SAS update... Purchase advice

Hi All,

I want to flog a dead horse, in a sense. I'm looking in the coming year to buy another couple of suppressors to complement my current AAC and DA Sandman Ti.

It seems from most posts online that the current "gold standard" (if you will) is the TBAC Ultra 7, and is what we use at work. I like it, but those are bolt guns.

My host(s) now are a shortened X-Bolt in 6.5cm for woods hunting, an 18" 6.5 Grendel AR, my 26"-barreled LR 6.5, and a 20" 6.5cm upper on my AR-10 type rifle. I would also use it for LR target, but no PRS or similar competition due to time constraints. I may build a 7SS in the coming years?

I'm a big fan of this, because I want intrinsic hearing protection for my kids as they now enter the time when they can hunt with me.

So I'm looking for 2-3 cans. I want us all to be able to hear in the field. My Dead Air is really nice, but heavy. With the ARs, blowback is a concern, so backpressure reduction would be nice.

OSS cans seem like a brilliant idea, but haven't seemed to have gained much market penetration. They're also heavy, expensive, and then there's the bit about how they fared in the SOCOM testing (the delamination problem). I gather they've just shown new models at SHOT?

The SAS cans seem nice. The "MX" technology is purported to reduce backpressure, but is currently proprietary voodoo. Then there's their shenanigans with MH or whatever went on. That happened while I was deployed, so I have no idea whether that was a sales or business-type problem, or a quality/manufacturing type problem? On the plus side, they are really light and quiet. Huge bonus points. But the reviews are mixed on their quality control, and it seems that they soured a lot of internet-posters' tastes for them. And most of the videos and positive reviews are from Ranger Walker, who sells them. While that's not inherently a cause to dismiss that favorable info out of hand, there is the potential for bias.


Frankly, the amazing positive reviews of the Barricade got me started on this.

But a lot of that info is from 2015, and the Reaper MX seems to have replaced the Barricade?

TBAC: hard to go wrong. Expensive. Great quality and CS. Light weight. But not really geared toward the backpressure reduction/semi-auto end of the market.

I do work for both an agency as well as a FFL/SOT, but we are tiny and don't have a lot of established relationships, such that I could independently T&E the various options.

So, do y'all have some recommendations?

Is it worth just springing for the Ultra7? Is it worth giving SAS a try (it would be if I could return the buggers)? Are there other lightweight, high-performance precision suppressors that I ought to consider?

Happy to put the info out here for others, or to take any gouge offline if I'm inadvertently stirring pots.

Thanks,
-brendan

I read REALLY good things about Liberty Suppressors. Dave seems like a cool guy, and his cans are REALLY nice. Price is competitive, as well. His cans all use monocore baffles, which should help relieve backpressure from the larger expansion chambers. Not really sure if you can call them "baffles" in a monocore design.

Try giving Dave a call. He might could hook you up with that you're looking for. Who knows, for the right price, he might could even build you something one-off, that ends up being awesome and becomes a production can.

http://libertycans.net

That DA Sandman Ti is supposed to be super light at like 16oz... I don't know if you're going get much lighter than that and get really good sound suppression. How do you like it for bolt guns? I have been considering one. How does it stack up to the TBAC Ultra 7 or 9 (I'm planning on an Ultra 9 for my LR and precision bolt rifles)? That new Liberty Sovereign also looks pretty sweet.

I've got 2 sas cans. They're both the older models (non-mx). One is the 30 cal arbiter and the other is an 223 sentinel. I got the arbiter from rangerwalker and the sentinel from mile high when they had their fire sale on them. I haven't had a problem with either one and have had nothing but compliments about the sound of them. They do dirty up an ar pretty quick but any can will do that. If I were you I'd wait until one of the manufacturers you're looking at has a sale then buy one. Takes some of the hurt out of it.

MudRunner2005 said:

I read REALLY good things about Liberty Suppressors. Dave seems like a cool guy, and his cans are REALLY nice. Price is competitive, as well. His cans all use monocore baffles, which should help relieve backpressure from the larger expansion chambers. Not really sure if you can call them "baffles" in a monocore design.

Try giving Dave a call. He might could hook you up with that you're looking for. Who knows, for the right price, he might could even build you something one-off, that ends up being awesome and becomes a production can.

http://libertycans.net

That DA Sandman Ti is supposed to be super light at like 16oz... I don't know if you're going get much lighter than that and get really good sound suppression. How do you like it for bolt guns? I have been considering one. How does it stack up to the TBAC Ultra 7 or 9 (I'm planning on an Ultra 9 for my LR and precision bolt rifles)? That new Liberty Sovereign also looks pretty sweet.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I've seen theirs discussed before, but clearly not given it much thought prior to this.

I ended up calling SAS, and talked for quite a while whilst he was working. Sounds like the MX baffle concept is a great idea, and does provide some backpressure reduction (nice, since I'd use these on Bolt and Semi platforms). Clearly he's very interested in the end product and shooting them, rather than marketing.

There's certainly some drama there, but that's not really my biggest concern.

He's updating the measured weights on his cans now, and the two that interested me most (the Reaper MX and Barricade) both come in in the 11-12oz range. That's nearly 1/4-lb lighter than my Sandman. Not huge, but that's readily noticed in the shorter polar moment of inertia. On my 18"-barreled 6.5 Grendel AR, it's likely something (heck, changing to a MWI handguard helped), but not critical or a reason not to take it out.

I've looked at the Liberty cans as well. They look nice, and nobody seems to be up in arms about them.

As for my DA Sandman Ti, and how it compares... I really do like it a lot. It's noticeably heavier in movement-to-target than the Ultra 7. It's also an inch longer. However, the reports of the deeper tone and thus subjectively-quieter sound are true, in my unscientific experience. For a static position or platform with a short barrel, it's great. With a long barrel or a ton of movement it lags. Enough to cripple? No, save if you measure in milliseconds. It's incredibly well built, and finished impeccably. And it sure seems durable as heck. Very happy with it - really just want more.