Should I Suppress My SAINT?

By Will Dabbs, MD

Posted in
#Guns

So, you’ve taken the plunge. Some guy at work or a buddy someplace invited you out to shoot and made the pitch about joining the ranks of responsible armed Americans. Now you are the proud owner of a sparkly new Springfield Armory SAINT rifle.

Springfield Armory designed the SAINT line of rifles to be compatible with rifle-rated sound suppressors. They protect your hearing and reduce noise pollution. Should you add one to your gun?

Dabbling in black rifles these days is a bit of like playing with Barbies. Yeah, the gun is cool and all, but now it is time for lights, lasers, grips, magazines and sundry support gear. Of course, there’s the obligatory basic stash of ammo as well. I’ll suspect you’ll find that this engrossing new hobby really is fun.

[Be sure to read the author’s Omega 36M review.]

Motivations

We maintain our guns for a couple of very good reasons. First, the act of shooting is physically edifying. If your range space allows you to move while you shoot, then the exercise is always welcome. Additionally, the hand/eye coordination required to punch tiny clusters of holes will help keep your mind and body sharp. There’s always the innate satisfaction of mastering new skills as well.

author shooting a Springfield Armory SAINT with an attached suppressor — Adding a sound suppressor to your Springfield Armory SAINT rifle will add a whole new dimension to your shooting experience.

So, now is the time for the next big gun-related decision. You have the rifle, a nice optic, and the sundry bells and whistles already. Is it time to cross the Rubicon and buy a sound suppressor?

Some Suppressor History

If you ask me, sound suppressors never should have been regulated in the first place. They are quite literally harmless. I suppose you could beat somebody with one, but a cricket bat would be more effective.

Omega 36M suppressor on Springfield SAINT rifle — The SilencerCo Omega 36M is a modular design that is equally at home on high-powered rifles as it is on 9mm handguns.

Back in 1934 when the National Firearms Act was being crafted, sound suppressors were allegedly included for regulation to help prevent poaching. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Americans were legit hungry. Wealthy landowners were purportedly concerned that someone would put suppressors on their guns and have an easier time stealing game. At least that’s what some guy on the Internet said, so I’m sure it’s true.

[Read the History of the Sound Suppressor for additional information.]

Silencers actually aren’t silent. Anybody who has run one for real will attest that a decent sound suppressor will excise the unpleasant nasty out of a gun. However, they’re not silent; not by a long shot. A sound suppressor just makes you a more neighborly shooter and helps mitigate the chaos at the range. It will also go a long way towards helping preserve your hearing should you ever be called upon to fire your weapon indoors. However, there is actually way more to it than that.

A Quick Science Lesson

The speed of sound in dry air is 1,125 feet per second. Standard M193 ball out of my Springfield Armory SAINT runs at nearly two and one half times that. Anything traveling faster than sound will invariably produce a shockwave.

Springfield Armory SAINT equipped with scope tactical flashlight and suppressor — The Omega suppressor has a two-part tube that allows the can to be adapted for particular roles.

A shockwave is a form of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in a given medium. In supersonic flows, this behavior is expressed in the form of a two-dimensional simple wave called a Prandtl-Meyer expansion fan. As the expansion wave collides with the shockwave, constructive interference results that produces a resulting sonic boom. Constructive interference is the phenomenon that results when two coherent waves combine by adding their relative intensities based upon their phase difference. The technical details really don’t matter, but this effect is really loud.

[Don’t miss our article on how a suppressor works.]

Practically speaking, a top-quality sound suppressor will indeed remove most of the noise from your SAINT. However, the best can in the world can’t do a thing about that sonic crack as the bullet travels downrange. The perceived effect is a function of exposure. Fire a sound-suppressed supersonic rifle at a distant target, and the sound is often still uncomfortable. Shoot the same gun into a berm five feet distant, and the racket can be surprisingly pleasant. The same effect is manifest all the more so indoors. A sound suppressor on your favorite home defense rifle makes a huge difference in a close-quarters defensive engagement.

A lot of folks new to suppressors finally take the plunge, pay the money, and endure the wait only to be disappointed by the end result. However, once you appreciate the relative strengths and weaknesses of adding a sound suppressor to the mix, you’ll never go back. The extra weight on the muzzle typically dampens harmonics and improves groups. The can substantially cuts down on a gun’s audible report under any circumstance as well.

The Candidate

I chose a SilencerCo Omega 36M for my SAINT. The biggest appeal of the Omega 36M, in addition to its superlative performance and indestructible design, is its versatility. With the appropriate mounts, the Omega 36M will suppress .22 rimfire, 5.7x28mm, 5.56mm and .30-caliber rifles up to and including .338 Lapua Magnum. With an optional piston mount installed, it will even run on your favorite Browning-style 9mm handgun. The two-part design lets you configure the can for maximum performance or minimum footprint. If you were going to invest in a single can to do most everything, this would be it.

Showtime

SilencerCo offers quick-detach ASR flash suppressor mounts as well as direct-thread mounting solutions. I just threaded mine directly on to my SAINT. Once installed, the Omega 36M adds less than seven inches and around three quarters of a pound to your basic rifle. What you get for that investment, however, is pretty epic.

author shooting his suppressor equipped SAINT ar-style rifle at the shooting range — Sound suppressors are a normal safety tool — a noise muffler identical in purpose to those found on cars.

Close-range engagements produce a sharp little snap. It’s not much like the movies, but it’s not objectionable, either. Firing the weapon at long range does expose you to that nasty sonic crack, but it is still hugely better than the unsuppressed rifle. Accuracy is, if anything, enhanced, as is close-quarters control. Once you mount up this can, you’ll never want to take it off.

Denouement

The onerous $200 transfer tax for the suppressor is still an undeniable pain, but inflation has made it much more palatable than was once the case. The Springfield Armory SAINT is a superb top-end AR-style black rifle. Adding a quality sound suppressor like the SilencerCo Omega 36M makes this great gun even greater.

authors rifle — The author’s rifle is equipped with accessories that improve the functionality of the SAINT. A light allows him to properly ID targets while the optic helps improve accuracy. The suppressor protects his hearing.

Your individual circumstances will determine if your budget will tolerate the expense, but believe me when I say that suppressing your SAINT will introduce you to a whole new world of shooting you might not have known existed.

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