Suppressor sound tests / 5.56 / 5.56, 16" AR-15
5.56, 16" AR-152025
86 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 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.
- EchoCore Sector Full Size138.5 dB25.2 oz · 7.38" · includes action noise
- GDM GDM 30M138.5 dB16.6 oz · 8.25" · includes action noise
- AAC M4-2000 18T138.8 dB22.6 oz · 7.38" · includes action noise
- G3 Defense MK7139.0 dB12.1 oz · 7" · includes action noise
- B&T XH-8139.2 dB18.7 oz · 8.75" · includes action noise
- Elite Iron Tantrum X139.3 dB11.4 oz · 5.5" · includes action noise
- GDM GDM 556Ti139.5 dB12.9 oz · 6.5" · includes action noise
- Wraith Metalworks Sentinel Socom 223K139.5 dB16.3 oz · 7.5" · includes action noise
- Irregular Defense Hesychia SIXK139.6 dB18.2 oz · 5.7" · includes action noise
- Elite Iron Thud Lite L139.6 dB17.7 oz · 8.63" · includes action noise
- Banish BANISH 223 V2139.7 dB11 oz · 7" · includes action noise
- B&T XH-5139.8 dB17.8 oz · 8.75" · includes action noise
- Knight's Armament Co 556 CRS-3140.0 dB17.7 oz · 6.25" · includes action noise
- 2A Daddy LLC Nap Time 556140.0 dB17.2 oz · 6.63" · includes action noise
- GDM GDM 556 Bantam140.0 dB18.7 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
- Wraith Metalworks Socom 223 S140.1 dB15 oz · 6.9" · includes action noise
- CAT WB A1140.2 dB9 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
- Elite Iron Tantrum X with Extension140.2 dB16.2 oz · 8" · includes action noise
- Knight's Armament Co 556 MCQ-2140.3 dB14.5 oz · 4.5" · includes action noise
- PTR Spiritus140.4 dB17.5 oz · 6.38" · includes action noise
- APRS Big Dipper140.4 dB14.6 oz · 9" · includes action noise
- Noveske Amigo HD140.8 dB17.2 oz · 6" · includes action noise
- FPM Dirty Dacshund141.0 dB18.5 oz · 8.13" · includes action noise
- B&T XH-2.0141.0 dB19.7 oz · 7.31" · includes action noise
- BOSS Guillotine Monolith141.1 dB21.2 oz · 6.75" · includes action noise
- Knight's Armament Co 556 DTS-1141.1 dB14.5 oz · 6" · includes action noise
- Wolfpack Disruptor 556L141.2 dB15.6 oz · 7" · includes action noise
- Dillon Rifle Co DRC556141.2 dB18.8 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
- Otter Creek Labs Infinity 556K Solid Endcap141.2 dB19.1 oz · 6.13" · includes action noise
- CAT WB A1 718141.2 dB18.2 oz · 5.75" · includes action noise
- Faxon Firearms Sentry 5.56141.3 dB16.9 oz · 7" · includes action noise
- Knight's Armament Co 556 CRS-1141.3 dB21.9 oz · 6.25" · includes action noise
- FPM Mini DD141.3 dB9.6 oz · 6.63" · includes action noise
- Echo Zulu Defense LSV556-MIL141.5 dB16.1 oz · 7" · includes action noise
- Wraith Metalworks Sentinel Socom 223141.7 dB18.3 oz · 8.63" · includes action noise
- Hammer Creek Southpaw141.9 dB10.2 oz · 5" · includes action noise
- FPM Mini DD142.0 dB10 oz · 6.63" · includes action noise
- B&T Print-XH RBS 556142.2 dB19.5 oz · 8.63" · includes action noise
- GDM GDM 556142.2 dB21.3 oz · 6.5" · includes action noise
- Elite Iron Tantrum142.4 dB10.3 oz · 5" · includes action noise
- B&T RedXShift Blueline 5.56142.7 dB25.4 oz · 8.25" · includes action noise
- B&T VERS36-XM142.9 dB19.7 oz · 8.5" · includes action noise
- B&T Print XH RBS SC 5.56143.1 dB18 oz · 6.5" · includes action noise
Products come and go from these events voluntarily. A suppressor missing from this list was not tested, nothing more. 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 are worked out here from those measurements.
Data from the 2025 SILENCER SUMMIT, published by Thunder Beast Arms Corp. See their results