Gemtech .300 BLK SUPERsonic suppressor

[Beowulf]

Gemtech GMT-300 Supersonic Suppressor - The Firearm Blog

Gemtech is releasing a .300 BLK suppressor that they claims will be hearing safe on supersonic (and of course subsonic) .300 BLK rounds. The article also indicates they are working on .223 and .308 variants.

Pretty interesting, though at nearly $1k for the can, it's a bit pricey (I guess it is titanium). I'm not quite sure how you'd accomplish this though. Isn't the crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier a big chunk of the problem?

 

[mikefraz]

As an engineering major, I wonder how they managed to bypass the laws of physics that say,"things moving faster than sound will have the sonic crack"...last I checked, sonic crack was NOT hearing safe.

 

[jwh20]

Of course I didn't see any actual dB figures for the noise at the ear of the shooter from a .300 AAC BLACKOUT rifle when firing a supersonic round using this suppressor. The article simply says:

Sound Reduction – 36-39 dB​

That may be enough under some circumstances but not others. Remember also that there is no hard-and-fast limit to how loud is too loud. Hearing damage is cumulative so even at 39 dB reduction it might be too much for long-term safe use without hearing protection.

My guess is that from the looks of this thing and the specs, the noise level using a subsonic round would be really quiet and probably safe for occasional use without ear protection. But I am sure that with supersonic rounds the "crack" will still be loud enough to be a concern. It's my opinion that other than slowing the round down to subsonic speeds, which this suppressor is not claiming to do, that there is no way this device can do anything about the supersonic crack.

It does look like a cool suppressor but I have my heart set on a Huntertown Arms Kestrel .308 for my 300 BLK rifle. It seems to be a much better value for the $$$ and it's made in Indiana!

 

[ghostdncr]

As an engineering major, I wonder how they managed to bypass the laws of physics that say,"things moving faster than sound will have the sonic crack"...last I checked, sonic crack was NOT hearing safe.

That's how it's always worked in my world. Suppressors work by capturing and dissipating the heat of the blast and directing the associated waves back onto themselves, which has a canceling effect. Sonic crack is generated in the open atmosphere by a projectile traveling faster than the speed of sound. As this crack will be generated during the entire flight time at which the projectile remains supersonic, I can't help but be skeptical of their claims.

A well-designed can will somewhat limit the perceived sound of a supersonic round by containing the muzzle blast, but the biggest advantage is that strange effect of making it harder to pinpoint the firing position from downrange. While hardly an expert on the subject, I've fired numerous suppressed rifles (5.56, different 7.62's, .458, and others) and a .357 Sig pistol with supersonic ammo and it's still kinda rough on unprotected ears.

Unless they're being quite generous with the interpretation of "hearing safe," they must be gearing this claim toward folks who've never accepted physics as part of their reality, right?

 

[Goodcat]

Or maybe the can slows super sonic ammo down to subsonic speeds similar to the mp5sd...

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

What exactly is the sound pressure of the sonic crack relative to the shooter?

 

[ryknoll3]

The idea is nice if their claims are true and I like the length and weight, but $1K is pretty high for an almost cartridge-specific can. There aren't a whole lot of calibers with as low of pressures as 300 BLK. I guess you could run rimfire through it, but I hate large, heavy (in comparison to a 4-6 oz .22 can) centerfire cans for rimfire.