Don’t Buy This If You Enjoy the DMV
November 25th, 2019
4 minute read
There are roughly one million sound suppressors currently in the NFA registry. You pay $200 each time you exercise this particular Second Amendment right, a thing that sounds unnatural even as I type it. However, while that’s hardly chump change the really onerous bit is the wait.
The last BATF Form 4 I did took nearly a year. If anybody out there can explain to me why the same government that can eavesdrop on my email in real time and successfully land robots on Mars needs a year to process my suppressor form, I’d like to hear it. Take your time. I’ll be waiting patiently.
Anyway, as a result, it behooves us to get maximum use out of each NFA item. As it relates to sound suppressors for handguns, it’s tough to beat the SilencerCo Omega 45K. While the Omega 45K is designed for .45 ACP handguns, the addition of a spare 9mm mount lets the same can run on dozens of platforms.
Details
SilencerCo is a foundational name in modern American sound suppressors. If you’ve never heard of them feel free to head back into the basement and resume your Minecraft. SilencerCo makes some of the finest sound suppressors on the planet.
The Omega 45K is designed to be lightweight and versatile. An all-welded tubeless design, there’s just not much on the thing to break. The Omega 45K is full-auto rated, manages both supersonic and subsonic .300 BLK, and requires essentially no maintenance. Clean it if you want. Don’t if you don’t. The Omega 45K doesn’t really care.
The only bit that requires just a little attention is the LID, or “Linear Inertial Decoupler.” This inspired contraption is the most innovative invention since Thomas Crapper perfected the flush toilet (No kidding. Google it.) The LID captures a wee bit of escaping gas and uses it to give the front of your pistol a tiny tap with each shot. This keeps the action reliable. In roughly ten zillion rounds fired through LID-equipped sound suppressed handguns, I have had exactly zero failures.
The Omega 45K is roughly 1.5″ longer and 3.5 oz. heavier than the Omega 9K. However, while you can run 9mm through the Omega 45K, you obviously cannot run .45 through the smaller can. SilencerCo offers thirteen different pistons along with a direct thread mount for submachine guns and pistol-caliber rifles. If you can’t fit the Omega 45K to your gun you might be too picky.
How Does She Run?
I run my Omega 45K primarily on a Springfield Armory XD-M in .45 ACP. This freaking monster of a handgun sports a 5.34″ threaded barrel, three 13-round magazines, suppressor-height steel sights both front and rear, and an awesome two-tone black on top/FDE on bottom color scheme. This is not the gun you’d want to try to hide underneath shorts and a t-shirt, but if some meth-fueled miscreant comes poking around your hacienda at 0300 in search of trouble, the XD-M will reliably give it to him. Slap a Streamlight TLR-8 G combination light/green laser on the accessory rail and you can both displace the darkness and provide pinpoint fire with a trivial weight penalty.
The ample mass keeps the gun eminently controllable despite its massive 230-gr. payload, while the generous double stack mags keep you running and gunning long after lesser guns have sputtered and died. The magazine release is a genuine bilateral push button. The grippy frame seals nicely to your hand, even when sweaty or rushed, without being abrasive.
The .45 ACP is a big bullet, so it still makes some noise. However, should you actually need to use this thing across your daughter’s bedroom or down the hall the Omega 45K allows you to communicate with your family as well as responding law officers. When fired in a wide-open space it will just barely ring your bell without muffs.
The same can on a 9mm platform with subsonic ammo is fairly comfortable. Skeet a little ablative material like WD40 down its gullet, and the effect is even nicer. The larger exit pupil really doesn’t seem to have much adverse effect on 9mm handguns.
Ruminations
You may love to fill out government forms and wait. If so, your local DMV is open from 11 until 2 every odd-numbered Thursday with two hours off for lunch. For the rest of us, however, the SilencerCo Omega 45K is a practical and efficient multi-caliber suppressor solution.
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Will Dabbs, MD
Will was raised in the Mississippi Delta and has a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After eight years flying Army helicopters, he left the military as a Major to attend medical school. Will operates an Urgent Care clinic in his small Southern town and works as the plant physician for the local Winchester ammunition plant. He is married to his high school sweetheart, has three adult children, and has written for the gun press for a quarter century.
