Chris runs Archangel Industries. He’s relaxing with a YHM suppressed .223 rifle in hand. A Nightforce 2.5-10x scope tops it, and folding iron sights provide backup. A tiny CTC laser hides under the forend.
Today was another awesome day. Range and social time with friends, birthday cake and mulberries, what could be better…and I have photos to remind me of it.
Life is good when you have the opportunity to spend time with great friends, and amazing weapons like the YHM .223 rifle. That weapon is extremely well balanced, and well built. You can tell YHM put a lot of thought towards the design. Thank you Oleg for the opportunity.
Nice piece there.
I have to ask, as someone who has never fired a suppressed .223, what is the noise reduction performance like typically?
From “my ears are bleeding” to “this is annoying”.
This might be a dumb question but…is there a specific reason the Army hasn’t done a cost-benefit analysis of equipping all small arms with suppressors vs the cost of tinnitus treatment?
Suppressors are add weight, retain heat, are sensitive to destabilized bullets…but to my mind, using them is a no-brainer for most riflemen. The improvement in accuracy from the reduced distraction, removal of muzzle flash are all important.
The Army has indeed studied suppressors and continues to do so. They’re standard issue in special operations units (although most of the R&D was done by the Navy for all joint forces). They’re also becoming more widespread in conventional forces for special purposes. For example, the M110 SASS is fielded with a suppressor and I think there’s one in the XM2010 package also.
Suppressors have a number of cons, too. They change your zero, a real problem for an Army that’s about to see its training budgets evaporate. In addition, they add weight and bulk. (Compare the balance of an AR-15 prototype or early M16/A1 to an M4 with rails, foregrip, PEQ-2 and Surefire light to see what I’m getting at). Even the SOF guy do not always mount suppressors. You have to weigh those two pounds against two pounds of ammo, water, or batteries for the commo gear.
Deafness and tinnitus alone don’t cost the Army much, sad to say. Unless there are other disabilities, they don’t rise to the compensable level at VA (I don’t know because I’ve never applied for disability or CRSC). I believe that they’re good for 10% disability and you need 30 for compensation. VA does provide excellent hearing aids, which costs the taxpayers quite a bit, though.
The Army was already a power user of ear protection when I joined in the 1970s and I used it every time on the range, on jumps, and any time on aircraft. I still have most of my hearing. My father was not in the service and is stone deaf, due to old age. In my opinion most of the guys getting hearing aids from the VA did not lose their hearing in combat or training, but as a natural result of geriatric nerve death. But we compensate it anyway.