dead air mask .22 (anything else better?)

[Airwolf]

I am about to pull the trigger on a dead air mask .22 after quite a bit research.

Here what else I considered:

Rugged occulus
Thunderbeast takedown 22
Bowers USS 22

I feel the occulus and mask are neck and neck and I don't care about being modular. The thunderneast seems to hold its own, but I feel the mask just slightly edges it out and I have been really impressed with Dead Airs products.

The last one is the one that really confuses me. My research and according to silencer shop, the Bowers uss 22, is the absolute quietest. It is however longer and heavier and harder to take apart for cleaning. I do hear the tone on the mask is great.

Anybody have any experience with the Bowers? Reviews seem limited

[craSSh]

My short list was Dead Air Mask, Thunderbeast TD, CGS Hydra SS, and Q El Camino. My opinion is they are all equally quiet and equally serviceable... You can't go wrong with any of them. I went with the Q el camino because of the promo SilencerShop and Q was having.

[cmcinc]

Not that this will help your decision any, but I have the Dead Air Mask, Silencerco Sparrow and the Surefire Ryder 22-A. I prefer the Mask to the others, I like and still shoot the others, but much prefer the Dead Air.

[Hannibalbarca]

Griffin Optimus micro.
All 17-4 stainless and rated for short barreled 556.

[doubloon]

On comparable pistol hosts with similar barrel lengths according to independent metered testing the Kodiak, Spectre, Sparrow, Regulator, Warlock, Genesis and others will all provide 1-4dB better performance than the Mask with the same ammo within day to day atmospheric fluctuations. So, for all practical purposed the are nearly identical in performance.

Price, materials, weight, ease of maintenance and aesthetics are the dominant differentiators between suppressors in this tier.

No data available from the same source for Optimus Micro 22lr performance but the Spectre

[Hannibalbarca]

Q el Camino is 5 dB quieter than the Optimus micro so there’s that.
117 vs 122 average.

[doubloon]

Kodiak, Spectre, etc. reach down around to the 113-114dB range.

[Hannibalbarca]

I myself will be going with a form 1 for my 22.
an sdta ti B cell tube(wall thickness turned down to .035), the ti end caps(with drilled out holes in the 1/2x28 cap to reduce weight) using 3 totality industries 17-4 annealed cones heat treated to h900, 8 del West 549c valve spring retainers(hole is .330 it seems) with a dhc and 316 ss spacers.
Should weigh between 11.25-11.9 oz and 7.3 length, a little heavy but still not that much, relatively speaking and it will be all ti with 3 heat treated blast baffles so quite durable and lots of volume.

[Peashooter]

I have a Ruger sr2 and a sig 22 can and the Ruger is very quiet despite the lack of volume that the Ruger has against the Sig

[bani]

aac element2 is one of the few with zero FRP and extremely quiet overall. i have evaluted dozens of 22lr suppressors.

i also appreciate the SS baffles so I can use the dip.

[gsyoung54]

I am about to pull the trigger on a dead air mask .22 after quite a bit research.

Here what else I considered:

Rugged occulus
Thunderbeast takedown 22
Bowers USS 22

I feel the occulus and mask are neck and neck and I don't care about being modular. The thunderneast seems to hold its own, but I feel the mask just slightly edges it out and I have been really impressed with Dead Airs products.

The last one is the one that really confuses me. My research and according to silencer shop, the Bowers uss 22, is the absolute quietest. It is however longer and heavier and harder to take apart for cleaning. I do hear the tone on the mask is great.

Anybody have any experience with the Bowers? Reviews seem limited

Dustin Ellerman on YouTube likes his Bowers USS but I like the Dead Air Mask best because of the way they put ridges on the outside of the baffles that allow the insides to just be pushed out with cleaning brush or finger... never sticks because of the design and so far it is the quietest .22 suppressor I've ever shot but we are now talking about units like the Occulus, Liberty Regulator, Ruger Silent SR along with the Mask that are so quiet that action noise is heard by bystanders 15 feet away over any blast noise. My units are especially quiet on the Walther PPQ M2 .22, possibly because its a physically bigger gun with a longer barrel than a lot of the other smaller .22's. I'm getting a full size Beretta in .22 to try next... shot one and we put my Mask on it and it was impressive. I guess I'll also have to buy another Mask so i can do real comparisons from gun to gun... S&B .22 ammunition is the quietest that I've found that will still cycle most pistols. The CCI "Quiet" 22 is unbelievably, laughably quiet because its is loaded way down and wont cycle anything most of the time so you basically have a locked breech lever on your gun. I shoot my Ruger SR22 or the Walther with the Mask or the Liberty Regulator (wet with a little RemOil, quiets things in the monocore down noticeably and it's already a quiet suppressor) with the Quiet ammo in my back yard in a residential area into a small hill of grass and people inside my house or in the front of the house can't hear anything. My son was practicing archery about 20 yards away from me and didn't realize I was shooting parallel to him until I accidentally hit a small twig!

[Historian]

The 'chubby' Aguila SSS 60 gr .22lr is a slow ~950 fps.

It fires easily in an 1:8 twist barrel, e.g., the extraordinary
Ray Brandes S&W 41 barrel.


Like hearing results from anyone using the 'chubby'
in their pistols. Some good YouTubes on their firing from
rifle.

