Suppressor sound tests / .308 / .308, 20" bolt-action rifle
.308, 20" bolt-action rifle2025
71 suppressors were fired on this same gun, on the same day, with the same ammunition. It was never fired without a suppressor, so how much quieter each one made it cannot be worked out. The figures below are the level measured with the suppressor fitted.
The bar above the list places each of the 71 suppressors fired on this gun by how loud the shot still measured at the shooter's ear. Between the quietest and the loudest there is 24 dB. It stays on screen as you read, so hovering a row shows where that suppressor falls.
The shaded band is the tightest 1.9 dB stretch of this strip, holding 17 of the 71 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. No 1.9 dB stretch of this strip holds more of them than that, so the field really is spread out: on this gun, which suppressor you fit changes how loud the shot is.
- Otter Creek Labs Infinity Superset with Extension124.6 dB17.4 oz · 9.75"
- FCA FX 338XL-TI124.6 dB17.5 oz · 10.25"
- CAT BBK A1125.1 dB16.9 oz · 10"
- GDM GDM 30L125.9 dB18.7 oz · 9.88"
- B&T TiRe-X with OTB126.2 dB17.6 oz · 10.63"
- G3 Defense MK7127.3 dB12.1 oz · 7"
- Wraith Metalworks Sentinel Florida Man128.0 dB23.2 oz · 10.63"
- Wraith Metalworks Socom 30128.3 dB20.2 oz · 9"
- CAT JL A1128.5 dB14.4 oz · 8.88"
- GDM GDM 30M128.6 dB16.1 oz · 8.38"
- B&T TiRe-X Compact with OTB128.7 dB15.3 oz · 8.63"
- Faxon Firearms Sentry 30129.9 dB16.9 oz · 7.13"
- Elite Iron Thud Lite L130.0 dB19.7 oz · 8.63"
- Knight's Armament Co 762 DTS-1.1130.1 dB17.7 oz · 8.25"
- FPM Dirty Dacshund130.1 dB18.5 oz · 8.13"
- Knight's Armament Co 762 HUB Proto130.7 dB16.8 oz · 9"
- Faxon Firearms Sentry 36131.1 dB16.8 oz · 7.13"
- Banish BANISH MEATEATER131.1 dB11.4 oz · 6"
- GDM GDM 30K131.6 dB13.1 oz · 6.88"
- Knight's Armament Co 762 PRS-1131.7 dB26.7 oz · 8"
- FPM Mini DD131.8 dB9.6 oz · 6.63"
- Centurion Maximus L 30K132.1 dB14.7 oz · 6.38"
- Elite Iron Tantrum X with Extension132.3 dB16.2 oz · 8"
- Otter Creek Labs Infinity Solid Endcap132.5 dB22.9 oz · 7"
- Abel Theorem L with Brake132.5 dB17.3 oz · 10.25"
- Hammer Creek HC67 on Cherry Bomb132.6 dB8.4 oz · 6.5"
- APRS Big Dipper133.5 dB14.4 oz · 9"
- B&T VERS36-XM with Module133.6 dB12.5 oz · 7.13"
- GDM GDM 762133.6 dB10.8 oz · 6.5"
- BOSS Chairman TIK134.2 dB10.8 oz · 6"
- Rugged Axial 7134.3 dB21 oz · 7.25"
- Elite Iron Thud Lite L with Brake137.7 dB21.7 oz · 10.13"
- Elite Iron Tantrum138.8 dB10.3 oz · 5"
- Knight's Armament Co 7.62 CRS-1138.8 dB17.9 oz · 6.25"
- Elite Iron Tantrum X139.9 dB11.4 oz · 5.5"
- Abel Theorem with Brake141.3 dB13.7 oz · 8.5"
- Abel Theorem S with Brake146.0 dB12 oz · 7.25"
Products come and go from these events voluntarily. A suppressor missing from this list was not tested, nothing more. Differences smaller than 1.9 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 1.9 dB, the shaded band are worked out here from those measurements.
Data from the 2025 SILENCER SUMMIT, published by Thunder Beast Arms Corp. See their results