Pistol suppressors reconsidered: boosterless cans and holster fixes

Key points: Pistol suppressors reconsidered boosterless

• Nearly every modern handgun is a Browning tilting-barrel short-recoil design, so hanging a suppressor off the muzzle pulls the barrel out of the position it needs to feed from and robs energy from the slide and barrel cycle.
• A booster restores that cycling by kicking the recoil system and briefly decoupling the slide and barrel from the suppressor's mass, at the cost of a strange delayed second impulse that makes boosted pistols shoot poorly.
• Pistol actions open faster and are far more open than a carbine's, so suppressed handguns blow unburnt powder straight back at the shooter — worst on the Beretta 92, whose 180-degree open top makes it a bad suppressor host despite its reputation.
• Reliability suffers even on Glock-pattern guns: suppressor-ready models like the Ruger RXM threaded-barrel and Walther PDP Pro SD ship a heavier recoil spring in the box, roughly 18 pounds against a stock 16, to close the slide against the extra mass and higher back pressure.
• Suppressed pistols get ammo-picky in a way unsuppressed ones are not — flat-nose 147 grain FMJ caused feeding failures in both the RXM and a Glock 43, while round-nose 147s and hotter loads like Speer Lawman ran consistently, and .45 ACP is subsonic without effort.
• The real improvement is boosterless titanium: an FOA Systems Pluto 9 under 3 ounces direct-threads to a Glock 43 or RXM, runs more reliably than the boosted setup, and suppresses about as well as a Gemtech Lunar 9 in K configuration — baffle count and length matter more than can volume, and the booster section suppresses nothing.
• Carry is solvable but inelegant: a Phlster Floodlight will swallow a short can on some platforms, the T-Rex Arms Ragnarok SD and similar designs index on the weapon light, the Crye Precision Gun Clip grabs only the trigger guard but parks a hot suppressor against your leg, and the Hush Holster adds a thumb break plus standoff.

About this Gun Review video

Pistol suppressors, re-argued by someone who called them a waste of a tax stamp: Hop lays out why suppressed handguns shoot and run worse than suppressed rifles — muzzle weight dragging a Browning tilting barrel out of position, the booster's delayed second recoil impulse, unburnt powder blown back into your face — then covers what has actually changed. Sub-3-ounce titanium boosterless cans, heavier recoil springs shipped with suppressor-ready pistols like the Ruger RXM and Walther PDP Pro SD, subsonic 9mm that will feed, and holsters that let you carry the thing.

Transcript: Pistol suppressors reconsidered