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Alpha Dog 9 Review: Call me Snake

Last October we got word of a new silencer company, Alpha Dog Silencers,  based out of Connecticut that rolled out a new silencer with an integral Picatinny rail: The Alpha Dog 9.

Escape from New York
Isaac Hayes with Plissken's MAC-10 complete with scope mounted on the can, courtesy of IMFDB.org

It immediately conjured up images of Snake Plissken in Escape from New York with his signature MAC-10, Sionics suppressor and what looked like a Weaver style rifle scope mounted atop the silencer.

We thought that was a stupid idea as a 12 year-old kid from NYC when we saw it in the theaters decades ago. It was a filmmaker's attempt to make a firearm look more futuristic, and we kind of appreciated that, but we still saw it as a bit ludicrous.

Thirty something years later, we still met the concept with disdain but once we got one in our hands…well, our attitude changed.

Read on. You may be as surprised as we were.

Our expectation was a can with a rail bolted to it, so we were semi shocked when we saw the tube and rail machined as one piece. The booster and pistons seemed a bit on the small side, but were machined extremely well.

The rail
Apart from attaching accessories to the rail, it doubles as a three-dot sighting system and actually works halfway decent in this regard. A common problem for many silencer shooters running a typical concentric design on a pistol is that unless they run taller suppressor sights or an optic of some sort, they need to sight through the can. Not everyone can overcome this, so Alpha Dog's effort has merit on that fact alone.

alphadogsights

We mounted a variety of accessories from an EOTech 512 with LaRue Tactical mount to Surefire flashlights and lasers with no problem at all. We obviously ran the EOTech to check function with weight and encountered no cycling issues whether running a Beretta 92, Glock 19, Steyr M9 or Sig Sauer P229. The light weight of the can aids tremendously in this regard.

alphadogeotech

The rail indexes much like any other can with a Nielsen Device; simply pull the can forward and turn it to the required position. For mounting a light or laser you have about 320 degrees of option if you are tuning to point of impact. Running a sight you have about 40 degrees if you go at 12 O’clock or maybe slightly off to as far as 10 or 2 if you try to cant it.

alphadogsurefire
Function was flawless despite the added weight of any accessories we tried.

One advantage is obviously to extend placement of the light for better throw when running a can, particularly with pistols that lack an accessory rail.

We noticed no excessive heat buildup and hypothesize that the rail slots may play a role in taming the high temperatures. That and our shooting area looks like the set of the Ice Planet Hoth this time of year so a heat buildup might have actually been welcome.

Alpha Dog Silencers 1

To the naysayers predicting that this will melt the mounts on your flashlights, just stay away from airsoft kit. You might also ask your mom to bring down more Cheetos and Mountain Dew for you while you get your Call of Duty on.

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How does the Alpha Dog 9 sound?
What we wanted to really see for ourselves was how quiet was the Alpha Dog. Too many manufacturers will tout their cans as “eliminating back pressure”, “maintaining POI”, “easy to disassemble” or “shorter and lighter than anything else”. These may be noble virtues, but if you still need ear pro while shooting something that revolutionary, we don't see the point (or any real bragging rights as to the design being revolutionary). For an unjust $200 tax, I want to shoot without ear pro, everything else be damned!

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Alpha Dog ranks right up there with the best of them in the silencing department. We would put it on par with the cans from AAC, Gemtech, Silencerco and Griffin Armament and it truly is refreshing to see someone take a concept and run with it like this in the unsure world of silencers. These silencers are definitely not the bargain basement variety, the performance and build quality alone are worth the added coin, despite the rail, integral sights. (MSRP is $775 and spare pistons run about $80).

Running it wet with the company's “Dog Slobber” agent to eliminate first round pop averages at 121 Db.

Inside the Alpha Dog 9 is a proprietary “Canine” V-shaped monocore baffle stack that makes cleaning a breeze due to the whole unit coming out in one piece. The baffle stack is constructed from 7075-T6 High tensional strength Aluminum with a smooth texture. This limits the carbon buildup and it is Teflon coated to reduce permanent staining.

alphadogbrokedown

We really did not want to send back this can at the end of our review. Perhaps our biggest regret was not having a MAC 10 on hand complete with a 3 X 9 Weaver scope and pretending to do battle with the Duke of New York at our shooting spot.

alphadogsigp229

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