omega 9k with .223??

M

maverick8717

Inactive
I have an omega 9K in NFA jail at the moment, Silencer co does not rate it for .223 however it is rated for 300blk super sonic full auto out of a 10 in barrel. with 300 blk being of very similar pressure I am wondering what you guys think of shooting .223 out of a 16 in barrel at a max rate of 5-10 rounds per minute. I asked silencer co and they gave me the PR answer of "we don't rate it for .223", but I am looking for a more detailed answer, if not, why?
 
Welcome to TFL!

Yes, .223 and supersonic 300 Blackout have similar chamber pressure, but that's not the main concern with a silencer; what really matters is the pressure at the muzzle. The .223 has a lot more muzzle pressure than a 300 Blackout supersonic does, and that's why a can like the Omega 9K isn't rated for .223.

Now, you would improve your chances by using a 16" .223 barrel and shooting at a slow rate, but you still might be putting more pressure on the silencer than if you shot it on a 10" 300 Blackout with supersonic ammo. Since I've never seen any data regarding the muzzle pressure of supersonic 300 Blackout, I don't know how long your barrel would need to be on your .223 for the two to have equal muzzle pressure.

Here's a chart on 5.56 muzzle pressures with varying barrel lengths. The problem is that I've never seen this info regarding the 300 Blackout; I know it has less muzzle pressure than the 5.56, but I don't know how much less.

barrel5.jpg
 
No way Hose A. If you want to play grab a cheap 300 upper with no BCG and use subs. Will give you all you want with out blowing out your $1100 suppressor.
 
Thanks Theohazard, I have been looking as well and don't see any good info for what the muzzle pressure of 300blk would be. I looked at the 9k manual again and it is actually rated for 8 in barrel with super 300blk full auto. looking at how much pressures drop with barrel length I am quite confident it will be in a safe range, double the barrel length equals about half the pressure, and while .223 is higher pressure I doubt it is more than double, after all it has very close to the same amount of powder.

Anyway, I will continue my research however I think it looks like I will be just fine to run it.
 
That's higher than I expected. With numbers like those, you'd think that any silencer that could take a short-barreled supersonic 300 Blackout load could also take a 16" .223 load. Either I'm missing something here or maybe these numbers aren't all that accurate compared to real-world testing. Maybe, just like decibel ratings, muzzle pressure numbers are inconsistent and vary a lot from test to test.
 
Update, I found some one else that has run lots of .223 through an 9k as well as some .308. I visited my 9k today and put 20 rounds of .223 through it and was very impressed with the sound, probably 80% of a dedicated can. Also it feels just has heavy and solid as my omega 30 cal if not more so. so I now have no fear at all about it and will definitely continue to put lots of .223 through it... not sure about the .308.. maybe.. haha
 
Now ask your self why the factory ( you know the guys who get paid the big bucks and hire engineers to do all the math) did not approve 223 for this can? I sure if they found it safe they would of loved to add it as an additional caliber to use but they didn't so I'm sure there was a reason.
 
smee78 said:
Now ask your self why the factory ( you know the guys who get paid the big bucks and hire engineers to do all the math) did not approve 223 for this can? I sure if they found it safe they would of loved to add it as an additional caliber to use but they didn't so I'm sure there was a reason.
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You're probably right, but not necessarily.

I agree that it's usually in a silencer manufacturer's best interest to rate their silencers for as many calibers as they can take. But not always. Sometimes I think they don't want to pull sales from a particularly fast-selling silencer by making another silencer's functionality overlap too much with it.

Take AAC, for example. Back when the 762 SDN-6 was THE multi-purpose rifle silencer that excelled on 300 Blackout -- both supers and subs -- AAC also had the Ti-Rant 9 and 45 in their lineup. Now, as we all know, any 9mm or 45 can will be perfectly fine with subsonic 300 Blackout; there is more than plenty of bore clearance and the muzzle pressure isn't any higher than a 9mm or 45 load. But they specifically didn't rate the Ti-Rant 9 or 45 for subsonic 300 Blackout. They made a point not to make adaptors for that purpose.

I'm sure an AAC rep will give an official reason why they did this, but the fact is that almost all other manufacturers rated their pistol cans for 300 Blackout subs, and the Ti-Rant wasn't a significantly different design.

I think AAC realized that rating the Ti-Rant for 300 Blackout subs would take sales away from their hot-selling 300 Blackout-focused rifle can, the SDN-6.
 
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