[zynomicon]

Tech gets ever so slightly better every year, with sometimes a manufacturer completely leapfrogging everyone else. So I figured I'd make a thread to catch-up on things.

Let's have a discussion about suppressors and tracers.


I've had a very cheap, pretty good suppressor that I've used for some time now. It works perfectly fine for that purpose. If I had to guess, it's probably better than most commercial options available based on the very limited testing I've done. Not because it's great, but because the commercial designs are pretty much zero effort -- just put some foam into a capsule and sell it. But it could just as well be that I've missed some manufacturer actually trying to come up with something good instead of doing the laziest possible thing.

However, I'm looking to potentially getting a combo of a suppressor and a tracer into one package, if the performance of the suppressor is decent enough. I've checked out Acetech previously but it's impossible to find proper reviews of their stuff.


Has anyone been through this already? Do you have experience with tracer + suppressor combos? Any recommendations? Feel free to post anything tracer or suppressor related stuff here.

 

[SiliconeSword]

This is a thing that sorta exists, as you can just get a tracer with a diameter smaller than the inside of your suppressor and then put that inside your suppressor.

I got a T238 tracer a few months ago for really cheap and played with it a bit, but it isn't shake awake and actually has a button you need to press after 30 minutes to turn it on which sucks. If you do what I mentioned, make sure it's shake awake or else you'll hate your life.

I also think Modify or ArchWick has some tracer suppressor thing or something weird. Idk where I saw it, but I'm pretty sure there's something like that around.

As for suppressor stuff, idk wym by whatever you said, mind rephrasing it?

 

[Akami]

Modify and Archwick made a suppresor which could fit a tracer inside. But it won't fit all tracers, only the small acetech one if I remember.

I have never used any tracer yet, but in my place, practically the only tracer available is acetech and the general audience says it performs just how it should be with little to no problem.

 

[zynomicon]

This is a thing that sorta exists, as you can just get a tracer with a diameter smaller than the inside of your suppressor and then put that inside your suppressor.

I got a T238 tracer a few months ago for really cheap and played with it a bit, but it isn't shake awake and actually has a button you need to press after 30 minutes to turn it on which sucks. If you do what I mentioned, make sure it's shake awake or else you'll hate your life.

I also think Modify or ArchWick has some tracer suppressor thing or something weird. Idk where I saw it, but I'm pretty sure there's something like that around.

As for suppressor stuff, idk wym by whatever you said, mind rephrasing it?

Fair. I clarified it a little bit. I just meant that the suppressors on the market are extremely low effort from what I've personally seen. There's no actual design work being wasted on silly things like performance. Just different exteriors, insert foam, done. I might have a gap in my knowledge and someone actually does take performance into account as well, but I just haven't seen any. So it's cool to get opinions from other people as well. It would suck to buy something, only to find out it dampens sound worse than a cheap as hell self-tinkered thing.

Perhaps Acetech is a bit better, who knows. Does anyone happen to have their stuff? Is the foam inside patterned or from acoustic dampening materials? The combos they sell with a suppressor and a tracer seem like there's not much space left.

Perhaps a bit of an odd request, but I'd really want an external switch for quickly turning the tracer on/off. Does anyone know whether such a thing exists or does it have to be added in?

 

[RonSwanson]

A lot of suppressors are non functional from a traditional point of view as fully functional suppressors are illegal in some countries.

 

[SiliconeSword]

I've had my best results with a hard baffle stack in front of a foam stage with small holes, inside of an aluminum housing coated in rubber paint. That was maybe 20% quieter than my next quietest suppressor which was a 34X250 aluminum housing with rubber paint that was holding Calmflex F2 foam with small holes. That one was about 40% quieter than the stock Novritsch SSX23 suppressor, which is a pretty solid baseline as I'm sure there's been tens of thousands of those sold.

 

[TenshouYoku]

There are a few suppressors with optional tracer interior Taiwan is making, but IMO these kind of things kind of run counter to each other for the most part (since a tracer practically announces where the shots are from when you use a suppressor to go sneaky boi on somebody).

