Gemtech - Simply The Most Versatile Suppressors Ever...

[SteyrAUG]

Now I should preface this by stating that my intro to suppressors was the early 80s. And despite having been created in the first part of the century they were still little more than a novelty and often a nuisance.

Generally they were a big heavy tube of rubber donuts. When on a rifle that was modified to accept one the round struck each donut in succession gaining a new and inconsistent flight trajectory which pretty much defeated the purpose of using a rifle in the first place.

On a handgun or SMG they were usually 1 and 1/3, but sometimes twice, as long as the host firearm with a huge diameter that obscured the sights and often weighed as much as the host firearm.

And those were the "good ones" and there was no such thing as "Hollywood" quiet.

The bad ones were often little more than a tube of washers, steel wool or similar packing material that accomplished little beyond growing rust. And if you happened to own one you ran the risk of the ATF boogeyman declaring any rubber donut or piece of steel wool an "unregistered" suppressor component.

My how things have changed. And they have changed more in the last 20 years than they have in the previous 80 when Maxim made his first "gun muffler" around 1902.

First Gemtech gave us the HALO. This was a "no tools" marvel that can be fitted to any rifle or carbine with a NATO profile flash hider. This meant one single non proprietary can could fit on nearly 2/3s of the rifles in my collection. It also meant it could be switched from rifle to rifle in the field without running around with a wrench and a removed flash hider and washer in your pocket.

It was revolutionary.

And now Gemtech has the Multi Mount. One can for nearly all your handguns and SMGs. It is lightweight and versatile.



Now on SMGs it is not gonna give you the same performance as a Raptor II or Mossad can. But it is lighter and shorter than both (almost half the weight of the Uzi can) while still performing well. Not to mention actually fitting both guns.





For heavy extended full auto I would probably recommend having a Raptor II or a Mossad suppressor, but for a jack of all trades can this one does a good job. And unlike dedicated SMG suppressors, the Multi mount is not "too huge" for handguns.



At 6.5 ounces it doesn't make your average handgun too front heavy. And of course it is "barely there" on a carbine or SMG.

Glocks, SIGs, Berettas, HKs, etc. Just get the proper mount for the handgun and this can is good to go.

And at $525.00 (plus cost of mount) it is extremely affordable.

[Thomas M-4]

Nice review I have been thinking of purchasing a Gemtec Halo suppressor for my carbine it has a saber defense extended A2 FH I suppose the saber FH would not work unless I am wrong in that assumption? I guess I would have to swap it out for the voltor FH.

[QuietShootr]

Steyr,

Agreed. The HALO is a vastly underappreciated work of art.

[SteyrAUG]

Nice review I have been thinking of purchasing a Gemtec Halo suppressor for my carbine it has a saber defense extended A2 FH I suppose the saber FH would not work unless I am wrong in that assumption? I guess I would have to swap it out for the voltor FH.

I don't know. Best bet is to ask them directly.

techstaff@gem-tech.com

[shooter521]

I just picked up my own MultiMount a week or so ago.







I will be starting the paperwork on a HALO later this year. I already have the AK-74 FSB adapter for it, so it will be able to fit every 5.56 and 5.45 carbine in my inventory... I'm all about getting the most bang (or thwack as the case may be) for my tax-stamp buck.

[d90king]

You have some really nice toys! Thanks for the write up.

[Sid Post]

Another good alternative is the SWR Trident 9. I like the "tone" a little better.

[ZDL]

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[SteyrAUG]

This might be a commonality in pistol suppressors as I have little knowledge on the subject but, on your SIG... How do you aim with the sights obscured?

Most handgun suppressors partially or fully obscure the sights. As a result you learn to get a sight picture and superimpose it on your target. Not exactly a method that will permit you the winning score at a 100m handgun competition but it still gets you in the black at common engagement distances.

Now many companies make dedicate "SD" handguns with tall sights so you can see over a can. The drawback is they don't fit the usual hostlers because of the tall front sight. In the case of the SIG tactical, they went with standard sights and that is fine by me as I'm only gonna add a can "as needed."

AAC offered a can for the Beretta M9 where they actually put the sights on the can itself. This was possible because it wasn't a "thread on" suppressor but attached with a coupler to a specially notched barrel. Was actually a pretty slick setup but they ran into problems with barrels not being properly notched to accept the suppressor. And of course you have the drawback of a dedicated "one gun" can.

