Suppressors Sandman vs Nomad

[FuhQ]

Sorry I missed this. I guess I need to turn on notifications or something. I've had my head down working on our new taper mount, and times are just crazy busy in general.

Here's my take on it all from the designer and how we positioned the Nomad and Sandman in the lineup:

For full auto, continuous, heavy shooting, there's just nothing that beats the Sandman. The KeyMount mounting system is welded into it and it doesn't come loose on the muzzle device when shooting. The stellite baffles handle erosion better than any other material out there. It also comes off when you want. It's known for very low backpressure and is very "friendly" for DI guns in that it allows for easy set up to get them hearing safe at the ejection port (i.e. changing out buffer weight, gas block adjustment, A5 buffer system, etc.). Many suppressors will require all of the above mods, where the Sandman-S or especially the -K may just require one of the above. That all depends on many factors, hence the term that it's "friendly" for hearing safe setup. The rifle is usually dialed in pretty quickly.

The Nomad will still take full auto fire and even sustained hard use. Heat is only the enemy in terms of baffle erosion. The 17-4 stainless is crazy strong, but will begin to wear before stellite will at those high temps. Note that it takes sustained high temps and firing schedules to see this, though. If you get a suppressor glowing red hot every time you're out shooting, then the Sandman is for you. I've ran many Nomads in full auto tests I can tell you that a few mag dump sessions of 4-6 straight mags of full auto use will begin to impinge the face of the blast baffle and you'll see roughness along the bore-line--but no increase in diameter of the bore due to wear. Otherwise, the Nomad will offer you more options. If you have a favorite mount on all of your rifles, then it let's you still run with that if the manufacturer provides an adapter for it.

It's also quieter than the Sandman-S and is lighter. It has a super efficient baffle stack that is not a standard cone design. It redirects gas into secondary chambers and it also allows that gas to return back across the bore-line to impede reverse flow back down the bore. The net effect is backpressure that is on par with the Sandman-S (which is awesome as mentioned above), while still being efficient at the muzzle. Many suppressors that are super efficient at the muzzle will massively drive up backpressure (i.e. the Omega 300). You'll also find that the Nomad works incredibly well on subsonic ammo and shines even more as the pressure goes up with supersonic cartridges.

The Nomad's baffle structure is like a lattice bridge where it directs the forces to reinforced points. The welded joints you see between the baffle sections are super thick and that's where all the hoop stress is diverted. That's why it has a higher caliber rating than the Sandman series (300 Norma Mag).

I hope that helps answer some questions!

Todd Magee
Dead Air Engineering

Todd, I'm looking to buy another can tonight or tomorrow...But I'm torn between the Sandman-S and Nomad-30...

Will the Nomad-30 be fine on a 7.5" 5.56 pistol without any real detriment to the baffles, as long as you only do the occasional mag-dump, otherwise, just regular shooting, no F/A fire...???

Reason I ask, is because I already have a Nomad-LT waiting approval, that I want to use for my bolt-action and hunting rifles, but need a can strictly for my AR's. All my other AR's are 14.5" or longer, and are 5.56, .300 BLK, and 6.5 Grendel. Just the 1 odd-gun out, the 7.5" 5.56 pistol. I prefer the mounting options of the Nomad-30, and could use it in DT config as well as KeyMo, so I find it more versatile of an investment. So, the only reason I'd choose the Sandman-S over the Nomad-30 would be for CYA on that 1 gun... Do you find it necessary to go Sandman-S just to cover that 1 base, or would you just go ahead and get the Nomad-30, and call it a day?

Thanks!

 

[Huskydriver]

Todd, I'm looking to buy another can tonight or tomorrow...But I'm torn between the Sandman-S and Nomad-30...

Will the Nomad-30 be fine on a 7.5" 5.56 pistol without any real detriment to the baffles, as long as you only do the occasional mag-dump, otherwise, just regular shooting, no F/A fire...???

Reason I ask, is because I already have a Nomad-LT waiting approval, that I want to use for my bolt-action and hunting rifles, but need a can strictly for my AR's. All my other AR's are 14.5" or longer, and are 5.56, .300 BLK, and 6.5 Grendel. Just the 1 odd-gun out, the 7.5" 5.56 pistol. I prefer the mounting options of the Nomad-30, and could use it in DT config as well as KeyMo, so I find it more versatile of an investment. So, the only reason I'd choose the Sandman-S over the Nomad-30 would be for CYA on that 1 gun... Do you find it necessary to go Sandman-S just to cover that 1 base, or would you just go ahead and get the Nomad-30, and call it a day?