For most airsoft snipers the good ol "foam inside a plastic/pot metal shell" is more than enough (combined with a good volume ratio and an airbrake piston) in most practical situations. I've been running a short silencer on a 330mm TAC41 for CQB and the only times they hear me is either I'm shouting callouts or they heard a loud pop when BBs are hitting their vests.

 

[zynomicon]

I've had my best results with a hard baffle stack in front of a foam stage with small holes, inside of an aluminum housing coated in rubber paint. That was maybe 20% quieter than my next quietest suppressor which was a 34X250 aluminum housing with rubber paint that was holding Calmflex F2 foam with small holes. That one was about 40% quieter than the stock Novritsch SSX23 suppressor, which is a pretty solid baseline as I'm sure there's been tens of thousands of those sold.

This largely matches my experience as well. Which made me think that wouldn't someone have already made an actual proper working commercial design by now, and advertise it as such? There's a rather large amount of airsoft youtubers that inspire people to try out the same thing, and stealth can be a large part of that gameplay. Staying silent is never a bad thing on an outdoor field regardless. You'd think there's a market for performance.

There are a few suppressors with optional tracer interior Taiwan is making, but IMO these kind of things kind of run counter to each other for the most part (since a tracer practically announces where the shots are from when you use a suppressor to go sneaky boi on somebody).

Different use case. If I'm sending BBs to a particular window to provide cover, I want an obvious announcement to teammates of what's happening even if we're not next to each other. Tracers are brilliant for marking enemy positions. And for a bunch of other things as well. Which is why I was looking for a ready built suppressor with an integrated tracer, because there's a better chance that an external on/off switch can be added to that without way too much work. The newer tracers are "daylight bright" enough for this purpose.

Yes I know I'm trading my position for a different advantage. But there's plenty of scenarios where I want the option to do this.

 

[SiliconeSword]

The issue with those small holes I keep on mentioning is just that, they're small. This means it's harder for BBs to get out if they're not flying perfectly in my gun, which means they definitely won't be centered in somebody else's. If you have some guy with an M4 with a non centered or stabilized inner barrel a ton of BBs will get trapped in the suppressor and ruin everything unless you're dealing with much larger holes.
They things COULD be sold, but everybody would just be shooting them out and complaining unless you have a very well set up gun.

 

[Rb19]

I've had my best results with a hard baffle stack in front of a foam stage with small holes, inside of an aluminum housing coated in rubber paint. That was maybe 20% quieter than my next quietest suppressor which was a 34X250 aluminum housing with rubber paint that was holding Calmflex F2 foam with small holes. That one was about 40% quieter than the stock Novritsch SSX23 suppressor, which is a pretty solid baseline as I'm sure there's been tens of thousands of those sold.

SiliconeSword do you have any pics or guides of this? Struggling to visualise it, but would be keen to see what you’ve come up with. Sounds interesting! Thanks

 

[SiliconeSword]

I've since used those parts for other projects, but here's a highly skilled technical drawing that encompasses the general idea.
The blue is foam with different sized holes inside of a metal tube that is on the end of a baffle style suppressor.

I'd caution you against making the baffles out of anything but plastic, and would also suggest that you don't go posting pictures or videos describing it or anything like that due to legal shit. People have been arrested for less, including a metal card and a little metal sliver that fell into an AR-15 trigger, both cases of which the people ended up in prison for essentially nothing.

 

[Rb19]

Thanks. So which end does BB travel? Baffles —> foam, or foam —> baffles? Thanks

 

[SiliconeSword]

Baffles to foam

 

[Raazgar]

There is a small manufacturer in the Czech Republic (EU) called EPES Airsoft, who - among things like custom guns and HPA stuff - makes functional suppressor inserts. Some guys from my team have then and it makes a noticeable difference.

 

[SiliconeSword]

We follow each other on IG, those things look like they have some promise