Today we take a look at why the Quick Attach silencer is so popular in the american suppressor scene.
It seems there is no shortage of makers who have their own take on the QA silencer design. Many of them work really well, while some do not. Still it seems that even the bad QA designs are more popular than direct thread suppressors. Why is this? Well…
First let’s look at some comparison specs:
- Are QA suppressors lighter? – Nope. The QA mount always adds to the weight of the suppressor and adding a mount to the host firearm also adds even more weight.
- Are QA suppressors smaller? – Nope. The length added to the back of the silencer by the QA mount makes it longer as well. Now some will argue ” over all added length” because they have also added a mount that the suppressor telescopes over, but in reality, this is misleading as the direct thread screws over the barrel and and QA mount will never telescope to the same point on the barrel as the mount will move the silencer forward somewhat almost every time.
- Are QA suppressors quieter? – Nope. They are the exact same model with a QA mount screwed into it. Also rifle silencers are not known for their “movie gun” suppression due to super sonic bullet flight noise, so even if it some how measures a dB or 2 better, it is still going to be in the 130dB range. This is still really loud so that is out.
- Are the cheaper? – Nope-a-roo… Adding the QA mount always adds to the cost of a design over a direct thread end-cap. This is basic economics, it simply costs more to make all the QA mount parts and the weapon mount that the silencer fits over than it does to make a simple end-cap.
- Do they have “Cool factor”? – Yep. This is where the magic begins to happens for the QA silencer. You see it looks more complex so it has this appeal to men as men typically like complex mechanisms for some reason.
- Do they have longer service lives? – Yep… usually. You see with the muzzle brake mount designs, the weapon mounted muzzle brake will act as a sacrificial blast baffle that takes the beating from unburnt powder granules and hot gasses so as to make the silencer baffles last much longer. Plus if you burn the bore out of your brake, simply replace the worn out brake with a new one and you are basically right back to the beginning of the service life cycle.
- Do they add versatility? – Not really. You see, some people will also argue that they can put the same mount of multiple weapons and simply move the can from one rifle to the next. They fail to mention that a direct thread silencer can do the exact same thing. The only real differences are that the direct thread takes longer since it takes more time to unscrew the silencer and screw it onto another rifle. (something like one minute) and the direct thread design leaves the muzzle threads of your rifles unprotected so you need to either be more careful with them or use some thread protectors on the threads.
- Secret sauce… People are free to choose what ever they want. This is why we sell both kinds of silencers, some people want mounts, some people dont. We are all free to choose what ever we want for our rifles, but just know that slick marketing will try to tell you that the QA designs are the ones to get as they cost more which in turn increases the monthly sales numbers for your favorite silencer company…not because they are better…
This is all my personal opinion on why silencers with QA mounts outperform direct thread suppressor in sales for the most part. We have long felt that direct thread silencers were better and been very slow to adopt QA designs. We finally have done a few but we still recommend our Amendment and Constitution suppressors regularly over our more expense QA designs like the Sovereign and Agent.
Food for thought, hope you have a great day and keep your powder dry!