Silencer Central & Banish 22, a review of both.

[BrianK]

Did my research and the Banish 22 was the can I wanted even though I have an NFA retailer <10 miles away. The retailer would have been quicker to get a can into my hot little hands. But I want what I want and not necessarily what is on a shelf locally. I wanted great attenuation, and light weight so to me that required titanium. The Banish 22 has all of that and not that I need it, is full auto rated and will do smaller .22 centerfire rounds (.22 Hornet is specifically mentioned).

SC=Silencer Central     CS=customer service

The process SC has in place is painless and easy and the folks there are patient and helpful. I tried to fill out the paperwork but for some reason was unsuccessful, plus I was having multiple computer issues and I was limping along waiting on a solution for my troubles to show up. But I called SC and their CS filled out the paperwork for me, me supplying answers. I already had a digital passport photo and e-prints that helped. It took time for the process and paperwork to move through SC. They check it before moving it on; makes sense. The wait for ATF approval is never fast enough and I put the can in a trust and that slowed things down a bit. But in 54 days I had it in my hands. That was much faster than every hardcopy I ever waited for; they averaged 6 months. Before putting bullets through it I wanted to open it up and check out the assembly and put Ceramic Shield in it for (hopefully) easier cleaning. Armstrong assembled it and even with 2 strap wrenches I couldn't remove the end caps. So I sent it back to SC for warranty work. 3 weeks later I had it back in my hands. I hope I got it through to SC that to ship it the end caps don't need to be so torqued down. The warranty work was 100% preventable.

The can is 100% Ti. The innards were beautiful but it wasn't going to stay beautiful for long. The can is (by ruler) 1" D x 5 3/8" long and weighs 4.4ozs. If memory serves it comes in 4 colors, mine is in black. It's shipped in 2 cartons and is packed in foam. The packaging  could be nuked and survive, so it'll survive the gorillas at UPS and mine did.  It also comes with a red anodized disassembly/reassembly tool for the outer end cap. The end cap that has the barrel thread doesn't require a tool. The baffels have lines engraved on them to assemble them correctly; just line up the lines. The baffles can be assembled w/o lining them up so I assume it's not super critical. Some day I'll deliberately misalign them.

I put some Ceramic Shield in it and moved it to allow it to run through the baffle stack. A short pause it what is suggested but I gave it overnight. Next day were the first shots. I never intend to use supersonic ammo through it so I didn't test that. I know what supersonic crack sounds like. I used various subsonic match grade rounds, and ammo with "subsonic" and "suppressor" written on the boxes. Some I've previously fired for precision and they sucked. But I was just firing for sound that day.  I used my KIDD in the 16" 6# configuration and various handguns and SBRs. I wasn't surprised at the action noise of the semis, and the quiet of a Contender. It's a pretty quiet can.

Next day I sighted in the KIDD. I had taken off a Nikon Prostaff scope that was adjusted for parallax at 100 yards and bought and mounted a Burris that has 50 yard parallax. One of the cans I used previously was a Dead Air Ghost. It can handle .45 ACP and .300BLK so it's bigger and heavier than needed for .22. The Ghost opened up groups on the KIDD slightly and larger groups is not why I bought a KIDD. The new Banish 22 is smaller and lighter and my hope was that it wouldn't make the groups larger. Next day I sighted it in and fired some quick groups and saw that it kept the tiny groups. But I need to shoot some serious groups before I quote figures. Ideally it will shrink groups. I have a .22 centerfire can that has that effect on some of the rifles it gets used on.

So oberall I'm happy with SC and the Banish 22. It sorta bummed me out about the warranty work but I got the full tour of SC. Would I do business with them again? If my LGS has what I want I'll do business there first unless they're unacceptably high priced (they're not the low or even mid-priced outfit). But SC was a pleasant experience, and I like the Banish 22, so yes, I'd do business with them again.

I like to keep padding on everything in the safe. I buy good stuff and don't want dents and dings. The can doesn't come with a sack or anything like that, and I'm not going to keep the packaging carton in the safe, it takes up too much room. So I spent time on Amazon and found a suitably sized flashlight holster that works fine. It also has an elastic "tube" on the side, maybe for a spare cell, and is stretchy enough to hold the assembly tool.