Thanks!

Bro def sandman s with 7.5" 5.56

 

[FuhQ]

Bro def sandman s with 7.5" 5.56

I talked to Rex of Rex Silentium and he says his Mod-X .30 is more than capable of handling the 7.5" 5.56 without issue and has their lifetime no-BS warranty. So now I'm torn between the Nomad-30 and Mod-X .30. The Nomad will cost me about $250 less, but the cool thing about the Mod-X is it's modular, so it's weight & dimensions are basically equal to that of a Nomad-30 (short) and a Nomad-L (long) in it's different lengths. So it would be like having 2 cans for 1 stamp. That would be nice when running it short on my regular AR's, and then add the extra length to it when I put it on my 6.5 Grendel or trying to tame down that 7.5" 5.56 pistol...

 

[Devildog247]

I am in the same boat on this topic I am able to buy two cans these will be my first cans minus my Barrett Can in Jail. I reviewed Sandman K,S,L and Nomads and even the Wolfman for 9mm and some rifle I but am torn. I need to switch between 6.5CM, 300BLK,5.56 and .308. 9mm would be my last concern. I have a 10.3 night gun that I run nods with and Ir ect it needs a can bad. I think getting a K to mid can and one full size can would be best so Idk. I also own a Saw so I mean I could think about that too but ammo is so high no plans to dump that like crazy any time soon. I like the idea of KeyMo for ease of use so Sandman will save me money upfront but at the same time I like what I am hearing about the Nomad the Wider body makes it sound better and it’s quieter and lighter. I am so new to cans that I don’t even know if I would be dissapinted with any of them because I would be happy to just finally be suppressed. I plan on buying cans as much as I can afford in the future just where to start is the question . I have been researching day and night for awhile now and am driving myself crazy lol.

 

[Huskydriver]

I am in the same boat on this topic I am able to buy two cans these will be my first cans minus my Barrett Can in Jail. I reviewed Sandman K,S,L and Nomads and even the Wolfman for 9mm and some rifle I but am torn. I need to switch between 6.5CM, 300BLK,5.56 and .308. 9mm would be my last concern. I have a 10.3 night gun that I run nods with and Ir ect it needs a can bad. I think getting a K to mid can and one full size can would be best so Idk. I also own a Saw so I mean I could think about that too but ammo is so high no plans to dump that like crazy any time soon. I like the idea of KeyMo for ease of use so Sandman will save me money upfront but at the same time I like what I am hearing about the Nomad the Wider body makes it sound better and it’s quieter and lighter. I am so new to cans that I don’t even know if I would be dissapinted with any if them because I would be happy to just finally be suppressed. I plan on buying cans as much as I can afford in the future just where to start. I have been researching day and night for awhile now and am driving myself crazy lol.

I would do a an S over a K on a 10.3" rifle

 

[Devildog247]

I would do a an S over a K on a 10.3" rifle

I was debating on a S and a L but is that to close of a can should I switch it up. How much more suppression am I getting with the L? I also debated on a dedicated can for the 10.3 to leave in on their like a OSS with it’s interesting baffle set up.

 

[Huskydriver]

I was debating on a S and a L but is that to close of a can should I switch it up. How much more suppression am I getting with the L?

On a 10.3" rifle, the db diff isn't worth the extra length imo

 

[loveha]

I didn't have time this weekend. But I plan to take my Sandman S, Sandman Ti (Like the L just DT and Ti tube), and Nomad Ti out on my bolt action 24" 6.5CM. Will be unscientific, so it will just be vague conveyances of how they sound and feel. Loudness, tone, recoil, etc...

 

[Joeg26er]

I didn't have time this weekend. But I plan to take my Sandman S, Sandman Ti (Like the L just DT and Ti tube), and Nomad Ti out on my bolt action 24" 6.5CM. Will be unscientific, so it will just be vague conveyances of how they sound and feel. Loudness, tone, recoil, etc...

@loveha did you get to test these out?

 

[FuhQ]

@loveha did you get to test these out?

