Ops Model 15th CQB Silencer - ArniesAirsoft

Author

Shao14

Misopethamenos

Registered: September 2004
Posts: 306,044

Review Date: 17/10/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �30.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Excellent build and finish, light, nice trademark
Cons:	Only anti clockwise 14mm thread included

King Arms Ops Model 15th CQB Silencer

Introduction

The US military is currently trying to officially adopt silencers, or more technically correctly called suppressors, for its standard issued assualt rifles and side arms. The airsoft world is already ahead of the game, and offers dozens silencer replicas for different caliburs. I have practically zero experience with a real silencer except they look cool in movies and they are supposed to reduce the muzzle report by reducing the muzzle velocity. It usually reduces the muzzle flashes too. Of course, none of that applies to the airsoft world (except the looks). King Arms numerous different kinds of silencers, and this review is for the Ops Model 15th CQB Silencer replica designed for M4s.

Build

The silencer is 185mm long and 38mm in diameter. The weight is fairly light though I do not have the number with me. The outer case is made of metal, possibly aluminum, with excellent even matte black finish. half of the silencer has a fine checker pattern while the other half has smooth surface, signature Ops external design. On the smooth part of the surface, the text "15TH MODEL OPS. INC. CQB CAL 5.56 SER 0122" is nicely engraved. I do not know if the serial number is unique; my guess is it's not.

Both ends of the silencer can be screwed off. The front end cap is obviously just a hole for the bullet or BB to shoot out. The back end cap has anti clockwise (CCW) 14mm thread, so the silencer can be screwed on any barrel with anti clockwise 14mm thread, such as any Armalite barrel. There's some foam inside the silencer and springs to push against the end caps when the end caps are screwed on. I do not know if the real silencer's end caps can be switched around, and there seem to be pictures showing the checkered pattern to be both the front half and the back half on an Ops silencer. By default, this KA silencer has the checkered pattern as the back half, but from Ops' website, it seems that it should be the front half. The end caps on the KA silencer can be put on either way, so whatever one prefers.

The silencer also includes an adaptor looking thing that can be attached to the front sight post of an M4, but it does not seem to serve any purpose. If you have the CQB, it would look like the whole barrel is hiden inside the silencer and the adaptor, but if you have a standard M4 barrel, you are better off without this fake adaptor ring. There is no adaptor for clockwise 14mm threads.

Function

One interesting question people ask over and over again on the forum is whether an airsoft silencer really works. I set up a microphone about 6 inches away from the muzzle of my CA M15A5 CQB, and recorded the sound the AEG makes with and without the KA silencer. The first figure below shows the result with the silencer, and the second is one without the silencer.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/shao14/suppressed.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/shao14/non_suppressed.jpg

As one can see, the amplitude (loudness) of the muzzle report without the silencer is almost 4 times that with the silencer. As a shooter, however, I can barely tell much difference since the AEG's gearbox makes just as much noise and the gearbox noise is closer to the shooter.

Conclusion

The KA Ops 15th silencer replica has excellent build and finish, and it works to some extend though probably not enough to give anyone any real tectical advatage in an airsoft game. If one wants to build a silenced AEG, in addition to the silencer, he or she will also need to look into how to silencing the gearbox noise. Alternatively, and also more popular, people use a silencer to hide a longer inner barrel for AEGs, and this is certainly easily done with the KA silencer.

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