I've also seen a few cans that are slim enough to remain below the sights on an average handgun but they tend to be really long and offer far less suppression.

[shooter521]

Today my friend Doug and I were able to squeeze in a few hours at the range in between rain storms. It ended up being a mostly NFA outing, with Doug bringing his BCM 11.5" AR and Gemtech G5, and me bringing my 10.5" LMT AR, 9.5" 9mm AR, and my new Gemtech MultiMount.

10.5" LMT
I ran about 140 rounds through the gun, a mix of Wolf and Prvi Partizan 55gr FMJ. I had 2 failures to eject with the Wolf, and two failures to eject and a light strike with the PPU. I had issues like this all through the Magpul carbine course I took back in May. After the course, I changed out the extractor spring, and O-ring. Now I will be looking at the extractor itself and the ejector spring. I may also experiment with a lighter buffer (I'm currently running a 9mm buffer) to see if more energetic cycling will solve the problem. I fired about as many rounds of .22LR through the gun using my Ciener conversion kit, with zero problems. The new CMMG .22 magazines work great; I will be buying more.

Gemtech MultiMount
I started out with the MultiMount on my Glock 17, shooting regular 115gr FMJ as well as two types of 147gr subsonics. With the subsonic ammo, this combination is pretty quiet from the shooter's standpoint, and very quiet when observed from off to the side. There is a dramatic increase in the noise level shooting 115gr, of course, but it's all downrange (sonic crack). At the gun, the noise level remains comfortable and "hearing safe," and it was still possible to carry on a normal conversation when shooting.

Attaching the can results in a POI shift of about 1.5" low and to the right at 15 yards with subsonics, and about 1/2" with 115gr. According to the manual, you are supposed to be able to pull the can forward about 1/8" and rotate it to different indexing points within the LID mount in order to change POI for various loads, but this did not seem to have any measurable effect.

The thread mount has to be constantly checked and snugged down, or else it will back off a bit after 10 rounds or so. After 4 mags (80 rounds) of continuous firing, the can was too hot to handle, even after doubling up on shooting gloves. I'll be adding a welding glove to my range bag soon! At that point, I was also getting some serious heat mirage off the top of the can, which made aiming difficult. As a result, my group sizes started to open up. So I put the gun down to let the can cool off before swapping the LID mount out for the 3-lug adapter and moving it over to the 9mm AR.

The MultiMount-equipped 9mm AR shooting subsonics is wicked quiet - to my ear, it's very similar to shooting standard-velocity ammo out of my suppressed .22 pistol. POI shift is also much less than on the Glock (1/2" right at 25 yards with all ammo, and groups were tight), due to the heavier, rigid barrel and more stable mounting interface. This is where the can will spend 95% of its time. We finished up the day blasting clay birds off the berm with this combo... at 100 yards! The gun is basically shooting within the dot size (4 MOA) at that point, so it took us about 25 rounds to completely dust 4 birds. It was fun. The one thing that surprised me is how much of a thump the gun has when shooting suppressed; you can definitely tell it's cycling harder, but it doesn't really throw your aim off any because it is so fast, and straight back. If I spend a lot of time running the gun with the can on it, I might play around with an extra power recoil spring to soften the blow a bit.

BCM w/ Gemtech G5
Doug's gun runs, and runs, and runs. Always has. His setup is a lot heavier than my LMT, though, and the weight of the G5 on the front doesn't help any. It's manageable for outings like this, but I wouldn't want to do a 3-day class with it or anything. Where the gun really starts to shine is running the G5 with the Ciener .22 kit. Almost as quiet as running a dedicated .22 can, and 100% reliable. And today, to our giddy excitement, we discovered that this combo will also cycle subsonics. I think the staple gun I used to put up the targets made more noise. Seriously.

I also got to shoot my Glock 23 and 27, which I haven't had out in months for lack of reasonably priced .40 ammo, and got the iron sights and red dot dialed in on my 10/22, which also ran well.

So we didn't get to shoot quite as much as we would have liked, we got wet, and I don't have any pics to post, but it was still WAY better than a day at the office or home doing honey-dos.