I've become fairly flush with 9mm cans this year, and have been enjoying shooting suppressed pistols quite a bit. It's one of the "least practical" applications for a suppressor, but these days, you can manufacture a can that is small enough to not need a booster, light enough to not substantially mess with the balance of the gun, and quiet enough to actually be worth using with subsonic ammo for plinking and messing around with. I know these little cans don't look like they do much, but to the shooter, they're quieter than a lot of full size cans. I sold off my Ecco Machine Phoenix because the Shiv is quieter and doesn't blow powder back in my face, even on Glocks.

I've picked up G17 and G19 threaded barrels, so that means I can try basically any of my Glocks suppressed. They're kind of all the same as far as suppressor hosts go in terms of how quiet they are. I got threaded barrels for my 92FS and P226 in that order. The 92 is phenomenal for a suppressor host - far quieter than the Glocks, and incredibly smooth to shoot with a can on it. I figured the P226 would be up there with it or better, but while it functionals well, it is noticeably louder with the exact same can shooting the exact same ammo. I was surprised and a little disappointed, it's reputed to be one of the best 9mm suppressor host pistols and the 92FS smokes it, both as the shooter and to anyone standing nearby. I tried it out as pictured, and even repeated the test with the cans swapped just to eliminate any variables, but the results were the same.



I have a friend who has a CZ75 SP01 Tacticalsomethingorother, and that gun is right up there with the 92 in terms of how quiet it is, surprisingly enough. Same can, he also has a SAW Shiv, so it's pretty apples to apples. I have an Incolite 9M I'm picking up Saturday morning, potentially sooner if my FFL can get me in, and I think the first thing I'm going to try it on is the 92FS in full configuration with subs just to see what it can do.

I was thinking about picking up a threaded G43 barrel to try in my 43X just for giggles. Nobody makes a G42 threaded barrel, I think the G42 with a Shiv on it would be hilarious.

What pistol hosts are you liking best for shooting suppressed? I know the HK's in .45 are supposedly up there among the best, but I don't have any experience with that. .46 and .36 caliber cans are something I haven't messed with yet - no desire to spend money on .45 ammo, really, but that might change. A suppressed 1911 looks pretty damned sexy, I gotta say. I worry about cracking the non-hardened, lead dipped slide on my '43 Remington-Rand, or I would've picked up a .45 can and threaded barrel to try in it already. A couple grand worth of can and host just to try another caliber that's probably going to end up being louder than subsonic 9mm just to shoot more expensive ammo is... a set of considerations.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P220 Smudge,

I've tried a bunch of combinations but nothing really makes me like suppressed pistols overall, but I do like historical signifigance so my favorite combo is the Mark23 or HK USP suppressed. Pew has numbers and its nothing one would every consider great, but it has a history.
That's my favorites which really has nothing to do with the real theme of your thread.
I can say that the gun I want but don't have is a B&T station 6 because with all the B&T issues I have not been willing to order one. but seems like a really neat option.

Sig 522 with Spikes Tactical Buckwheat Suppressor, I can also run it on my Ruger MKIV.

On the 522 with quiet 22 Ammo all you hear is the bolt drop...

Link

I'm pretty sure P220Smudge has a B&T tiger so he's fully up on the .22lr sound situaion. I'm pretty sure this thread was really center fire pistols.
In addition to the HK's above which I like just for the history I have have tried a 'traditional' suppressor off my 226 and its nothing magic, but I didn't/don't have one of these mini cans. But it ran no issues as have the HK's.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hrcjon,

Mark 23 w/ TiRant 45m
Buckmark w/ Tango
Charger w/ Tango and Franklin binary trigger
71S w/ Aeris
M9A3 w/ TiRant 9s

The HK and Beretta truly feel like air-compressed nail guns, but the .22’s always bring smiles! Emptying a 25rd mag through the Charger is just a hoot!

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I can say that the gun I want but don't have is a B&T station 6 because with all the B&T issues I have not been willing to order one. but seems like a really neat option.

Yeah, that one in particular would be a giggle.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I'm pretty sure P220Smudge has a B&T tiger so he's fully up on the .22lr sound situaion. I'm pretty sure this thread was really center fire pistols.

Yes, and yes. I know .22 suppressed pistols are the quietest. .22 pistol suppressor hosts is not really the conversation I wanted to have because I think warrants its own thread, honestly. This started off as 9mm specific, but then I opened it up to .45 before I posted it. I'd prefer to stick to centerfire calibers if we could.

