, and the tube and front cap

have intricate engravings of thecompanys handsome logo. On manyhost weapons the 45Osprey looks likean extension of the gun.

How Does It Index?One of the most difficult challengesof any eccentric silencer is how it in-dexes on the host weapon. Becausethere is no way of timing the threadsto ensure the silencer is properly ori-entated after it is tight against theshoulder of the threads, there has to be a method to index the silencer toits proper orientation. Just when you

think that feature is attainable, youmust remember that the indexingsystem must work hand-in-handwith a Nielsen device, or booster, toallow the pistol to cycle rounds withthe extra weight of the silencer onthe barrel.

The 45Osprey has anincredibly simple yetinnovative way ofindexing byusing apatent-

pending camlever lock. You

very simply threadthe 45Osprey on the

barrel just like atraditional silencer until it is

tight against the shoulder, thenrelease the cam lever lock and

rotate the silencer to its desiredorientation, at which time you wouldmove the cam lever back to its lockedposition.After indexing to aparticular host weapon, the 45Ospreyis then timed to that host weapon.This means you can remove the45Osprey by means of a traditionalthreaded silencer and then attach itagain to that same weapon withoutthe need to use the cam lever lock.

You would then only need to use thecam lever lock when changing to adifferent host weapon or after thedisassembly of the Nielsen device forcleaning.

BafflesBaffle design is a very importantcomponent of any suppressor. The45Ospreys unique shape ensuredtraditional K baffles where out of thequestion. Also, traditional slant baf-fles are not entirely effective as they

cause sub-sonic bullets to tumbledue to cross jetting. So Silencercowent back to the drawing board todevelop a baffle that is totallyunique to the Osprey pistol suppres-sor line. Silencerco designed, pro-duced and individually testednearly one hundred unique baffledesigns before they rested on the in-credibly effective patent-pendingdesign that is now in the productionmodel. The 45Osprey also has a 17-4stainless steel, heat-treated blast baf-fle to enhance durability. All subse-quent baffles are made from

aerospace quality 7075 aluminum.

Other Features and CalibersThe 45Osprey comes equipped witha Nielsen device or booster to ensuresemi-auto fire on all relevant hostpistols. The added weight of a si-lencer on the end of a pistol barrelcauses the barrel to not de-couple or

unlock after firing. This un-locking is necessary forthe gun to cycle to thenext round. A booster

has a piston and a springthat aid in the unlocking of

the pistols barrel for ensuredsemi-auto function. In simple terms,one could think of a Nielsen deviceas a shock absorber in reverse. Thepiston is the component that attachesto the host weapon. Because thereare many different thread specs fordifferent host weapons, the pistonsare interchangeable for across the board compatibility. Silencerco alsooffers the Osprey in 9mm and 40S&W. The pistons for those caliberswill also work in the .45 ACP Osprey.A 9mm round fired through the45Osprey is as quiet as most 9mm si-lencers on the market today. Whichmeans you can buy a 45Osprey andan assortment of pistons and have asomewhat universal silencer for

other calibers, as long as they are asmaller diameter caliber. For themost effective sound suppression,however, each model works bestwith its intended caliber.

Final ThoughtsSilencerco has surprised us with itsfirst product, the 22Sparrow, whichis a very innovative and highly ac-claimed .22 LR suppressor. Youmight have seen a Sparrow before but probably havent heard one, at

least the kind that doesnt havewings and a beak. Now Silencercohas certainly revolutionized the pis-tol-caliber suppressors with the newOsprey line. The market is no doubtgiving this new company its atten-tion and anticipating what is next.They say they plan on releasing a5.56 rifle silencer as well as a 7.62rifle silencer in 2010. I can assureyou that whatever they do, it will beinnovative.

To read more about Silencerco visittheir website at or call them at 801-417-5384

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