One can to rule them all?
In case you’ve been living under a rock these past few months, the world of firearms noise suppressors, or silencers, as their inventor called them, has been completely changed. The passage of legislation which reduced the cost of the tax stamp needed to own a suppressor to $0 has resulted in a land-office rush to own suppressors. In addition to this, multiple lawsuits have been filed which seek to eliminate the need for a tax stamp altogether. The question now is, what kind of suppressor should you get?
Broadly speaking, there are three different kinds of suppressors. The first group is meant for rimfire firearms, either rifles or pistols, which can’t hold up to the pressure of centerfire ammunition. The second is pistol suppressors, which are designed for (you guessed it) pistol-caliber rounds, and the third is rifle suppressors, designed for your long guns.
However, new technologies and new ideas are blurring the lines between pistol suppressors and rifles suppressors, and leading this new wave of “do it all” cans is the B&T Vers36Ti.
The Vers36Ti is so innovative, it’s hard to know where to start, so let’s start up front, at the shooteye end of this suppressor. The end cap of the Vers36ti is removable, and can be swapped out for end caps with different diameter openings. The suppressor ships with two end caps: One with an opening that is 0.36 inches in diameter suitable for use with rifle rounds like 8.6 Blackout and 338 ARC as well as pistol rounds up to 9mm, and another with an opening that is 5.56mm in diameter for, well, you can figure that one out yourselves.
Also included are 1/2×28 and a 5/8×24 direct thread adapters and a wrench to take everything apart. That “taking everything apart” part is one of the areas where the Vers36Ti really shines. This is a modular, hybrid suppressor, which means that it is meant for use with a wide variety of firearms. Take a wrench to the front end cap, and all of sudden your 9mm pistol-caliber suppressor works with your AR-15. A 7.62mm diameter end cap is also available to work with your AR-10 or hunting rifle.
The second innovation of the B&T Vers36Ti is its reduced backpressure design. I shoot long guns off of my left shoulder, which puts the ejection port of most rifles right in front of my mouth and nose. This means that if a suppressor kicks back an excessive amount of gasses and unburnt propellant through the barrel and ejection port, it winds up directly in my face, resulting in a very unpleasant shooting experience.
The Ver36Ti cuts back on this unpleasant experience with a series of openings in the front end which allow lower-pressure gasses to escape out front and not go back into the gun. The result is a much more pleasant shooting experience and fewer noxious and toxic gasses thrown back into the shooter’s face.
Thirdly, the “Ti” in the Ver36Ti’s name is short for “titanium,” the primary material for this suppressor. The suppressor is created using laser fusion technology, which allows it to have a complex internal design to tame exhaust gasses without a huge price tag. Titanium is very lightweight: The full-size version of this suppressor weighs only 11.3 ounces, yet it’s capable of handling rounds up to .338 Lapua and is rated for full-automatic fire.
The modularity of the Vers36Ti doesn’t stop with its modular end caps: There is also a Nielsen device available for this suppressor which allows it to be mounted on a delated-blowback pistol, the style of action found in just about every 9mm pistol on the market today. Now all of sudden, your rifle suppressor can become a pistol suppressor, and things get really interesting.
I’ve owned suppressors for a few now, and for the most part, each suppressor is dedicated to one of my rifles. There is an exception for my rimfire suppressor, which travels in-between my .22LR rifles and .22LR pistols with threaded barrels with no issues at all. However, when it comes to rifles, my suppressors tend to stay with one gun.
The Vers36Ti breaks this rule. It’s ridiculously easy to change between the direct thread mounts for your rifle to the Nielsen device for your pistol, and equally easy to go between rifle calibers. The Ver36Ti takes this even further with a two-piece barrel design. The two pieces thread together and allow you to make the suppressor smaller and lighter when needed, at the cost of some sound suppression.
To test this out, I took my B&T Vers36Ti to the range, along with a Glock G19 with a threaded barrel, a Military Arms Corp MAC5 9mm large format pistol, a Primary Weapons System AR-15 in 5.56mm and an Aero Precision AR-10 in 7.62x51mm. I tested each of them in a 25-yard pistol bay by placing a smartphone running the National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health Noise Level app one meter away from the muzzle. For the 9mm tests, I fired five rounds of 147 grain Speer Lawman ammo through each gun and recorded the highest sound level at each position. I did the same for the AR-15 using 77 grain SIG Sauer OTWM rounds and 175 grain Remington Matchking BTHP ammo for the AR-10.
Test Results
Projected Noise Dose is how much of the OSHA hearing standards you’d reach if you were constantly exposed to that level of sound. Clearly, the Vers36Ti makes a big difference in your comfort level at the range.
Now let’s talk about one of the best things about B&T VErs36Ti: Its price. This is a low-backpressure, 3-D printed, multiplatform titanium suppressor that is rated for full auto. That is a lot of features to pack into one suppressor, and the engineering to pull this off doesn’t come cheaply. However, somehow the wizards at B&T have managed to keep the price of this can inline with other higher-end titanium suppressors and give it a retail price of just $999. That means that for slightly more than a dedicated titanium rifle suppressor, you can get a can that works on your rifle, your pistol-caliber carbine and with a few dollars more, will work on your 9mm pistol as well.
What’s not to love?
There are some downsides to this can. B&T says that using the Vers36Ti for extended periods of time on guns with a barrel length of less than 10 inches may cause excessive wear on the barrel. Also, all that modularity means you have to pay strict attention to the current configuration of the suppressor. There was one point during my testing I attached the can to my .308 AR-10 and was about to take a shot, but had the sneaking suspicion something was wrong. Turns out I had left the 5.56mm end cap on the can from a previous test. Shooting a .30 caliber projectile through that narrower opening would have been… bad.
All tolled, because of its high-performance feature set, rock-solid construction and ability to adapt quickly to different types of guns, the B&T Vers36 might just be the perfect place to start your journey into the world of suppressors. “Buy once, cry once” never looked so good. Find out more at bt-usa.com.
B&T Vers36Ti Specifications
- Caliber: Up to .338 Lapua Magnum
- Weight: 7.4 to 11.3 ounces
- Length: 4.9 to 6.9 inches
- Material: 3-D printed titanium
- Diameter: 1.7 inches
- Items included: Suppressor, .36 inch end cap, 5.56mm end cap, wrench.
- MSRP $999
To locate a dealer near you visit www.lipseys.com/dealerfinder