Most reliable/consistant QD suppressor mount?

General Firearms NFA
1

Hey guys, thanks for reading my thread.

Recently I’ve decided it’s time to buy a suppressor for my 5.56 AR. There’s an overwhelming amount of options available on the market today and it’s difficult to choose without first-hand experience. My intended use is a reliable medium to high round count can that can be easily taken on or off with the least chance of coming loose and causing a baffle strike. I’ve been leaning towards the Saker 5.56 can due to it’s rugged construction, the only thing that deters me from it is the mounting options available. It seems they either seize and need some extra TLC or in some reports, come loose and get shot right off the barrel. I’m not specific to any suppressor brand since I don’t own one so I’m open to your ideas guys, please let me know what you think would be the best mounting system available and why. Thanks!
RF

2

FWIW…I run YHM mounts on all mine. I have two YHM cans, two Sakers with Y-Mount MAAD Modules, and six F1 cans with YHM adapters. Everything locks up tight, and come off when I’m done. I just ordered a SiCo Omega, and have the guy that made my F1 YHM adapters making me a YHM/Omega adapter.

I know they’re down the list for a some people, but they’ve always worked exactly as advertised. And it doesn’t matter how ugly they are when a suppressor is attached.

3

I only have experience with one mount and that is my YHM QD for my Ti Phantom, and I love it. Positive lockdown, no shift in POI really, and I never have an issue getting the can off. I hear a lot of people complaining about mounting options from other companies, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a legitimate issue with the YHM.

4

Surefire SOCOM. Done and done. Best at both things you listed. And to be had for 800 bucks. There is not a better can at that price point available. And I would argue at any price point.

5

I have YHM, AAC, and Gemtech QD mounts. I have to admit that the YHM mounts are darn simple and I’ve never experienced carbon weld. I know the new Surefire mounts are supposed to prevent carbon welding, but they’re not as convenient as any of the others. The Gemtech G-5 is slick and fast, but I have not properly abused it to see if the mount is solid enough. There are stories that it’s not, and I have a friend that had a problem on a 10.5" barrel. AAC is easy on, not bad to remove but dumb button is hard to push. Experienced a bit of carbon welding with SDN-6 on 5.56 mount last week. It’s a big pet peeve of mine, some people don’t care…

I’ve said several times that I wish all my QD cans had the YHM mount. Specifically the advantages are: No carbon welding. No moving parts on can. No button to push to remove. No clearance issues behind the can. No weird indexing, just spin it on. Smart compatibly (7.62 can fits on 5.56 mount but not the other way). No carbon welding. Down side is that the YHM mount as a flashhider is ugly.

6

There certainly is a large offering in the market today, with most suppressor manufacturers offering quick attach/detach mounts. without first hand experience it makes it difficult to choose, so here’s a quick sampling of some designs to help you get familiar with them:

AAC 51T Mounting
https://youtu.be/2pWfHQK9cD4?t=166

AAC 90T Mounting
https://youtu.be/x15-_qY9cpA?t=122

Gemtech Quicksand
https://youtu.be/2ycp1jmdgIQ?t=157

Griffin Armament QD Mounting
https://youtu.be/XVhBVpSV7Cg?t=70

KAC NT4 Mounting
https://youtu.be/Jq1ll77Iv4c?t=101

KAC QDC Mounting
https://youtu.be/xJPAfuxpYhk?t=37

Rugged Suppressors QD Mount
https://youtu.be/b3oFlwaRq70?t=94

SilencerCo ASR Mounting
https://youtu.be/ehWgDn4AcDk?t=87

SilencerCo Saker Trifecta Mounting
https://youtu.be/7X90Bu6VihU?t=660

Sig Sauer QD Mount
https://youtu.be/-YewKG6gjoY?t=130

Surefire Legacy Suppressor Mounting
https://youtu.be/RCvveq7tuMQ?t=170

Surefire SOCOM Mounting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MvBqBoRLR0

SWR Renegade Mounting
https://youtu.be/soRZBCEnBI0?t=186

YHM Phantom Mounting
https://youtu.be/qNVTnuAmjlg?t=189

See if you can demo the suppressor in person, at your dealer prior to buying, or talk to folks that have time behind each system.

At high round counts, especially select fire, no matter the mount design, the carbon fouling/copper brazing will effectively weld the suppressor on the mount. Some are easier to remove than others. I typically have a set welding gloves, and a silicone cooking pot pad in my range bag to remove a suppressor after a long string of fire. If you remove the suppressor while it’s hot, it tends to be easier to remove.

Some suppressors, designed with an external gate/locking mechanism (no threads on the muzzle device), like KAC and Surefire, can even be shot off. Always follow manufacturer recommended instructions though, but if for whatever reason you can’t remove it while hot - it’s cooled down, seized up, and you’re still at the range, then in haste, with the latch/gate disengaged shoot the suppressor off. Use blanks, or a live round (the bullet will exit before the can flies), but be damn sure to have the weapon pointed in a safe direction before launching the can off. Alternatively on these suppressors, with the latch/gate disengaged, you can leverage the can off by leveraging a piece of wood between the handguard/rail on the weapon and back end of suppressor. Although it’s generally accepted that center fired rifle cans require no cleaning, it helps to routinely clean off the fouling on the mount and corresponding mount interface to minimize the chance the fouling could accumulate to the point the suppressor will be seized on the mount.

Off the top of my head, I’ve only had first hand experience with the following quick attach designs, AAC’s 18T, 51T, and 90T mounts, Gemtech Quicksand, KAC NT4, SWR Renegade, Surefire SOCOM, and TBAC 30BA. Out of all of them, my favorite is the Surefire.

