School me on 22lr cans

Gear Head

Gear Head

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Now that wait times are coming down, my cz is begging for a can. I see the sparrow and the spectre a lot with the sparrow being a mono-core and the spectre having a baffle stack. Is there and advantage that one has over the other? Are there any other cans I should be looking at?

Also, are there any forum vendors that deal NFA items near Winston? I have called around and most people just dabble in NFA stuff and don't give me confidence in purchasing through them. I spoke with Pilot Guns & Ammo today and they seem to know their stuff and said they can have me done in under an hour if I bring a fingerprint card and passport photos.
 
1.) @TARHEELSTATE is just an hour and 15 mins south of you he is one of the best in the state to buy NFA items from. He literally makes the transaction as easy as possible. He can have you done in less than an hour and he does the finger print cards and photos for you in his shop. So theres no need to go to the sheriffs dept to get finger printed.
2.) I have a Spectre II and love it. All the stuff I looked at when I bought mine showed that the Sparrow had a louder FRP than the Spectre II and the Sparrow was a bit more expensive. I love the Spectre II on my Savage FVSR its stupid quiet with subs and a tack driver with CCI SV. I was ringing steel with every shot at 100 yes today with it.
 
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I have a handful of 22 cans. If I was to buy another one tomorrow, it would be a Dead Air Mask. A Rugged Oculus would be my second choice. The Silencerco Spectre would be third.

For the two you listed, I have 3x Spectres and 1x Sparrow. FWIW...I'd buy three dozen more Spectres before I bought a second Sparrow.
 
Mask, Halcyon, Oculus, Q's El Camino.

Griffin has a new .22 can they've hinted at but nothing out yet besides their current lineup

If you want local, check out the Slingshot by Innovative Arms


You want to look at customer service, serviceability of the can, what they're rated for, performance (first round pop....some sound better than others but none are immune to oxygen in the tube), size/weight
 
Zbizzle911 said:
1.) @TARHEELSTATE is just an hour and 15 mins south of you he is one of the best in the state to buy NFA items from. He literally makes the transaction as easy as possible. He can have you done in less than an hour and he does the finger print cards and photos for you in his shop. So theres no need to go to the sheriffs dept to get finger printed.
2.) I have a Spectre II and love it. All the stuff I looked at when I bought mine showed that the Sparrow had a louder FRP than the Spectre II and the Sparrow was a bit more expensive. I love the Spectre II on my Savage FVSR its stupid quiet with subs and a tack driver with CCI SV. I was ringing steel with every shot at 100 yes today with it.
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What he said!
 
BigWaylon said:
I have a handful of 22 cans. If I was to buy another one tomorrow, it would be a Dead Air Mask. A Rugged Oculus would be my second choice. The Silencerco Spectre would be third.

For the two you listed, I have 3x Spectres and 1x Sparrow. FWIW...I'd buy three dozen more Spectres before I bought a second Sparrow.
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What features lead you to rank your choices in that order?
 
Gear Head said:
What features lead you to rank your choices in that order?
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Performance and size of the Mask.
Performance and size of the Oculus, and to some degree the modularity.
Performance and ease of cleaning of the Spectre.

Warranty & customer service for all three companies.


Come to the Meet & Greet on 10/7 and you can shoot a Spectre, Sparrow and Warlock...and whatever anybody else may bring.
 
Gear Head said:
What features lead you to rank your choices in that order?
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Here is why I would rank them like that. The Occulus is modular so it can be fired in 2 different length configurations. The mask is said to be easier to disassemble because of the way the baffles are machined.
 
BigWaylon said:
Performance and size of the Mask.
Performance and size of the Oculus, and to some degree the modularity.
Performance and ease of cleaning of the Spectre.

Warranty & customer service for all three companies.


Come to the Meet & Greet on 10/7 and you can shoot a Spectre, Sparrow and Warlock...and whatever anybody else may bring.
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Link to a thread? I've been to a SilencerCo demo shoot but I can't remember what 22 cans they had out. I didn't really pay attention as I wasn't in the market then.
 
