Suppressor sound tests / .22LR / .22LR, 16.5" bolt-action rifle
.22LR, 16.5" bolt-action rifle2024
25 suppressors were fired on this same gun, on the same day, with the same ammunition. Fired with no suppressor at all, it measured 141 dB, which is what each reduction below is counted from.
TBAC advises disregarding the at-ear readings from this test because of an equipment problem with the rifle they used. The figures here are from beside the muzzle instead.
The bar above the list places each of the 25 suppressors fired on this gun by how loud the shot still measured beside the muzzle. Between the quietest and the loudest there is 9 dB. It stays on screen as you read, so hovering a row shows where that suppressor falls.
The shaded band is the tightest 5.34 dB stretch of this strip, holding 21 of the 25 suppressors tested, which this test cannot tell apart from one another. It is a sample rather than a special group, so sweep the strip and the band follows. That is most of the field, so on this gun sound is not what separates these suppressors. What decides it is whatever else matters to you, like weight, length or price.
- Silencer Co Switchback Normal Long115.8 dB6.4 oz · 5.75"25.2 dB quieter than unsuppressed
- TION Minuteman TI Rifle Config116.0 dB4.1 oz · 6"25.0 dB quieter than unsuppressed
- TION Minuteman TI Pistol Config116.8 dB4.1 oz · 6"24.3 dB quieter than unsuppressed
- Innovative Arms Slingshot Micro TI118.0 dB4.9 oz · 3.93"23.0 dB quieter than unsuppressed
- Energetic NYX MOD2 22LR Full Length118.1 dB4.4 oz · 6.56"23.0 dB quieter than unsuppressed
- B&T SD-Tiger22lr118.5 dB4.6 oz · 6"22.5 dB quieter than unsuppressed
- FPM FPM-22 Full Length118.6 dB3.6 oz · 7"22.4 dB quieter than unsuppressed
Products come and go from these events voluntarily. A suppressor missing from this list was not tested, nothing more. Differences smaller than 5.34 dB are closer than this test can reliably measure. The results also don’t record which mount or muzzle device each suppressor was fitted with, and that hardware can affect both the reading and the weight and length shown above. Decibels are not a count of anything: as a rule of thumb every 10 dB is roughly a halving of how loud something seems, so the gaps here are larger than they look.
Every row opens to show all three microphones, and it is worth opening. A suppressor can be the quietest here beside the muzzle and middling at the shooter’s ear, so a claim about one says nothing about the other.
Thunder Beast published the decibel figures, the weights and the lengths. The resolution limit of 5.34 dB, the shaded band, and the 141 dB unsuppressed figure are worked out here from those measurements.
Data from the 2024 SILENCER SUMMIT, published by Thunder Beast Arms Corp. See their results