[shooterrex]

I just picked up an AB suppressors Little Bird. Basically the size of a cigar.  Does a great job even on my 22 pistols. 1st round pop is a little loud but after that sounds like a pellet gun. Haven't tried supersonic ammo yet. My local gunshop ordered it in and that took about 10 days to get to them. The form 4 to me took 6 days. All aluminum. The baffles are threaded in and it comes w/a tool to take it all apart except for the 1/2 X28 end. Happy so far with my purchase.

[shooterrex]

Just tried it on my 10/22. Standard barrel. The action makes as much noise as the suppressed shots. This is w/CCI Standard velocity ammo which is supposed to be 1070 fps. There is almost no 1st round pop with the rifle.

Edited April 2 by shooterrex

[shooterrex]

Little Bird — AB Suppressor https://share.google/0ksJaHWxrAXVT0i1q

[BrianK]

I have a friend who wants the Little Bird. He's herently an experimenter and thinks he'll like the adjustability of the threaded baffles. 

Me? I have enough to do just cleaning them w/o experimenting. Which brings up something I didn't write about. I'm trying a new product in the Banish 22. Rimfire is filthy. That's just the way it is. I'm using Ceramic Shield gun lube in the can. Squirt some in the thread end, move the can around to spread it around inside, and just fire as per normal. If deposits are seen building up at the back end give it another application. Yesterday I took the muzzle end cap off to see inside and the deposits were soft and wiped off with my fingertip. Just for kcks I removed the attachment end to look inside. Nothing to be concerned about but I gave it another squirt anyway just 'cause I was there. It appears to be working. Supposedly it allows for just wiping the can clean. I would think with the threaded interior of the Little Bird the Ceramic Shield could be worth using. There's also a clear cleaning solution that gets poured in and remains inside for hours (I wish I coud remember the name. Breakthrough?). Supposedly does a great job. Dead Air told me to use 50/50 water/Simple Green. There's a Simple Green that doesn't hurt aluminum, designed for use on aircraft.

My previous easy way to clean was soda blasting. But it's messy and takes time. On the positive side it gets into everything, the tightest of places and does a really good job. 

First round pop... I didn't notice any with the Banish 22. I'll pay more attention next time but I think I would have heard it if it was present esp' with the handguns.

[shooterrex]

The Little Bird baffles are cut like taps on the outside edge. They clean the threaded tube when you run them in and out. I only get first round pop out of my pistols. the 10/22 is quiet 1st to last round.

I haven't expermented with the position of the baffles yet. The factory suggested positioning seems to work quite well.

[MtnMike]

I've got a Banish 22 I've had for a bit.  Primary use it on a heavy barrelled 10/22, which is notably more accurate than my other .22s.  Great for groundhog control in a "civilized" neighborhood that frowns on firearm discharges.  Never had a complaint.  Significantly quieter than a high powered air rifle I have when using standard subsonic CCI minimags.  Also good for hearing-protection-free target plinking both with the 10/22 and a Mark IV 22/45 pistol.  The light weight of the unit is one of its best features.  I just clean it periodically by disassembling and throwing it in an ultrasonic parts cleaner. 

My experience with Silencer Central was o.k.  A few years back, the wait time on the ATF permit for a trust permit was forever.  It may have even been over a year as I recall.  Can't really blame SC for that.  But, I am also recalling that SC lobbied hard to keep the ATF permit requirement, even as the tax was being eliminated to protect their business model of "assisting with the permit process".  So, I doubt I reward them with any future business.

The legal history of the  legality of ATF permit process was that it wasn't a violation of the 2A, because the permit was a tax (per SCOTUS many years ago).  Without there being any tax aspect remaining, the entire permitting process is unconstitutional by the reasoning of that case.  Not sure when or if the current permit process will be challenged in the courts going forward.  Would have been far simpler for congress to simply eliminate it. SC helped keep that from happening is my recollection.  SO F them.

[BrianK]

Thanks MtnMike I didn't know that.