Have a look at the Thunderbeast .22 Takedown can.

It has outperformed the .22 cans that I have compared it to. Minimal first round pop and sounds very good. Bought it to put on a bolt gun, but works great on pistols and carbines too.
 
NKD said:
Have a look at the Thunderbeast .22 Takedown can.

It has outperformed the .22 cans that I have compared it to. Minimal first round pop and sounds very good. Bought it to put on a bolt gun, but works great on pistols and carbines too.
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I'm leaning towards this one for my soon to be 15-22 SBR.
 
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Be sure to consider the type of metals used in the construction so you can evaluate the recommended cleaning procedure(s). I own the Sparrow in stainless.
 
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NKD said:
Have a look at the Thunderbeast .22 Takedown can.

It has outperformed the .22 cans that I have compared it to. Minimal first round pop and sounds very good. Bought it to put on a bolt gun, but works great on pistols and carbines too.
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I have one and it is quite impressive. Little if any first round pop and very, very quiet.
 
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Spectre II is awesome and I would chose it over the sparrow. I don't know about the dead air offerings, but I know @BigWaylon knows his stuff.
 
I have a Oculus in jail, if I didn't get it, it would have been the Mask.

Why? The lack of first round pop by the Mask and Oculus, when Oculus because it's modular.
 
Before we moved to NC my dealer in TX let me try out a few cans before buying one. I shot almost all the cans listed above and really didn't notice much of a difference using standard velocity ammo. I ended up buying a Rebel .22 can for $100. It's their older solid tube model that they discontinued when they moved towards the modular SOS baffle stack.

Don't spend more than $100 on a .22 can unless you are just looking for the "tacticool" factor.....
 
Longlegs said:
Before we moved to NC my dealer in TX let me try out a few cans before buying one. I shot almost all the cans listed above and really didn't notice much of a difference using standard velocity ammo. I ended up buying a Rebel .22 can for $100. It's their older solid tube model that they discontinued when they moved towards the modular SOS baffle stack.

Don't spend more than $100 on a .22 can unless you are just looking for the "tacticool" factor.....
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I'll politely disagree with your assessment.
 
Longlegs said:
Before we moved to NC my dealer in TX let me try out a few cans before buying one. I shot almost all the cans listed above and really didn't notice much of a difference using standard velocity ammo. I ended up buying a Rebel .22 can for $100. It's their older solid tube model that they discontinued when they moved towards the modular SOS baffle stack.

Don't spend more than $100 on a .22 can unless you are just looking for the "tacticool" factor.....
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Hmmm don’t know about the last statement there. NFA items are like many things in life you get what you pay for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Zbizzle911 said:
Hmmm don’t know about the last statement there. NFA items are like many things in life you get what you pay for.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I completely agree for larger caliber cans. (Huge Griffin Fan) Just my observation. My can is just as quiet (if not quieter) than the sparrow.
 
MadMardigan said:
I'll politely disagree with your assessment.
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Perfectly ok to disagree :)

I'm just talking about .22 cans. That statement doesn't apply to anything larger than .22

It just doesn't take much to make a .22 stupid quiet with standard velocity ammo.

Love my Griffin Alpha.
 
Spectre II... I'm not as big a fan of the mono cores (the loud first round pop). I don't mind taking it apart to clean it every once in a while. AAC Element II.... Nice, just a little smaller and lighter.

There's a lot of hype about the Griffin Checkmate (mono core), but I don't buy into it unless I can hear it first hand.
 
I have an older Sparrow and a Thunder Beast Takedown with a couple others. Personally I find the baffle system easier to keep up than the mono-core w/ half sleeves. As to FRP ... I really can’t say one of these is better but for POI shifts the Thunder Beast for me is better.
 