[gsyoung54]

The 'chubby' Aguila SSS 60 gr .22lr is a slow ~950 fps.

It fires easily in an 1:8 twist barrel, e.g., the extraordinary
Ray Brandes S&W 41 barrel.


Like hearing results from anyone using the 'chubby'
in their pistols. Some good YouTubes on their firing from
rifle.

More expensive than some others but I bought a case of it. It is very quiet and slow and I sometimes have to mix handguns and suppressors to find one that cycles reliably... in rifles there is no problem.. For the money and the quiet my favorite subsonic is still the inexpensive S&B subsonic .22. I haven't really heard anything quieter with my ears or my friends from 10 yards away... Lol, I don't have a sound meter so that is my mil-spec test! The only stuff that is really a lot quieter in anything is the CCI "Quiet" .22. It is sooooo quiet and does not cycle except sometimes with the last few rounds in a perfectly clean and lubed pistol, my Walther PPQ M2 22 will sometimes do that but not my Ruger Sr's. I guess the advantage of that ammo is supreme quietness, enough power to do whatever it is you are doing and you get to decide on when to cycle and where your brass goes. The only thing better would be a slide lock some people put on their .22 pistols... or just hold your left palm against the back of the slide with this ammo, it won't hurt and is not dangerous in anyway.

[Hannibalbarca]

The 'chubby' Aguila SSS 60 gr .22lr is a slow ~950 fps.

It fires easily in an 1:8 twist barrel, e.g., the extraordinary
Ray Brandes S&W 41 barrel.


Like hearing results from anyone using the 'chubby'
in their pistols. Some good YouTubes on their firing from
rifle.

More expensive than some others but I bought a case of it. It is very quiet and slow and I sometimes have to mix handguns and suppressors to find one that cycles reliably... in rifles there is no problem.. For the money and the quiet my favorite subsonic is still the inexpensive S&B subsonic .22. I haven't really heard anything quieter with my ears or my friends from 10 yards away... Lol, I don't have a sound meter so that is my mil-spec test! The only stuff that is really a lot quieter in anything is the CCI "Quiet" .22. It is sooooo quiet and does not cycle except sometimes with the last few rounds in a perfectly clean and lubed pistol, my Walther PPQ M2 22 will sometimes do that but not my Ruger Sr's. I guess the advantage of that ammo is supreme quietness, enough power to do whatever it is you are doing and you get to decide on when to cycle and where your brass goes. The only thing better would be a slide lock some people put on their .22 pistols... or just hold your left palm against the back of the slide with this ammo, it won't hurt and is not dangerous in anyway.

Ever gotten a baffle strike in pistols?

[gsyoung54]

The 'chubby' Aguila SSS 60 gr .22lr is a slow ~950 fps.

It fires easily in an 1:8 twist barrel, e.g., the extraordinary
Ray Brandes S&W 41 barrel.


Like hearing results from anyone using the 'chubby'
in their pistols. Some good YouTubes on their firing from
rifle.

More expensive than some others but I bought a case of it. It is very quiet and slow and I sometimes have to mix handguns and suppressors to find one that cycles reliably... in rifles there is no problem.. For the money and the quiet my favorite subsonic is still the inexpensive S&B subsonic .22. I haven't really heard anything quieter with my ears or my friends from 10 yards away... Lol, I don't have a sound meter so that is my mil-spec test! The only stuff that is really a lot quieter in anything is the CCI "Quiet" .22. It is sooooo quiet and does not cycle except sometimes with the last few rounds in a perfectly clean and lubed pistol, my Walther PPQ M2 22 will sometimes do that but not my Ruger Sr's. I guess the advantage of that ammo is supreme quietness, enough power to do whatever it is you are doing and you get to decide on when to cycle and where your brass goes. The only thing better would be a slide lock some people put on their .22 pistols... or just hold your left palm against the back of the slide with this ammo, it won't hurt and is not dangerous in anyway.

Ever gotten a baffle strike in pistols?

Several times. Most due to me not noticing the suppressor had loosened off the barrel. Even a small amount is enough to make the suppressor droop and get at least an end cap strike. The worst baffle strikes I've ever had was after packing a suppressor with white lithium or synthetic grease and did not check to see if the bore hole was clear before I shot. And I was using hollow points which the manufacturer said was ok but they picked up some of the grease ablative in the suppressor bore channel and expanded in the supressor... I shot three rounds before realizing that they were not hitting my steel target and alch lough I'm not a perfect shot I'm pretty good, especially with high suppressor sights. Took the thing apart and found three 45 ACP full power factory loads.... 230 grain factories are inherently subsonic so don't fall for a "Subsonic" label on a box of black Remingtons for almost twice the price of regular anybody's else ammo!
Anyway, having the titanium tube capture three 45 projectiles and not blow up is a testimony to how well made the old AWC pistol suppressors were.
I sent it in and since I admitted to operator error, it cost a mere $45 to have the damaged baffles and end cap replaced and they gave me a free re-Cerekote finish!
I had a end cal strike on a new Rugged Oculus from using too much line pulling gel as an ablative and I just had to take a pic of the end cal and they sent me a new one fast for free. Rugged Suppressors has some of the best customer service out there.