Hearing protection is critically important for firearms enthusiasts. In today’s article, author Joe Woolley offers his views on the Dead Air Sandman S sound suppressor. Suitable for hunting, tactical and recreational use, the suppressor offers a way to tame muzzle blast as well as protect your ears in the field.
The late Colonel Jeff Cooper promulgated four rules of firearms safety, so succinct and specific that they are taught in most of the firearms classes you or I are likely to attend.
Those are, basically:
- Treat all guns as if they are loaded
- Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to kill or destroy
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target
- Be certain of your target and what is around and behind it
As a long-time instructor for Texas License to Carry classes, I can promise you that they are important enough to be on the exam each potential licensee is required to pass. And they have been part of the curriculum of every class I have ever attended. We’re going to call this a hint.
I’m also going to call for a fifth rule that you can break without anyone getting shot, but they will still hurt.
Eye and Ear Protection are Mandatory
Perhaps because things like hearing conversations are important to me, I wear hearing aids and have for a long time. Now, I have been shooting for 45 years, but I have been hard-of-hearing since I was a child. My sister is deaf in one ear, and my mother was deaf as a stump — and neither one of them shot. There are obviously some interesting genetics present in my situation.
That said, while hearing protection is especially important to me, it should not be any less so to the average person on the range or in a deer stand. Good, properly adjusted and fitted hearing aids can really help. They, however, are not up to the quality of the equipment the Good Lord started us with — trust me. Instead, let’s talk about some preventative gear.
The first line of defense should always be good earmuffs or ear plugs. For sensitive shooters, try using both. Known as double-plugging, this practice can be very effective for the young and/or new shooters who might be especially susceptible to the noise. Be aware that many standard units do their job very well and might require the users to remove them in order to carry on some instruction or conversation. This usually occurs just about the time the guy next to you lights off a 300 PRC wearing a muzzle brake.
My favorite solution to this problem comes in the form of electronic earmuffs made by Walker’s and Howard Leight. They cut off the sound when it reaches a certain decibel level (usually around 82 dB), but switch back on as soon as the sound lessens, allowing you to carry on with your conversation. The NRR (Noise Reduction Rating) is 22 dB, but more on that in a sec.
When you evaluate hearing protection, you need to understand the dB system used to measure noise and levels, thereof. Stated simply, the decibel system is a logarithmic scale used to measure the intensity or loudness of sound, where each 10 dB increase represents a tenfold increase in sound pressure or intensity — meaning that a small change in decibels can represent a significant change in sound intensity.
For example, a sound 10 times more intense than the reference level is 10 dB greater; a sound 100 times more intense is rated 20 dB higher.
The NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness and other Communications Disorders lists the following examples:
- Lawnmowers: 74 to 104 dB
- Motorcycles: 80 to 110 dB
- Sirens: 110 to 129 dB
- Fireworks: 140 to 160 dB
- Firearms: 160 to 165 dB
For most people, non-impaired people, the hearing threshold is 40 to 45 dB for normal conversation. My conversation threshold has been tested at 54 dB. Being diagnosed with severe hearing loss generally means you can’t hear sounds below about 70 dB. As you can see, that set of earmuffs with a 22 dB rating means the sounds would be 220 times greater without them in place!
Enter the Sandman
Most of us will make the effort to use proper hearing protection at the range, but what about a single shot while hunting? How many of us that keep our Springfield Armory Prodigy cocked and locked by the bed for home defense, but also stage a set of earmuffs nearby? One simple solution here is a suppressor.
I started hunting with a Dead Air Sandman-S suppressor about three years ago. I definitely had hurdles to cross for my first can. The wait was onerous at that time. My tax stamp finally arrived 51.5 weeks after submission. Things have gotten much better in that regard. Now we are being told that delays are days to a few weeks instead of a year. The tax stamp still costs $200 per unit, but in one of the few good things inflation has done for us, that charge is not anywhere near the barrier to purchase that it once was.
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The selection of suppressors on the market has grown incredibly in the past few years. What was once the purview of James Bond, Spec Ops teams and those substantially more wealthy than I, has become much more mainstream. As brands have proliferated, so have options and decisions that must be made.
They are available in configurations ranging from ultra-lite versions rated for .22 LR only to those spec’d for full-auto, crew-served weapons. I chose something towards the top end because I didn’t want to have to worry about it.
Dead Air makes their Sandman series in three lengths. The first is the “K” model. Aimed at the part of the market that needs really short and maneuverable, the “K” is only 2.9” long and is tailor-made for Modern Sporting Rifles, even the short ones. Like all the Sandman series, it is full-auto-rated. The “L” is suggested for bolt guns, especially those burning a serious volume of powder.
My “S” version is the Mama Bear model. It is 6.8” long, with a 1.5” diameter. It weighs 17.7 oz. It is fully welded, and the mount does not come off. It uses fully welded Cobalt 6 baffles as well, with 17-4PH stainless steel for the core and stainless steel for the tube.
One of the reasons I chose the Sandman-S was for its quick-detach mount. Fast and easy to install, setting up every rifle I might want to use the can with costs only another $90 for the mount. This is certainly cheaper than buying additional suppressors. Attaching the can to various rifles has shown that several actually prefer the Sandman-S for accuracy, while I have yet to see any degradation in accuracy on the others.
In Practice
My initial assignment for the Sandman-S was on a home defense AR chambered in 300 Blackout. Research told me that this cartridge could achieve full powder burn with an 8.5” barrel (which mine is). Others, like a 5.56, tend to prefer a longer barrel. Mine is a true pistol and, even with the suppressor attached, the overall length is still under 30”. Talk about handy.
Remember that the 300 AAC/Blackout was developed for suppressed use from an AR platform. Loaded with good bullets like a Barnes TTSX, they are even deer worthy to about 150 yards. I developed a load using published data from Vihta Vuori that mated 200-gr. Lapua bullets to N110 powder that runs right at 1,000 fps (that means subsonic) and is very, very quiet. Those stay loaded in it just in case.
The last few years when I’ve used my suppressor while hunting with my Model 2020 Redline, it has been much more pleasant without the noise. Last year showed another benefit to boot. I had a very serious attack of rheumatoid arthritis during hunting season last year, to the point where I couldn’t even rotate my forearms. You just try holding a rifle like that! But, there was no way I was going to miss the hunt.
The second morning, I am in a stand and a nice 9-point walks out and turns broadside for me. I eased out my rifle and took a deep breath, tried to put the reticle where I wanted it, and promptly pressed the trigger. That deer went down. Looks like he never heard it coming.
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