I picked up the Incolite this morning. It's exactly 14oz with the booster in the full configuration. I'll be trying it out tonight, and I'm particularly looking forward to try it on the 92FS. That combo should be the quietest suppressed handgun setup I can put together. If I can find it, I have a couple boxes of 158gr S&B I need to run through it.

said to be quiet and cheap but still needs a booster. The ones that ultimately interest me is the ones they say can run no booster on a pistole as that knocks a ton off the weight. I'm guessing that market will start to develop in 2026. I'm getting skeptical that we are going to get much quieter in the PCC world at a reasonable size and weight. For amuzement I might drag out a few of my weird threaded pistols this weekend for fun, but none of them are likely to be in the hunt on this thread as I think the best I can do on light weight and size is a short majove 9. or 45.

Yes, requires the booster. 11.5oz with the booster in standard config. 14oz in the long. That's compared to the Shiv, which mine are 2.15oz. I haven't gotten out there yet to compare them, but I'm gonna say the Shiv is still probably 75-80% of the noise reduction of the Incolite in the standard config and maybe 5-10% less than that vs the long config, based on how it has compared to other full size pistol cans. It's like not having a can mounted on the gun. The pictures tell the tale.

I'm unclear at what weight we can ditch the booster? But in any case when we have that solved and get reasonable numbers of noise reduction game over for the tradisional one. Not motivating me to shoot a buch of weird stuff this weekend

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I'm unclear at what weight we can ditch the booster?

Supposedly, it's under the 4oz mark for Browning tilting actions.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
But in any case when we have that solved and get reasonable numbers of noise reduction game over for the tradisional one. Not motivating me to shoot a buch of weird stuff this weekend

Oh, if I gave the impression I was looking for anything other than what you guys like best for a pistol suppressor host, I miscommunicated. There's no objective here beyond learning what you guys have discovered. The Shivs and them being so light has kind of led to me shooting everything suppressed, and being able to isolate the differences in an A/B test just to the host led to the interesting discovery that the 92FS was a noticeably quieter host than the P226, so it got me wondering.

I need to ask them if they're messing with one in .45.

P220 Combat / Obsidian 45
P226 Combat / Obsidian 9
P226 Navy / Obsidian 9

P220 DA/SA-SAO 10mm,45ACP & 1911- Banish 45 & Rugged Obsidian 45.
P226 DA/SA-SAO 9x19,357S,40SW & 1911- Banish 9/45 & Rugged Obsidian 9/45.
P229 DA-SA0 9x19,357S,40SW- Banish 9 & Rugged Obsidian 9/45
.
Ruger MkII & Charger Take Down Pistol/Carbine- Banish 22,SilCo Switchback,Engetic Arm NYX Mod2,Rugged Oculus 22.

Both Rugged Obsidian 9 & 45 w/ shoulder/stop pistons needed barrel muzzle lapping.
Both were proud at 12o'clock w/ multiple SIG,SilCo & BarSto barrels.
Never assume.....check alignment.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
The 92 is phenomenal for a suppressor host - far quieter than the Glocks, and incredibly smooth to shoot with a can on it.

The superiority of the Beretta is a pretty widespread opinion. Do we have an idea as to why? Does it unlock later than other pistols? Or, does it have to do with the open top slide releasing gas better?

quote:

Originally posted by Shackelford:
The superiority of the Beretta is a pretty widespread opinion. Do we have an idea as to why? Does it unlock later than other pistols? Or, does it have to do with the open top slide releasing gas better?

You know, I'm not sure. It may be part of that fixed barrel, non-tilting stuff. Voodoo and intangibles.

I went out Sunday evening with a friend and we compared a number of pistol hosts with two new Shivs and 147gr flat nose Blazer Brass so we could isolate everything down to just the pistols. We didn't have a ton of time, so the testing wasn't extensive, but more to get a quick impression of them all before moving on to comparing a number of other cans.

I didn't even bring the P226 since it lost the previous week's head to head match with the 92. The 92 is very quiet, but we did notice that the solid, milled steel slide that rings when you drop it to chamber a round also imparts that sound to each shot. One of the surprises of the night was that the CZ75 was actually a quieter host. It wasn't a massive difference, but it lacks that metallic ring to it, and you can hear that difference. We'd have one of us holding the CZ and the Beretta, one in each hand, and shoot each as the other listened about fifteen feet away. The CZ was quieter. You can hear that effect just manually working the slide back and forth. I was surprised.

I am starting to contemplate dumping my West German P226 and snagging a CZ75 of some sort. I never shoot it, I only have it because of nostalgia, and got a threaded barrel for it because of the reputation of it being a supposed excellent suppressor host. I wonder now if that's just Sig fanboy stuff. Possibly that will ruffle some feathers, but I am not a brand adherent, I try to go with what gives me the results I want and drop what doesn't.

Rats fear its whisper. ...well actually they don't hear nuffin.