Silencer Saturday #353: The SilencerCo Velos LBP
Welcome back to another edition of Silencer Saturday. This week we are looking at the SilencerCo Velos LBP. It is the first reduced backpressure silencer from SiCo, and now that I’ve had some quality hands-on time with mine I have some thoughts to share.
Silencer Saturday @ TFB:
Silencer Saturday #352: Are Silencers In Common Use Now? Silencer Saturday #351: The DIY De Lisle Silencer Saturday #350: New Direct Thread Gemtech Silencers Silencer Saturday #349: Angstadt Arms Prophet Integral Silencer Silencer Saturday #348: Suppressing The Uzi
Disclosures: I have a close relationship with SilencerCo, and they provided me with this suppressor.
Design
The Velos Low Back Pressure (LBP) 556 is SilencerCo’s first suppressor to do a number of things. Rather than a traditional stack of baffles, the Velos uses a more complicated internal design, which is made possible through additive manufacturing. This 3D printing process with Inconel allows for an internal design that would be difficult or impossible to create with traditional machining processes. It also means that the suppressor is mostly one piece, rather than a collection of pieces welded together.
While the initial member of the Velos family was the standard 5.56 model, there are two newer ones as well. The Velos 556 K is a shortened version of the original for those needing a more compact can. There is also a Velos 762 for the .30 cal crowd. That model is a little longer and heavier than the base one. On the topic of the standard Velos 556, here are the specs:
Caliber Compatibility: .223 REM/ 5.56 NATO
Accessories: Charlie & ASR
MSRP: $1,174
Weight: 15.2 oz
Length: 5.98″
Diameter: 1.73″
Materials: 17–4 SS, Inconel
Muzzle Average: 5.56 NATO: 137.1 dB
The main selling point for the Velos is the “LBP” part of the name. Lower backpressure in a silencer helps the host gun run like it does unsuppressed. Reduced backpressure means less harsh cycling of the bolt, and less fouling of the gun because less gas is forced back through the barrel and gas system. SilencerCo accomplishes this by venting more of the gasses out of the front of the silencer. To be clear, it is not the Velos No Back Pressure silencer. This is not a 100% backpressureless design. But it does perform differently than a traditional suppressor.
We reported some time ago on a lawsuit by HuxWrx against SilencerCo over the design of the Velos LBP. I checked in on the status of the case, and it is currently on hold while both parties wait for the US Patent and Trademark Office to rule on an Inter Partes Review. That process allows the Patent Office to decide whether a patent should have been granted or not for a specific patent claim. While this is not my area of expertise, it seems like the IPR process is less expensive than taking a patent case through a regular trial. I would also guess that the Patent Office has more expertise in parsing the technical details of a patent than the average federal court. At any rate, there is no resolution of that case to report on yet.
Performance
The first time I used the Velos LBP was on SilencerCo’s Sig SG553. I had used that gun previously with an Omega 36M suppressor, and it was not a very impressive suppressor host (don’t be mad, beautiful SG553, I still love you deeply). Sig does make a 4-position gas regulator with suppressed settings, but this particular gun did not have one. A few months later I fired the same gun at SHOT Show with the Velos LBP 556 attached, and the difference was immediately noticeable. Rather than that harsh feeling that comes along with an accelerated bolt carrier, it felt decently close to how the gun feels unsuppressed. That was only a few rounds on a miserable cold rainy range day, but it left me with a desire to run that suppressor more.
I eventually got my copy and put it to work on a slate of review guns. Across various barrel lengths, gas system lengths, and buffer systems, the Velos did indeed have less back pressure than standard suppressors. Exactly how different it was is hard to describe without scientific testing, but my subjective impression was that it moved the ejection of the host gun by about 30 minutes on the clock that people use to discuss AR ejection (e.g. it moved a 3:00-o’clock ejection pattern to around 2:30). Obviously some guns moved a little more, some a little less, and ammo plays a factor as well. But when compared to an old SilencerCo Specwar 556, which moved the ejection around and hour to and hour and a half, it is a serious reduction.
Another place where the reduced gas was apparent is in the magazines. If you have spent much time shooting a suppressed AR, you are well familiar with the sooty buildup that happens to the top of the magazine. Some of my Medium Coyote Tan PMAGs are permanently blackened at the top from this effect. But with the Velos, it happens quite a bit less. Again, this is not a scientific measurement, but the magazines look like they had a few rounds of suppressor buildup on them rather than the full magazine that it actually had been.
As far as suppression stats go, SilencerCo claims a decibel rating of 137.1 at the muzzle on a 5.56 AR-15 with a 16-inch barrel. Pew Science lists a sound suppression rating of 31.9 on a Mk18 5.56 with a 10.3-inch barrel. Along with those numbers, I would say it sounds pretty good. It’s not going to win the record for the quietest AR suppressor, but the performance seems to track with the size of the suppressor, even though it is venting gasses out the front.
One other interesting host gun that I’ve used the Velos on is the PSA Krink. The Velos does not have any barrel length restrictions, so I bought a 5/8×24” muzzle adapter, and using Charlie accessories switched the Velos over to a direct thread mount. I was very worried about concentricity, but all of my checks looked good so I gave it a try (don’t try this at home unless you know what you are doing and know how to check concentricity). I fired a few rounds through a .30 caliber can as a final check, and while there were no baffle strike issues, the cycling was very hard. I switched over to the Velos, and it ran pretty well on that little AK! After a few rounds, gas would build up inside the dust cover and would slowly leak out behind the bolt handle, but it was dramatically less than with a standard suppressor. While not the most practical setup it was a lot of fun, and thanks to that short barrel it was a compact and handy setup.
Conclusion
The SilencerCo Velos LBP is an interesting suppressor. It offers sound suppression that is comparable to traditional cans, but cuts the backpressure down to more manageable levels. Though it was not the first silencer to offer venting out the front, it is nice to see that design on a mass-market silencer sold in big box stores. If you are tired of getting too much gas in your face, or have a host gun that does not run well with added backpressure, the Velos series is worthy of consideration.
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