Re: I'm looking for a pistol to suppress.
You are getting great recommendations in this thread. I can only add to the already excellent list.
A little known fact, over the last decade we are seeing such improvement in the weight and design of suppressors that an important feature that was once a standard requirement is being impacted. That is, the ability of the suppressor itself to be "regulated" to disallow the cycling of the slide. This effect allowed the operator to deliver the quietest possible intervention, suppressed discharge, sub sonic round masked sonic signature and as importantly, no host noise in mechanical cycling. Two sources of noise would be left, the sound of the round hitting its mark and any noise made by the operator.
Slide lockout is accomplished in the vast majority of instances by two completely different means:
1. "Standing the can on its ears." I'll explain.
2. Mechanical Slide Lock-Out.
For those that are interested, read on.
1. "Standing the can on its Ears." With the introduction of later generation Neilson devices an interesting and subtle design change was accomplished. One aspect of your can you might want to take seriously is the ability of the can to quickly be able to swap adapters. The complete mounted assembly with a hybrid ND (Neilson Device) regulator looks like this.
The mounted assembly set in “full on.” Here we have the adapter set in the can and set to allow the pistol to cycle on every round. What is at play here is whether or not the ND has its spring “compressed” or not. When not compressed, the ND can relieve all weight of the can on the host. The weightlessness, or what is called “float” occurs in a fraction of a second.
If we now grab the pistol and the can and “set the can on its ears” by pulling the can forward, stretching the can one and rotating slightly clockwise, the can’s springs can be compressed. This is called “standing the can on its ears” and the can will now not provide the float required to make the can float. As a result the slide cannot be relieved of the weight of the can and will not fully cycle.
Here the can is “set on its ears” and has achieved slide lock-out.
The components. This is a current gen ND and, as a note, the only suppressor company to every license Neilson for his device was….AWC, per the military solicitation. Patent is now expired on the original, but AWC's improvement patents are in full force.
These parts are replaced with a “static” mount to allow for this very same suppressor to be mounted on a machine gun. Full auto rated. One would not want the ND to cycle on a machine gun as, on a well balanced rig, the spring is a wear item. On many other suppressors the ND equivalent springs are is so “overstroked” to insure that every pistol will cycle that wear on the host can be an issue. Balance folks, balance.
2. Mechanical slide locks are just that, a lever that the operator lifts to lock the slide in place and disallow and movement or cycling. These are not common (think about your seeing ANY production auto with one) and have to be designed to eliminate frame damage, slide damage and ease of operation.
Rare, yes..but wonderful. Here is a very rare Semmerling XM (Not an LM). This unit IS NOT manually operated, it IS an automatic and will cycle if that slide lock you see is on (right above trigger front). The barrel utilizes "strip forward" the rarest of all pistol cycling. The bullet's friction actually forces the barrel open, extracting the bullet and setting things in operation. This is the smallest .45 auto in the world, the smallest suppressed .45 auto in the world. Army contract, and posted only here at SH, now you have really seen something!
<span style="font-weight: bold">An important final note. I mentioned above that improvements in cans and host materials and designs is making this issue more difficult. If it is your intent to have your can lock out your system, then you need the weight and mass of a 1911 frame style. In other words, you will be buying a .45 1911 auto or a 9mm 1911 auto as today’s modern cans are too light and, even on ear, it WILL cycle. I have the suppressor manufacturer mount and prep the threaded barrel as a great deal can be done to tune this effect as well. </span>
I only buy pistol cartridge cans with swap adapters (if available), I only buy cans that can take full auto. I only buy ND cans with replaceable springs. Can here is Jupiter Eye.
