High performance cars are as much about lifestyle as they are speed or handling. There’s a certain swagger their drivers enjoy. So it is with silencers. Be the only guy that shows up with the new Salvo 12 shotgun silencer from SilencerCo and it won’t be long before you’re answering questions and signing autographs. Okay, maybe not signing autographs, but you’ll be the center of attention for a bit.
While rifle and pistol suppressors have largely gone mainstream in many places, shotgun silencers have largely lived in the realms of unicorns and Hollywood. With the launch of the Salvo 12 this week, that era ends. Now hunters, their dogs, competitive shooters and defenders of homes everywhere can pull triggers on 12 gauges without compromising their hearing.
A shotgun silencer not possible? Our first post on a major forum got that response. But, I’m writing this from Utah having spent two days shooting through the Salvo 12 with a select group of industry pros. NRA types, retailers and wholesalers are here along with writers, competitive shooters and shotgun manufactures. Everyone I’ve talked to is using words like “game changer.” No blowing smoke here.
We like talking about high speed hog hunting here. Suppressors are part of the equation for a lot reasons, some more significant than others. But since most people have only seen silencers in the movies, let’s start with the obvious.
Having a silencer on your gun sets you apart from those who don’t. Someone might well outshoot you, but they’ll still wish they had your can. Typically guns go BANG with an ear ringing report. And while you can still gain tangible benefits from ear pro while using silencers on some mid to big bore guns, the muffled sound of their suppressed report is magnetic. And utilitarian.
Yes, utilitarian.
That loud BOOM from your gun isn’t good for your ears, tough guy. The military spends a fortune every year dealing with hearing issues. Guns are loud. Rumor has it that there’s a new addendum coming out to Napolean Hill’s classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Titled, “Get A Can, Bro!” it points out the obvious fact that you make more friends on the range with a silencer than with your high speed muzzle break telegraphing hateful concussions to mates on your left and right.
Until now, shotgun shooters have been left out of silencer revolution. SilencerCo is the first to crack the code on a commercially viable 12 gauge hearing safe silencer. Shipping to dealers around late September, the modular system allows users to change the length, and therefore the weight of the can. You can buy the Salvo 12 in four lengths: six, eight, ten and twelve inches. If you want to vary the length and weight, just buy the twelve-inch model and rod kit to remove sections. The six-inch silencer gets the noise level down to almost hear safe. The twelve inch can is remarkable.
Add twelve inches to your shotgun, and you end up with a long firearm with as much as two pounds hanging on the business end. In off the record conversations, those of us who shot with the Salvo 12 here agreed it might have taken a couple of minutes to get used to different balance, but after that we didn’t even notice it. Now we didn’t shoot all day with it like a competitive shooter or dove hunter might, but we could shoot as much as we wanted. A bullpup shotgun gets even more interesting at this point.
The Salvo 12 mounts to a shotgun barrel via an adapter that screws into the choke threads. The body of the silencer then mounts to the adapter. Nine internal rails guide the wad to the exit hole, preventing baffle strikes and keeping the shot together. So, yes, you can shoot shot and wadded slugs through suppressor and keep things quiet. Quiet enough, anyway.
With no hearing protection and multiple guns being fired, we talk and record videos easily. Those quiet attributes are all terrific on the range, but they pay dividends when defending the home front or hunting.
You’ve been there – you and a buddy or two come up on a sounder of wild hogs waiting to become bullet sponges. You want to get close and you want to count down and fire together, on three. But someone is out of sync because his hearing protection muffled everything and what could have been a six hog takedown turns into a one hog let down. Suppressors correct that equation.
Beyond being quieter, a silencer getting control of the gasses exploding from the end of your barrel tends to reduce muzzle rise and felt recoil. And add weight to the end of your gun, of course. The other initial objection from someone online who hasn’t seen first hand or shot with the Salvo 12 was that “It’s ugly.” And the erosion of your hearing is pretty? The Slavo 12 looks beautifully effective to me.
Add all that up, and you can see where your first silencer purchase would rightly be viewed as just that – the first of numerous. The world’s first commercially available shotgun silencer has an MSRP of $1400. So the cost of buying suppressors can add up, but how many people have an unused gun or two lying around that could be sold to facilitate something as awesomely cool and perfectly utilitarian? The SilencerCo Salvo 12 is rightly called revolutionary, a first, a game changer. It’s almost time to fly home so I can send our paperwork off to add one to the SHWAT™ arsenal.
