Sound suppressors are expensive. Truly top-end sound suppressors are really expensive. Bidenomics has taken some of the teeth out of the onerous $200 transfer tax required to own such things, but two c-notes still isn’t chickenfeed, either.
Additionally, the process of transferring a registered suppressor is just a pain. Thankfully, the waits are not nearly so bad as was once the case, but obtaining fingerprints and then navigating the system can be frustrating. As a result, it behooves us to maximize the versatility of our individual suppressor purchases. Nowhere will you find a more versatile sound suppressor than the SilencerCo Omega 36M.
The Dream Can
Imagine a single registered sound suppressor that was all things to everyone. That hypothetical can would run on .22 rimfire hosts using a direct thread mount. It would also accept quick-detach mounts and handle heavy hitters like .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua Magnum.
While we’re dreaming, you should be able to swap to a piston mount and get the suppressor to function reliably on a pistol chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge as well. This hypothetical gun snuffer would be rated for full-auto operation and tolerate fire-breathing short-barreled 5.56mm barrels. It would also be convertible for maximum stealth or minimal footprint.
These specs just happen to accurately described the SilencerCo Omega 36M. It does all that stuff and more.
The SilencerCo Omega 36M is meticulously crafted out of some pretty exotic materials. Titanium, 14-4 stainless steel, Inconel, and Cobalt 6 form the foundation. The chassis itself consists of a pair of threaded sections that stack onto each other. Assemble everything that comes in the box, and it is 6.85” long. In this configuration, the suppressor weighs 12.5 oz. and is arguably the most effective rifle can I have ever fired.
For smaller guns or tighter confines, you can remove the distal bit and relocate the end cap to the base tube. This setup is only 4.9” long and weighs 9.8 oz. The tools you need for the conversion come with the suppressor.
Particularly on Modern Sporting Rifles, even the stubby version of the Omega 36M excises most of the grouchiness out of your favorite home defense tool. SilencerCo offers mounts to fit most anything that shoots. If the bullet will fit down the bore, you can make this can work.
Details
This guts of the Omega 36M are fully welded. You cannot disassemble the entrails for cleaning as a result, but that really doesn’t matter. I have had my Omega 36M for years and shot everything I could stuff through it, from .22 rimfire up through .308/7.62 NATO. I’m not sure you could shoot this thing enough to require much maintenance beyond just wiping it off.
The exotic materials SilencerCo uses to build the Omega 36M provide exceptional thermal and wear resistance. I have gotten mine crazy hot with no ill effects. The black Cerakote finish is both rugged and cool.
The Omega 36M is rated for full-auto operation in .223 barrels 10” and longer. That is a pretty amazing claim. A full auto M4 with a 10” tube could be mistaken for a flamethrower in dim light.
A .308 tube need to be at least 16”, while .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua Mag. guns require 20” barrels for safe operation with this suppressor. Each Omega 36M comes with a basic Charlie ASR mount. If you can tie your own shoes without assistance, you can swap out the mounts on the Omega 36M.
SilencerCo’s .22- and .30-caliber flash hider and muzzle brake mounts come in a variety of flavors. To mount and dismount the Omega 36M, you just loosen the lock ring and give the can a quick spin. Intentionally coarse threads make this chore quick and easy. The locking ring requires nothing fancier than a standard set of human fingers to operate and ensures that you don’t inadvertently launch your sparkly new can off into the hinterlands. By outfitting each of your favorite black rifles and precision rigs with these handy muzzle attachments, one can swap the one suppressor back and forth with ease right at the bench.
And Now for Something Completely Different…
Lots of folks make rifle cans that will run on both 5.56mm and 7.62mm platforms. The capacity to use that same suppressor on a Browning-style short-recoil handgun, by contrast, is fairly rare. SilencerCo has pulled that off with both class and style.
I’d guess that roughly 90% of the full-size pistols in the world today operate off of the same time-proven system pioneered in the P-35. This short recoil, tilting lock mechanism was developed by firearms luminary John Moses Browning and is apparently perfect. However, it does not well tolerate hanging heavy stuff off of the end of the barrel.
The solution to that thorny quandary is the Linear Inertial Decoupler, or Nielsen Device. This nifty trinket captures a little bit of the energy otherwise wasted at the muzzle and uses it to give the slide a tap. LID-equipped sound-suppressed handguns are monotonously reliable.
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Set your Omega 36M up with a piston mount and LID, and your Springfield Armory Echelon looks and runs like something out of a John Wick movie. If you have a submachine gun handy with a three-lug mount, the Omega 36M will calm that puppy down, too. Even in its short configuration, the Omega 36M seems comparably effective to the dedicated pistol cans I have run. It’s a bit heavier, perhaps, but still nonetheless reliable.
Trigger Time
Just how quiet a suppressor sounds can be is a fairly subjective thing. All reputable manufacturers publish standardized Decibel numbers, but that often doesn’t equate out to perceived noise. I can honestly say that the Omega 36M holds its own with dedicated cans in each of its many variegated applications.
Running 147-gr. subsonic ammo through my sound-suppressed Springfield Armory Echelon is as quiet as a handgun can be. All sound-suppressed centerfire handguns are a bit noisy. However, the Omega 36M is as good as it gets. If ever forced to use your Echelon for real indoors, the Omega 36M will help preserve your hearing as well as your ability to communicate with family and first responders.
In its short configuration and mounted on my Springfield Armory Hellion bullpup sporting rifle, the cumulative overall length is still comparable to that of a conventional unsuppressed AR. The addition of the can makes all the difference as regards weapon noise and shooter comfort. Interestingly, the overall effect is a function of exposure.
Fire the sound-suppressed Hellion out over a long distance, and the sonic crack is pronounced. This occurs outside the gun. There’s nothing you can hang onto the muzzle that will mitigate that. However, shoot something up close and you might hardly notice. Once again, having a sound-suppressed weapon in a defensive engagement just helps retain your capacity to communicate. In its compact form, the Omega 36M also doesn’t set you back much in the maneuverability department, either.
With appropriate mounts, the Omega 36M also performs swimmingly on such big bore hitters as the Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 CQB. Firing supersonic ammo, you have the same sonic crack issues as you might on the smaller caliber platforms. However, I load my own subsonic fodder. When firing subsonic .308 through the SOCOM 16 CQB equipped with the Omega 36M the action won’t cycle, but it is just stupid quiet. That set-up is actually the closest I have come to replicating movie-grade suppressed performance.
Download a 5.56mm round to subsonic velocities and you have just created a terribly expensive .22 rifle. However, the same exercise with a .30-cal. platform has a great deal of practical potential. At appropriate ranges, such a rig would do a fine job against feral pigs or whitetail deer without alerting their buddies blissfully grazing nearby.
With an MSRP of $1,187, the SilencerCo Omega 36M is hardly cheap. Accessories are spendy as well. However, that purchase price becomes a bit more palatable when you appreciate that this one rugged can will run on most of the guns in the collection. Just swap out mounts, and the suppressor floats from one host to another effortlessly. The Omega 36M is the one can to rule them all.
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