From an engineering perspective, Surefire’s quick attach mounts are the most optimized and evolved quick attach designs in the market today. Rather than sit idle, Surefire has continued to innovative, making significant enhancements to the mounting system over the past decade. In their most latest iteration from their legacy mounts, they’ve moved the locking ring engagement teeth from the muzzle device onto the suppressor body, optimized the pawl and ratchet mechanism on the locking ring, improved the fatigue life of the latch spring by using a novel circumferential leaf spring design opposed to traditional coiled spring design, incorporated circumferential cuts on the muzzle device to seal carbon from the index point and moved the indexing point away from the carbon fouling area onto the conical tapered engagement surface.

7

Perhaps, although I’d say the the KAC may have some bragging rights. I think that it all depends on how you define reliable and consistent. For example, a SEAL Team suspended use of the SOCOM series and went back to KAC after several cans flew the coop. Rumors abound as to whether it was operator error vs. hardware. Others will note that the SF has less POI shift. Some will say that the Saker has the best one-handed lock-up; others will say that it’s prone to sticking.

The bottom line is that several brands including SilencerCo, Surefire, and KAC make a product that could be described as the most consistent or reliable.

8

The only 3 companies I’d consider when purchasing a suppressor.

And my money is in operator error regarding the can flying off, SOCOM has been using those cans for a while and just now there is an isolated incident? I’ve yet to hear anyone report this in the civilian world, my SOCOM’s have been great.

9

Gem-Tech Halo simple sweet, affordable, and easy and works on most flash hiders. just don’t run Mil spec ammo in it like M855 otherwise it has sound differences between shots like avg. of 5dB from my testing.

10

Thanks for the helpful responses guys. The YHM and SF SOCOM look like the most promising so far. Do some of you run a can for a whole carbine course without issue, or does the carbon buildup prevent you from getting it off after a certain round count? From what I’ve read guys are using Fireclean on the mounting system to prevent the suppressors from seizing, are there any other useful methods? I think my main concern is the can staying on without having to check on it, and second to that, being able to remove it easily without having to make a big ordeal out of it.

11

I agree with PatrioticDisorder in that KAC, SF, and SilencerCo are making the most bomb and future proof suppressors on the market. YHM, Griffin, Rugged, and DeadAir may have some nice products, but they are either too new or simply not up to par when compared to what is being made by these big three. I would avoid AAC like the plague until they demonstrate a new commitment to customer service - preferably with someone else’s money.

The Saker Trifecta MAAD mount is theoretically one of the most secure QD mounts one the market. Unfortunately, it is also the only one of the major players that is prone to stick. I’ve not heard or seen this issue with the Saker ASR or other Saker MAAD mounts. I’m also not aware of SF or KAC having this issue with any product. Thus, I’d go with the Saker ASR MAAD, or the Specwar or newer Omega which both use a standard ASR mount if I was going to get a SilencerCo suppressor. Don’t worry about the ASR, it is a very solid mount with a shit-ton of users between all those Specwar, Omega, and Saker ASR MAAD users out there.

If you are heavily invested in SF muzzle devices, then their SOCOM 2 line is rumored to by stronger, quieter, and less blowback than the current SOCOM RC line. In addition, they announced it at SHOT with an estimated Q2 release, so it should be released any day now…correction…it’s SF that we are talking about - any decade now.

Finally, KAC QDC may be a great choice IF you already have a bunch of KAC muzzle devices AND you do not need to cross calibers as their cans are caliber specific due to the muzzle devices.

12

While the NT4 isn’t the most quietest can, unfair due to older technology in comparison to recent baffle designs, it is built like a tank. And if you thought the rotational play - “wobble”, was bad on the 51T mounts the NT4 is worst off. The QDC has a better mount as far as I could tell, though I haven’t had a chance to see it first hand yet.

There’s a reason why Surefire engraves “Push” on the latch.

I can’t find the original post or article, but from what I recall, it was a training issue. Operators used to their NT4 tried and true workhorses, thought the SF mechanism operated like the KAC QD design, where you rotate the ring and lift up on the gate for release, and thought it was the same manual of arms - attempted to pry up on the latch to disengage the teeth oppose to pushing down.

In general I haven’t had an issue with a stuck suppressor in carbine/precision rifle classes, but definitely had malfunctions if the action isn’t properly lubed. The blow back from the residual gases trapped in the suppressor work there way backwards through the chamber and foul the bolt. The amount will vary, not just by round count, but barrel length and ammunition too, I find that Wolf/cheap plinking ammo fouls more than say FGMM or hand loads, and SBRs tend to foul more than rifle lengths. In one class I actually purposely ran dry, sprayed the BCG down with brake cleaner, ran it until I had a stoppage, and made note of it in my data book. I had and seen other folks have stuck cans after prolong full auto fire/select fire if they didn’t remove it while it was still hot. There was only one time I can recall my Surefire sticking, but not in a class, at one of our regular NFA shoots. I had my Surefire 7.62RC mounted on an MK18 clone for majority of the day, and at the end we wrapped up with some precision shooting, so I removed it and mounted it on a 7.62 OBR, where afterward I had some difficulty breaking her loose. The lock latch rotated freely just fine, but the carbon fouling from shooting sub caliber first stacked up the tolerances that caused the can to seize temporarily, had to play tug-a-war with one my buddies that the rifle while I held the can. So now I know if I ever do run sub calibers to take a brush to the end and clean it up some.

13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YewKG6gjoY&feature=youtu.be&t=130
I know Sig Sauer is new to the suppressor market, but the muzzle device mount design is very interesting.
It separates the timing of the brake/comp from the torque spec of the mount itself. Pretty neat.

14

No matter how impressive Sig suppressors may seem or who they’ve hired to head their suppressor arm, there is no friggen way that I’m going to beta test one of their products. Been there; done that; ain’t go’en back.