Usually, when I see “one size fits all” I’m prepared for disappointment. As someone who is not average sized, it usually means “force it on until it fits” which almost always means “it doesn’t fit.” Well, I’m here to tell you that Silent Legion doesn’t disappoint. The Complete Multi-Caliber Kit covers the common rifle calibers, so you can have one can that quiets them all. And let’s save a lot of typing, and reading, and simply use the Silent Legion product code for this box ‘o wonderful; SL-MC. The MC comes with all the goodies you’ll need for 5.56, 6.8 Remington SPC, 7.62 NATO and .300 WinMag. That means the silencer itself, made out of Titanium, comes with a QD back plate, made to accept a two-lug QD mount. The QD back plate came already installed, and judging by the packaging, that’s the way they are shipped.
There are two QD mounts in the box, which are also flash hiders, and good ones at that. Some QD mounts are “flash hiders” but their real purpose is to act as the blast chamber, and don’t really work well at hiding flash. These do. And, work as part of the blast chamber as well. The two mounts are threaded 1/2x28 and 5/8x24, so you have two mounts ready to go for two rifles right out of the box. The two-lug mounting system is easy and straightforward. As is the usual process, you remove your existing flash hider or thread protector, clean the threads, and screw the mount on. Use your flat shims to “clock” the mount so the two lugs are vertically oriented. (You do have flat shims, right? Never use a crush washer or other type washer. Never.) Check alignment, and if it is all correct, remove everything and then apply super Loctite or Rocksett and torque it back on. Silent Legion advises 35–45 in-lbs. Just as an aside, Silent legion included in the box a package with Loctite 262 in it. That’s the red stuff, and while it is really good for a lot of applications (and too good for some as well) if I’m heating things up the way I usually shoot, red isn’t going to do it. So, set the 262 aside for other tasks, and use instead that tube of Rocksett you’ve got just for such occasions. To install your silencer once the mount has set, you simply slide the silencer over the mount, and align the wide slot on the rear cap with the wide lug on the mount. Then press it back all the way and give the silencer a counter-clockwise twist until it stops. Let go, and the internal spring will push the silencer into the machined recesses in the rear plate, and it is now held in place. To remove, wait for it to cool (that’s advice I’ll only have to give you once, I hope) and then press the silencer back towards the chamber, rotate clockwise until it stops, then pull it straight forward off of the mount. Yep, it’s that easy. Handguard Rail
Also in the box there are two extra rear caps, and these are direct-thread caps. Again, one is 1/2x28 and the other is 5/8x24, so all-told you can fit your SL-MC QD onto two rifles, and as many others as you have threaded, just as the box arrives to you. To swap the silencer to the direct-thread plates, you use the mount as a wrench. (All the more reason to have properly degreased your threads and used Rocksett in the installation.) Here, instead of pressing the silencer all the way onto the mount until it bottoms out, simply hold it onto the mount to the point where the mount lugs fit into the machined recesses of the rear plate. Now use the barrel and mount as your wrench to unscrew the rear plate. Once free, you can take a moment to do some cleaning of those parts. Now, hand-start the direct-thread plate of your choice into the rear of the silencer body, and then use the included two-prong wrench to fully tighten it. Yes, that’s right, Silent Legion even includes the two-prong wrench for installation, and as a result they don’t make you carry the rear plate in your pocket to the big-box tool store to find a two-prong set of pliers that would fit. (My guess, there isn’t one.) You could, depending on how many rifles you have that you want to put a silencer on, just leave the direct-thread mount on the barrel. Then, you simply unscrew the rear QD cap off, pull out the parts, and then thread the MC onto the already mounted direct-thread rear cap. If you have a bunch, then keep thread protectors on them, and put the direct thread rear cap into the silencer before mounting it. Now, when it comes to suppressors for 5.56 and 7.62-specific applications, I’ve got plenty. But what I don’t have are suppressors dedicated to the other calibers in the rack, like 6.8 Remington SPC, or 6.5 Grendel. The SL-MC lets me suppress those and not wrestle one off of a 7.62, since I have the two-lug QD mount and the direct-thread to use. And other calibers? Well, if the silencer in question is rated as being capable for the 6.8 SPC, then I have to figure it will be just fine with a 6.5 Grendel. Ditto for other calibers lesser in muzzle blast oomph than the .300 WinMag, which means .30-06, .270, 6.5 Creedmoor, you get the idea. In fact, pretty much any centerfire rifle cartridge that hurls a jacketed bullet no larger than .308" in diameter, and uses a case no larger than a .300 WinMag would be fair game. Nothing with an all-lead or unjacketed bullet, because as a sealed unit there’s no way to clean the gunk out of the MC, and such cartridges produce gunk in epic quantities. So no, not on your .22LR.
The silencer in the Multi-Caliber Kit appears to be the Silent Legion .30 QD suppressor, and I can’t find fault with that as the starting choice. So, you get a top-notch suppressor made out of Titanium (and that accounts for the 16 ounces of weight, for a .30 silencer) and enough mounting hardware to put it onto two rifles with QD mounts, and as many others as you have correct muzzle threads for in direct-thread configuration. If you want to have the QD option for other rifles as well, then extra mounts (either 1/2x28 or 5/8x24) can be had for just under a Benjamin each. The curious among you will wonder; “A .30 silencer, on a 5.56 rifle, can’t be doing much good. There’s too much of a gap.” You’d think so, but you’d be wrong. In my experience, a .30 silencer, installed on a 5.56 host, is going to deliver a suppression of sound that is maybe a decibel or two less than an otherwise identical can set up for 5.56. The problem in measuring such a setup/comparison is that there aren’t any silencers that are absolutely identical in design and fabrication in both 5.56 and .30, except for the diameter of the bore down the middle. If we were really going to determine the difference, what we’d have to do is take a 5.56 suppressor that is the size of a .30 suppressor (and good luck there, most 5.56 silencers are smaller, because they can be) shoot it and measure it, then bore out the center to be .30 size, and then measure again.
Once you have forever altered a silencer, you’ll find maybe (maybe) a 2 dB change. And you may not even have that much of a difference, as the internal volume in .30 silencers is often greater than that of 5.56. Again, nobody wants a honking big suppressor on their M4gery, so 5.56 silencers tend to be more compact than .30 ones are. Guess what? The human ear is good for detecting a 3 dB difference at best, less if your hearing is already compromised, or if you aren’t a musician. (And even some musicians can’t tell, being more attuned to pitch and tone than volume.) So, the short answer is: don’t worry, be happy. Be happy that for the price of one excellent silencer, you can park it on a whole raft of rifles, both in QD and direct-thread form. And all this in one box.
Michelle P. Hamilton, Field Editor
Michelle P. Hamilton, Field Editor
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