Question regarding suppressor caliber choice i.e 9mm on a .22 caliber

[puma guy]

I know nothing about suppressors and was thinking of getting one in the future using a trust, but I have a question. If I get one in say, in 9mm can I use it on a .22 caliber firearm with no issues other than maybe the noise level reduction wouldn't be good as one designated .22 caliber? Thank for helping a suppressor dummy.

[FastCarry]

Yes you can. The manufacturer will usually list caliber ratings. My Rugged Obsidian 9 gets used with 9mm, .22 and 300blk sub.

[The Annoyed Man]

Yes you can. The manufacturer will usually list caliber ratings. My Rugged Obsidian 9 gets used with 9mm, .22 and 300blk sub.

I bought the Rugged Obsidian 45, but I mostly use it on 9mm pistols…as well as on my 9mm Ruger PC9 carbine. I haven’t tried it on a .22 before, but I have used my .30 cal rifle can on a 5.56 carbine with a CMMG .22 LR conversion kit installed, and it suppressed the .22 just fine. In fact, it was stupid quiet. All of my .22 LR chambered firearms came without threaded barrels, so I never bothered to buy a dedicated .22 can.

I’ve never had the money or wanted the ATF hassles to collect lots of cans to fit each of the calibers I have. It just always made more sense to me to have one pistol can that fits all of my pistol calibers, and a rifle can to fit all of my rifle calibers.

One of the great things about the Rugged Obsidian 45 is that Rugged will sell you accessories like a direct thread mount or a 9mm endcap for your 45 suppressor. I bought both accessories, but bought the endcap first. When I mounted the can with the 9mm endcap on the end of a 9mm Sub2K carbine using a fixed barrel spacer spacer that I also bought from them, I had a bullet strike on the endcap which ruined it. I never had that kind of difficulty with the PC9 carbine, but by then I had already destroyed the 9mm endcap and had bought the direct thread mount. Someday I’ll buy another one, but at $65.00, I can wait to get another one later when the .45 endcap works just fine for now.

[puma guy]

Thanks FastCarry and TAM. That is what I needed to know.

[mrvmax]

I have a Liberty Mystic and it is good up to 300 win mag.

[Paladin]

It's a great idea to have a silencer that can handle multiple calibers.

Say a .45ACP can that can also handle 9mm... or a .30cal can that can also handle 6.5CM or 5.56mm.

If you only get 2 suppressors, those are good choices.

.22LR can get pretty dirty. I have a dedicated .22 can for it, which is super light weight and small and still works really well.

[Mike S]

I asked the folks at Capitol Armory if there would be an issue shooting.22 LR out of a 9mm can. The response was that it would be okay to shoot a little bit of .22 LR out of it, but because most .22 LR is lead (ie, not copper jacketed) that shooting extensive amounts would eventually cause lead deposits to fill up the insides & ruin it. ((The suppressor in question has an end cap that can be changed, but it can't be disassembled to clean the baffles & housing)).

The BLUF as I recall was damage from lead fouling was not likely to occur with just hundreds of rounds; it was more like if you use a 9mm can that you can't disassemble (to clean the baffles) as a dedicated .22 suppressor for tens of thousands of rounds, or something like that.

[carlson1]

I have been told to have a dedicated suppressor for .22 because they are so dirty.

[mrvmax]

I asked the folks at Capitol Armory if there would be an issue shooting.22 LR out of a 9mm can. The response was that it would be okay to shoot a little bit of .22 LR out of it, but because most .22 LR is lead (ie, not copper jacketed) that shooting extensive amounts would eventually cause lead deposits to fill up the insides & ruin it. ((The suppressor in question has an end cap that can be changed, but it can't be disassembled to clean the baffles & housing)).

The BLUF as I recall was damage from lead fouling was not likely to occur with just hundreds of rounds; it was more like if you use a 9mm can that you can't disassemble (to clean the baffles) as a dedicated .22 suppressor for tens of thousands of rounds, or something like that.

I've fired 22 through mine extensively with no issues. It has a titanium baffle so I just put it in the ultrasonic to clean it up. I knew I would only have one so I bought a multi caliber. Its not as quiet as a dedicated 22 but I rarely use it on 22 anymore. It was a novelty when I first got it. Now I just use it to hunt.

[tk1700]

The store I work at is a class 3 dealer and we are a gold dealer with silencer shop. We typically have around 550 suppressors "in jail" waiting for ATF approval.

One thing that is recommended for a can shooting 22 lr is that it can be disassembled so the baffles can be cleaned since 22 is so dirty. There are various types of material used in baffles, aluminum, titanium and steel predominately. Due to metallurgy it's not recommended to clean aluminum baffles in an ultra sonic cleaner. As mentioned there are different caliber sized end caps for suppressors. They usually come with a cap matching the highest rated caliber of the can. You can remove the say 30 cal cap and put on a 22 cap when shooting 22, it is supposed to provide some additional suppression. But with my old ears I can't tell a difference. Also with my senile brain I'd probably forget and leave the smaller cap on when I shot a larger caliber.

There are some excellent choices for you. Personally I like the CGS Mod9 and Mod 9SK. The only difference between them is the length. Completely disassembles, aluminum baffles, rated for 22, 9mm and 300 blk sub sonic. It comes with a piston for pistol installation and you have to purchase a spacer if used on a fixed barrel. It has 1/2 by 28 threads so it will easily mount to most 22 and 9mm's.It's light enough that it isn't cumbersome on a G19. You will need taller sights or an optic.

Another route is a 36 cal can. these are rated upto 338 mag. The downfall is they are more expensive,larger and heavier and will require adapters to attach to the host. The only 36 cal that I know of that you can disassemble is the Griffin Bushwacker. It's available in 36 and 46 caliber. The baffles are steel.

Check out silencershop.com if you haven't already. They are in Austin. They have a ton of info and you can compare suppressors. We tell customers they need to make sure what they are buying has a hole big enough for the caliber they are shooting AND it must be rated for the pressure of the caliber they are shooting.

The baffles in the pic are from a Griffin Optimus Micro. They are steel and it's rated for 5.56 auto. A customer brought this in for us to clean. Look at the bottom 2 baffles. It took 17 hrs in a commercial grade heated ultra sonic to get them clean. We got them cleaned down to bare metal, it was just discolored some. The customer said he thought it had about 2000 ads through it.

After getting a suppressor you'll ask yourself why didn't you do it sooner. Good luck!

[tk1700]

For some reason i can' t get pic to post. Will try later.

[The Annoyed Man]

I asked the folks at Capitol Armory if there would be an issue shooting.22 LR out of a 9mm can. The response was that it would be okay to shoot a little bit of .22 LR out of it, but because most .22 LR is lead (ie, not copper jacketed) that shooting extensive amounts would eventually cause lead deposits to fill up the insides & ruin it. ((The suppressor in question has an end cap that can be changed, but it can't be disassembled to clean the baffles & housing)).

The BLUF as I recall was damage from lead fouling was not likely to occur with just hundreds of rounds; it was more like if you use a 9mm can that you can't disassemble (to clean the baffles) as a dedicated .22 suppressor for tens of thousands of rounds, or something like that.

The Rugged Obsidian suppressors can be disassembled right down to their individual component parts for cleaning, including the individual baffles. My main recommendation if doing so is to wear protective mechanics gloves when taking apart and reassembling the baffle-stack. The baffles are made from Inconel, and the edges of the "bell" on each baffle are quite sharp…which I guess is necessary for a baffle-to-baffle tight fit. But I have nicked myself more than once handling them without gloves on.