Suppressor sound tests / 5.56 / 5.56, 16" AR-15

5.56, 16" AR-152025

86 suppressors were fired on this same gun, with the same ammunition. It was not fired without a suppressor in 2025. At the 2024 Summit, the same gun with the same ammunition and no suppressor measured 156.3 dB, and each reduction below is counted from that 2024 figure.

The bar above the list places each of the 86 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 14 dB. It stays on screen as you read, so hovering a row shows where that suppressor falls.

The shaded band is the tightest 1.89 dB stretch of this strip, holding 53 of the 86 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.

Hover a row or drag the bar
quieter 138 dB152 dB louder
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SuppressorAt the ear
  1. ECHOCORE Sector Full Size138.5 dB
    25.2 oz · 7.38" · includes action noise
    17.8 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  2. Guardian Defense GDM 30M138.5 dB
    16.6 oz · 8.25" · includes action noise
    17.8 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  3. AAC M4-2000 18T138.8 dB
    22.6 oz · 7.38" · includes action noise
    17.5 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  4. G3 Defense MK7139.0 dB
    12.1 oz · 7" · includes action noise
    17.3 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  5. B&T XH-8139.2 dB
    18.7 oz · 8.75" · includes action noise
    17.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  6. Elite Iron Tantrum X139.3 dB
    11.4 oz · 5.5" · includes action noise
    17.0 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  7. Guardian Defense GDM 556Ti139.5 dB
    12.9 oz · 6.5" · includes action noise
    16.8 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  8. Irregular Defense Hesychia SIXK139.6 dB
    18.2 oz · 5.7" · includes action noise
    16.7 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  9. Elite Iron Thud Lite L139.6 dB
    17.7 oz · 8.63" · includes action noise
    16.7 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  10. Silencer Central BANISH 223 V2139.7 dB
    11 oz · 7" · includes action noise
    16.6 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  11. B&T XH-5139.8 dB
    17.8 oz · 8.75" · includes action noise
    16.5 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  12. 2A Daddy LLC Nap Time 556140.0 dB
    17.2 oz · 6.63" · includes action noise
    16.3 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  13. Guardian Defense GDM 556 Bantam140.0 dB
    18.7 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
    16.3 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  14. CAT WB A1140.2 dB
    9 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
    16.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  15. Elite Iron Tantrum X with Extension140.2 dB
    16.2 oz · 8" · includes action noise
    16.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  16. PTR Spiritus140.4 dB
    17.5 oz · 6.38" · includes action noise
    15.9 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  17. APRS Big Dipper140.4 dB
    14.6 oz · 9" · includes action noise
    15.9 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  18. Noveske Amigo HD140.8 dB
    17.2 oz · 6" · includes action noise
    15.5 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  19. FPM Gunworks Dirty Dacshund141.0 dB
    18.5 oz · 8.13" · includes action noise
    15.3 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  20. B&T XH-2.0141.0 dB
    19.7 oz · 7.31" · includes action noise
    15.3 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  21. BOSS Silencers Guillotine Monolith141.1 dB
    21.2 oz · 6.75" · includes action noise
    15.2 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  22. Wolfpack Armory Disruptor 556L141.2 dB
    15.6 oz · 7" · includes action noise
    15.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  23. Dillon Rifle Co. DRC556141.2 dB
    18.8 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
    15.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  24. Otter Creek Labs Infinity 556K Solid Endcap141.2 dB
    19.1 oz · 6.13" · includes action noise
    15.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  25. CAT WB A1 718141.2 dB
    18.2 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
    15.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  26. Faxon Firearms Sentry 5.56141.3 dB
    16.9 oz · 7" · includes action noise
    15.0 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  27. KAC 556 CRS-1141.3 dB
    21.9 oz · 6.25" · includes action noise
    14.9 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  28. FPM Gunworks Mini DD141.3 dB
    9.6 oz · 6.63" · includes action noise
    14.9 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  29. Echo Zulu Defense LSV556-MIL141.5 dB
    16.1 oz · 7" · includes action noise
    14.8 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  30. Hammer Creek Southpaw141.9 dB
    10.2 oz · 5" · includes action noise
    14.4 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  31. FPM Gunworks Mini DD142.0 dB
    10 oz · 6.63" · includes action noise
    14.3 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  32. B&T Print-XH RBS 556142.2 dB
    19.5 oz · 8.63" · includes action noise
    14.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  33. FPM Gunworks Ouch Mouse142.2 dB
    7.2 oz · 5.5" · includes action noise
    14.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  34. Guardian Defense GDM 556142.2 dB
    21.3 oz · 6.5" · includes action noise
    14.1 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  35. Elite Iron Tantrum142.4 dB
    10.3 oz · 5" · includes action noise
    13.9 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  36. B&T RedXShift Blueline 5.56142.7 dB
    25.4 oz · 8.25" · includes action noise
    13.6 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  37. B&T VERS36-XM142.9 dB
    19.7 oz · 8.5" · includes action noise
    13.4 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline
  38. B&T Print XH RBS SC 5.56143.1 dB
    18 oz · 6.5" · includes action noise
    13.2 dB quieter than the 2024 unsuppressed baseline

Products come and go from these events voluntarily. A suppressor missing from this list was not tested, nothing more. Names are shown as Thunder Beast listed them. A name without a link doesn’t have a page on Baffled yet. Differences smaller than 1.89 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 1.89 dB, the shaded band, and the 156.3 dB unsuppressed figure are worked out here from those measurements.

The 156.3 dB unsuppressed figure is from the 2024 SILENCER SUMMIT, published by Thunder Beast Arms Corp. See their 2024 results

Data from the 2025 SILENCER SUMMIT, published by Thunder Beast Arms Corp. See their results