I will say this, I shot my Sandman-S last weekend and it was surprisingly quiet on my 14.5" 5.56 and 16" .300 BLK AR's. I had it sent to my local SOT that has a range, so I get to have conjugal visits with it. I might go this afternoon and shoot it on my 6.5 Grendel AR and my R700 in .260 Remington. For a 6.8" can, it's damn impressive. But I can't wait for my Nomad-LT stamps to come back so I can compare them to each other (my first 3 were sent to a different SOT that doesn't have a range and is 75 miles away, because I needed to use their kiosk for fingerprints).

 

[bunsen27]

I am in the same boat on this topic I am able to buy two cans these will be my first cans minus my Barrett Can in Jail. I reviewed Sandman K,S,L and Nomads and even the Wolfman for 9mm and some rifle I but am torn. I need to switch between 6.5CM, 300BLK,5.56 and .308. 9mm would be my last concern. I have a 10.3 night gun that I run nods with and Ir ect it needs a can bad. I think getting a K to mid can and one full size can would be best so Idk. I also own a Saw so I mean I could think about that too but ammo is so high no plans to dump that like crazy any time soon. I like the idea of KeyMo for ease of use so Sandman will save me money upfront but at the same time I like what I am hearing about the Nomad the Wider body makes it sound better and it’s quieter and lighter. I am so new to cans that I don’t even know if I would be dissapinted with any of them because I would be happy to just finally be suppressed. I plan on buying cans as much as I can afford in the future just where to start is the question . I have been researching day and night for awhile now and am driving myself crazy lol.

I just got my Sandman-S out of jail last weekend. I have a Nomad-30 w/keymo and had been running it on my AR's. The Nomad-30 w/keymo is just a touch longer than the Sandman-S and about the same weight (17.7oz). After running the Sandman-S on my 14.5in and 11.3in guns I would definitely go with the Sandman-K. It's barely 1.5" shorter, but that 5oz less hanging off the end of the barrel would be a marked improvement IMO. You're going to need ear pro regardless with both the -S or -K on an AR. As for the full sized option, Nomad-L or -LT all the way. For just $55 more than the Nomad-30 it's a no brainer.

 

[loveha]

@loveha did you get to test these out?

Unscientifically, it was mostly a wash, with a slight edge to the Nomad maybe. The S seemed a little louder like it should. Both Ti cans were so close to naked ears I couldn't tell them apart. Recoil with my 24" 6.5CM from MPA was the same it felt. Maybe I should have tried it with ears in, maybe could have heard better details. I normally do because it still hurts without. I shot maybe 40 rounds and regretted it somewhat.
Long barreled bolt action rifles in SA calibers it matters not to me personally.
I may try the same thing with a 24" 300WSM. Or, better yet, a 16" 308 AR10. With ear pro this time. I feel the AR10 would have been a better test. But if you are looking to do just one can, with no need for the stellite baffles. Get just a regular Nomad, or the Ti if you want it lightweight. I will probably never buy another long can personally. The Sandman Ti compared to the S and Nomad Ti is not worth the extra length in what you get for the few extra decibels. Longer cans look great on paper, but real world, eh. If you are doing just bench or prone, then sure get an L. My Sandman Ti will be used on just the MPA 6.5 as that is all I use it for. My S is for my ARs, and my new Nomad Ti will be for hunting.

 

[Redoubt99]

Ill come at the question from a different angle.
I own both the Dead air Nomad and Sandman L.
The reason why I would vote for the Sandman over the nomad is construction. I guess the way I look at it is Im really not sure what the legality of suppressors are going to be in the coming years. With the powers that be we never know if the market is going to dry up or stop manufacturing. I guess it just takes one mass shooting with a suppressor and the left will be up in arms even more. So no where to send for maintenance or repair.
So my mentality is I chose the Sandman for its durability.
On a bolt gun, the weapon would last not only my lifetimes but my children's.

 

[FuhQ]

Quick video I made yesterday with my Sandman-S on my 16" .300 BLK and 24" 6.5 Grendel.

Sorry about the background noise, it's normally pretty quiet, but it wasn't yesterday.

 

[CiTY HuNTeR]

Sorry I missed this. I guess I need to turn on notifications or something. I've had my head down working on our new taper mount, and times are just crazy busy in general.

Here's my take on it all from the designer and how we positioned the Nomad and Sandman in the lineup:

For full auto, continuous, heavy shooting, there's just nothing that beats the Sandman. The KeyMount mounting system is welded into it and it doesn't come loose on the muzzle device when shooting. The stellite baffles handle erosion better than any other material out there. It also comes off when you want. It's known for very low backpressure and is very "friendly" for DI guns in that it allows for easy set up to get them hearing safe at the ejection port (i.e. changing out buffer weight, gas block adjustment, A5 buffer system, etc.). Many suppressors will require all of the above mods, where the Sandman-S or especially the -K may just require one of the above. That all depends on many factors, hence the term that it's "friendly" for hearing safe setup. The rifle is usually dialed in pretty quickly.

