By DC Hartmann
I
was first introduced to
suppressors at a place called
Wounded Knee in 1973. Cool
stuff. No Ruger 10/22 has ever
captured my imagination
since. Please be aware there is a
huge down side in using a good
suppressor in conflict—they might
hear you giggle after a shot is
delivered. Bad ju-ju. I’ve used
suppressors for over 30 years off
and on.
For years suppressor
manufactures have been diligently
working on designing an acceptable
.45 ACP pistol silencer. Although
many great products are available in
the market place, until this year
there has never been any true
hearing-safe .45 ACP suppressors
for handguns. A silencer is deemed
hearing-safe when a 10-shot
average, including the first-round
pop, is under 140 decibels. Several
silencers currently on the market are
74 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS
hearing-safe, but only when shot
with the use of an environment such
as water or grease. Silencerco has
achieved this amount of sound
suppression while shot dry, or
without the use of water or grease,
with their latest .45 ACP silencer
named the 45Osprey.
In fact, not only did they make a
hearing-safe .45 ACP silencer, they
are coming in well below the
required 140 decibel mark. On the
HK USP Tactical with 230-grain
Remington UMC ammunition,
Silencerco’s 45Osprey is metered at
132.5 decibels while shot dry. This is
an accomplishment worthy of the
highest regard. Why? Purely
because of the size of the bore hole
and size of explosion. A suppressor
is most effective when it keeps the
gasses and explosion in the silencer
as long as possible, releasing them
slowly well after the bullet has
exited the suppressor. Because of
the large size of the .45 ACP round,
the bore hole is also large, which
makes it much more challenging to
accomplish desired suppression
levels. The 45Osprey’s unique form
factor and baffle design have been
able to tame this tremendous
explosion, even with the large bore
hole, without adding excessive
length or diameter.
The 45Osprey’s Unique Form
At Silencerco the traditional
round-tube pistol silencer is now a
thing of the past. Why? Well,
round causes problems. One of the
most important contributors to
sound suppression is the amount
of internal volume the silencer pos-
sess. The more space the gasses
and explosion have to occupy, the
more effective the suppression
level. That does not mean the an-
swer is attaching a silencer that is
the size of a 2-liter soda bottle, ei-
ther. The trick is to obtain the most
internal volume without obstructing
the sight picture. Which means if
one attaches a silencer with a sub-
stantial outer diameter, it will block
the view of the target and render the
sights of the host weapon useless. Si-
lencerco worked around this chal-
lenge by first designing an eccentric
silencer, which means the bore hole
does not run down the center axis.
Instead the bore hole is in the upper
half of the silencer, allowing for the
greater mass of the silencer to sit
lower and out of the way of the
sights.
Yet there is another challenge. A
wide silencer is equally
cumbersome. A round silencer
with the desired internal
volume for maximum
suppression is quite
wide, which makes
holstering your
weapon while the
silencer is still attached
impossible. This is why Silencerco
ditched the traditional round tube.
The 45Osprey more resembles the
shape of a box; with its flat side walls,
it is not much wider than the host
weapon, allowing it to be holstered
with silencer still attached.
The 45Osprey is not just a square
box on the end of your firearm.
Careful consideration was applied to
the cosmetic design. Inspired by the
look and feel of many host firearms,
the 45Osprey has many features to
give it that “I gotta have it” look. The
45Osprey’s back cap, which houses
the Nielsen device, has milled
diagonal lines which mimic the grip
marks on a handgun’s slide. Its front
cap has an intricate serration that
makes the silencer itself look like a
weapon, and the tube and front cap
have intricate engravings of the
company’s handsome logo. On many
host weapons the 45Osprey looks like
an extension of the gun.
How Does It Index?
One of the most difficult challenges
of any eccentric silencer is how it in-
dexes on the host weapon. Because
there is no way of timing the threads
to ensure the silencer is properly ori-
entated after it is tight against the
shoulder of the threads, there has to
be a method to index the silencer to
its proper orientation. Just when you
think that feature is attainable, you
must remember that the indexing
system must work hand-in-hand
with a Nielsen device, or booster, to
allow the pistol to cycle rounds with
the extra weight of the silencer on
the barrel.
The 45Osprey has an
incredibly simple yet
innovative way of
indexing by
using a
patent-
pending cam
lever lock. You
very simply thread
the 45Osprey on the
barrel just like a
traditional silencer until it is
tight against the shoulder, then
release the cam lever lock and
rotate the silencer to its desired
orientation, at which time you would
move the cam lever back to its locked
position. After indexing to a
particular host weapon, the 45Osprey
is then timed to that host weapon.
This means you can remove the
45Osprey by means of a traditional
threaded silencer and then attach it
again to that same weapon without
the need to use the cam lever lock.
You would then only need to use the
cam lever lock when changing to a
different host weapon or after the
disassembly of the Nielsen device for
cleaning.
Baffles
Baffle design is a very important
component of any suppressor. The
45Osprey’s unique shape ensured
traditional K baffles where out of the
question. Also, traditional slant baf-
fles are not entirely effective as they
cause sub-sonic bullets to tumble
due to cross jetting. So Silencerco
went back to the drawing board to
develop a baffle that is totally
unique to the Osprey pistol suppres-
sor line. Silencerco designed, pro-
duced and individually tested
nearly one hundred unique baffle
designs before they rested on the in-
credibly effective patent-pending
design that is now in the production
model. The 45Osprey also has a 17-4
stainless steel, heat-treated blast baf-
fle to enhance durability. All subse-
quent baffles are made from
SOFMAG.COM
aerospace quality 7075 aluminum.
Other Features and Calibers
The 45Osprey comes equipped with
a Nielsen device or booster to ensure
semi-auto fire on all relevant host
pistols. The added weight of a si-
lencer on the end of a pistol barrel
causes the barrel to not de-couple or
unlock after firing. This un-
locking is necessary for
the gun to cycle to the
next round. A booster
has a piston and a spring
that aid in the unlocking of
the pistol’s barrel for ensured
semi-auto function. In simple terms,
one could think of a Nielsen device
as a shock absorber in reverse. The
piston is the component that attaches
to the host weapon. Because there
are many different thread specs for
different host weapons, the pistons
are interchangeable for across the
board compatibility. Silencerco also
offers the Osprey in 9mm and 40
S&W. The pistons for those calibers
will also work in the .45 ACP Osprey.
A 9mm round fired through the
45Osprey is as quiet as most 9mm si-
lencers on the market today. Which
means you can buy a 45Osprey and
an assortment of pistons and have a
somewhat universal silencer for
other calibers, as long as they are a
smaller diameter caliber. For the
most effective sound suppression,
however, each model works best
with its intended caliber.
Final Thoughts
Silencerco has surprised us with its
first product, the 22Sparrow, which
is a very innovative and highly ac-
claimed .22 LR suppressor. You
might have seen a Sparrow before
but probably haven’t heard one, at
least the kind that doesn’t have
wings and a beak. Now Silencerco
has certainly revolutionized the pis-
tol-caliber suppressors with the new
Osprey line. The market is no doubt
giving this new company its atten-
tion and anticipating what is next.
They say they plan on releasing a
5.56 rifle silencer as well as a 7.62
rifle silencer in 2010. I can assure
you that whatever they do, it will be
innovative.
To read more about Silencerco visit
their website at or call them at 801-
417-5384
AUGUST 2010 75