The 22lr round is dirty and cleaning will occur often more so than a center fire can. The price differences in the cans tend to lean towards what the cans are made out of. The more resilient materials like stainless, Ti, or Inconel cost more than aluminum. The lower cost cans tend to be all aluminum. Aluminum is more susceptive to damage during cleaning as well as erosion at the first baffle. (Search online for cleaning 22lr suppressors for more info which should help you in your material choice.) A good chunk of the cans run stainless baffles with an aluminum sleeve (to keep weight down) and steel threaded piece that is serialized. Some makers run all steel or make the sleeve out of Ti I believe.

Also cleaning contributes to design as well. Some designs encase baffles in a two piece sleeve that is inserted into the outer casing sleeve to prevent blasted lead/carbon from sticking the baffles to the outer sleeve and making it a pain to disassemble to clean. Others use stepped baffle edges that prevent carbon/lead leakage against the outer casing. With respect to this aspect the newer designs take this more into account than the older designs.

As far as design goes, most stacked baffles tend to have a lower FRP vs the single piece of machined material, but this isn't set in stone.

I'm running an AAC Element 2 and like it. I don't "need" another can but if HPA etc passes I'm going to a Mask or Oculus as these were designed by some of the original thinkers in the silencer industry that have moved on from other companies.

As far as cost goes IMO if I'm paying out $200 in tax stamp I want my can to last the longest I can get it to.

We have two active dealers on here and I have done business with TarheelState for my obsidian and would do so again but based on viewing responses from jkupp200 I don't think you can go wrong there either.

Welcome to the addiction.
 
Longlegs said:
It just doesn't take much to make a .22 stupid quiet with standard velocity ammo.
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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing and considering building a DIY can for rimfire and going with quality commercial cans for 9mm or 5.56.

Longlegs said:
I ended up buying a Rebel .22 can for $100. It's their older solid tube model that they discontinued when they moved towards the modular SOS baffle stack.

Don't spend more than $100 on a .22 can unless you are just looking for the "tacticool" factor.....
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But damn, I don't think I can build a rimfire can for much less than $100, so maybe the Rebel is the way to go for me. It'd be a can that more or less permanently sits on a rimfire AR. How does disassembly and cleaning compare to the $300-$400 rimfire cans?

How well does it do with bulk pack ammo? I'd be looking to run bulk pack out of a 4.5" barrel to keep it subsonic.
 
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Longlegs said:
Perfectly ok to disagree :)

I'm just talking about .22 cans. That statement doesn't apply to anything larger than .22

It just doesn't take much to make a .22 stupid quiet with standard velocity ammo.

Love my Griffin Alpha.
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I have a Griffin Optimus.

My disagreement is that there are differences. For one is the first round pop, then the "tone".

With most top end 22 cans your splitting hairs on sound, but durability? I can shoot up to 5.7x28 through my Oculus.
 
I believe I need to clear something up. I'm not suggesting you buy the cheapest can on the market. I chose the Rebel because I was able to test it out, talk to the dealer about the quality and do a little research before buying. The rebel can might be cheap on cost but it certainly isn't cheap quality. It seals up nice and tight and I never have an issue with getting the baffles out for cleaning. Please see the pictures below. This is after well over 500rds fired (probably closer to 1000). The baffles slid right out without assistance. You can see how dirty everything is. I am cleaning tonight and will post "after" pictures tomorrow. I've put close to 5000 rounds through it, many were rapid fire with dirty ammo. I see no signs of abnormal blast chamber wear. Notice the clipped baffles. Many of the "cheap" cans aren't clipped.

I'm not disagreeing that there are more "quality" cans out there with better features, but I do love my rebel and it will continue to be used even if I decide to purchase a "higher end" .22 can in the future. FWIW, I was getting plenty of complements at the range from guys who shot the more expensive rimfire cans.

On another note, you guys should check out the new 5.56 Alliance can from Rebel. They are posting pretty good numbers that are on par with anything else on the market.