The Nomad will still take full auto fire and even sustained hard use. Heat is only the enemy in terms of baffle erosion. The 17-4 stainless is crazy strong, but will begin to wear before stellite will at those high temps. Note that it takes sustained high temps and firing schedules to see this, though. If you get a suppressor glowing red hot every time you're out shooting, then the Sandman is for you. I've ran many Nomads in full auto tests I can tell you that a few mag dump sessions of 4-6 straight mags of full auto use will begin to impinge the face of the blast baffle and you'll see roughness along the bore-line--but no increase in diameter of the bore due to wear. Otherwise, the Nomad will offer you more options. If you have a favorite mount on all of your rifles, then it let's you still run with that if the manufacturer provides an adapter for it.

It's also quieter than the Sandman-S and is lighter. It has a super efficient baffle stack that is not a standard cone design. It redirects gas into secondary chambers and it also allows that gas to return back across the bore-line to impede reverse flow back down the bore. The net effect is backpressure that is on par with the Sandman-S (which is awesome as mentioned above), while still being efficient at the muzzle. Many suppressors that are super efficient at the muzzle will massively drive up backpressure (i.e. the Omega 300). You'll also find that the Nomad works incredibly well on subsonic ammo and shines even more as the pressure goes up with supersonic cartridges.

The Nomad's baffle structure is like a lattice bridge where it directs the forces to reinforced points. The welded joints you see between the baffle sections are super thick and that's where all the hoop stress is diverted. That's why it has a higher caliber rating than the Sandman series (300 Norma Mag).

I hope that helps answer some questions!

Todd Magee
Dead Air Engineering

Thanks for the explanation. So it seems that Nomad has higher pressure resistance due to its structure but lower heat resistance due to material comparing to Sandman-S? I bought my Sandman S for mainly using 5.56 AR and 300 BO pistols, occasionally on 308 or bigger calibers (more pressure, not necessarily bigger diameter). Guess that'd be a good fit? Would you please illustrate more about DI guns with short barrels (i.e. changing out buffer weight, gas block adjustment, A5 buffer system, etc.)? For example, I have 10.5" carbine gas (mk18 layout) 5.56 upper and 8.5" pistol gas 300 BO upper, will they need any of the above modifications to use with Sandman S? Or if I only need to wait for any issue happened?

I'm curious about the Nomad's new structure tho. Is it somewhat internally like the OSS? I know that one also have back flow and side flow to let the gas come in at different angle and time.

 

[CiTY HuNTeR]

Ill come at the question from a different angle.
I own both the Dead air Nomad and Sandman L.
The reason why I would vote for the Sandman over the nomad is construction. I guess the way I look at it is Im really not sure what the legality of suppressors are going to be in the coming years. With the powers that be we never know if the market is going to dry up or stop manufacturing. I guess it just takes one mass shooting with a suppressor and the left will be up in arms even more. So no where to send for maintenance or repair.
So my mentality is I chose the Sandman for its durability.
On a bolt gun, the weapon would last not only my lifetimes but my children's.

I agree with you. That's why I originally looking at Omega 36M, but that thing has 900+ backorders on the silencer shop. So I jumped to get the FDE sandman-S while it's in stock. My first can, Hybrid 46 is still on backorder 2 months after I paid my FFL (and I cannot cancel because they'll charge me a 20% "restocking fee" on something not in stock). So I guess I'll just wait for the hybrid 46 and throw a keymo adapter onto it later.

 

[Matt337458]

I’ve shot behind several of the nomad and sandman’s. I ordered the nomad ti.

 

[FuhQ]

New video from Sunday afternoon... Had some fun shooting the suppressed .300 BLK with my handloaded subsonics @ 200 yards... Fixed 3x power scope... This is with the new Dead Air Sandman-S MIL-Contract can...

Feel free to hit the like button (on YouTube) and subscribe... It would really help me out.

 

[FuhQ]

 

[FuhQ]

New video is up! If you like it, please go to the YT link, and hit the thumbs-up button, and the SUBSCRIBE button, and share it all over your social medias. I'm really trying to grow my channel. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!