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The most important thing is for you to do what's going to make you happy long-term. Everyone is different when it comes to NFA items and disposable income. If you want a $500 .22 can, that's perfectly fine and I doubt anyone will judge you no matter what you decide. .22 cans are just fun to shoot. I abuse the crap out of mine and smile the entire time I'm melting it down. If it grenades I'll just buy another one. I have two approved Form 1s and I'm about to start a couple DIY cans. I could have purchased a couple more commercial cans but I really enjoy researching designs and I think it'll be pretty cool to shoot a couple that I built with my own hands. You really don't save money with Form 1 cans. The two I'm about to start are full titanium and will be fairly expensive to build.
 
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drypowder said:
Looks like Rebel has a newer model, the SOS-22. Still $100.

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Yes. Mine is the model before that one. I shot the 30cal SOS can and was really impressed. Super quiet with my 300blk. I'm just not a fan of modular baffles. One positive attribute is they can be shortened by removing baffles from the stack. I think we removed 2 for the 300blk and it was still Hollywood quiet.
 
I really appreciate all the responses. It looks like my best bet is going to be to take a ride to @TARHEELSTATE as it looks like he deals most cans mentioned so that I can handle them and talk face to face about pros vs cons. Hope my samurai buggy sells soon.. I'd love to pick up a 30 cal can too!
 
Longlegs said:
Don't spend more than $100 on a .22 can unless you are just looking for the "tacticool" factor.....
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I'm unfamiliar with the Rebel, I wouldn't buy an aluminum can, the lead can be a biatch to remove sometimes. My ultrasonic cleaner won't touch it. I've used the Hydrogen Peroxide/vinegar solution that will eat aluminum (*WARNING* it creates a HazMat chemical that must be handled and disposed of properly.
I have a SilencerCo Sparrow, if I was buying again I'd probably get the TBAC, second choice a SilencerCo Specter.
I had the TBAC 30BAS & 30CB9 cans, I replaced them with their Ultra-7 and Ultra-9 cans. I'm VERY pleased with TBAC and their customer support, Zac will go out of his way to make sure the customer's taken care of.
https://thunderbeastarms.com/products/22-take-down
 
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Gear Head said:
I really appreciate all the responses. It looks like my best bet is going to be to take a ride to @TARHEELSTATE as it looks like he deals most cans mentioned so that I can handle them and talk face to face about pros vs cons. Hope my samurai buggy sells soon.. I'd love to pick up a 30 cal can too!
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That sounds like the best plan. I plan to talk to @TARHEELSTATE pretty soon as well. I really love collecting stamps.
 
Pink_Vapor said:
I'm unfamiliar with the Rebel, I wouldn't buy an aluminum can, the lead can be a biatch to remove sometimes. My ultrasonic cleaner won't touch it. I've used the Hydrogen Peroxide/vinegar solution that will eat aluminum (*WARNING* it creates a HazMat chemical that must be handled and disposed of properly.
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I heat everything to 130F and froglube after cleaning. I do get some carbon build up but the lead just wipes off for the most part. A toothbrush takes care of the rest. I've found that the thin carbon layer actually helps. I never try to get a polished aluminum finish with cleaning.
 
Gear Head said:
I saw a post the other day saying he was taking a break from business for a bit. Plus, I think he's quite a bit further away from me. It looks like tarheel is an hour and a half
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Yeah, he's taking a break, but he's had experience with Rebel.

You should come to the Oct7 shoot, BigWaylon is an expert at selling cans.. lol.

If I was in the market right now for a 22 can, I'd do the Oculus again, the Mask is pretty dang good too.
 
MadMardigan said:
Yeah, he's taking a break, but he's had experience with Rebel.

You should come to the Oct7 shoot, BigWaylon is an expert at selling cans.. lol.

If I was in the market right now for a 22 can, I'd do the Oculus again, the Mask is pretty dang good too.
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Yeah he invited me to come out and try a few. I think my sister's PD is having a family range day that day so I may go up there and burn through a few hundred rounds of .40 on their plate racks haha.
 
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