One of the most daunting tasks facing anyone who wants to enter the world of NFA goodies is picking that all-important first suppressor. While there’s an excellent case to be made that one should bust one’s cherry on a decent .22 rimfire can, the Mystic X is one of the most versatile silencers currently available — just about any caliber you can run through an AR-15 can be suppressed by this unit. Although it’s quite a step up in terms of purchase price, the ability to be employed on centerfire rifles, handguns — and yes, .22 LR guns — makes it worthy of your consideration.
Employing a stainless-steel monocore baffle stack, the Mystic X can be fairly easily disassembled for cleaning. While this is no real advantage in a dedicated rifle can, .22 rimfire (and to a lesser extent, 9mm) is notoriously filthy and will bung up a suppressor in no time if left to its own devices. In order to prevent the tube from filling up with caked-on lead cack, it’s necessary to clean the baffles periodically — next to impossible in welded-core designs. To clean the Mystic X, the user simply unscrews the caliber adaptor and lock ring, then pushes the core out of the titanium outer tube. Once free, it can then be scrubbed, blasted, or dipped in an ultrasonic tank.
A variety of adapters are available in order to convert the suppressor to attach to numerous firearms in your safe. Ours arrived with 5⁄8-24 and ½-28 fixed barrel adapters, as well as a pistol adapter equipped with a Nielsen device to permit functioning on locked breech, recoil-operated handguns. We lost no time in screwing it onto as many guns as we could in order to test the manufacturer’s versatility claims, although we didn’t manage to try it out on every one of the 60 calibers it’s rated for. Which is an excellent reason to buy more guns.
Weighing in at just shy of 11 ounces without an adapter, the lack of thermal mass is quickly noticed after firing a few rounds of full-power rifle ammo — this can heats up quickly. It’s a good idea to check any direct-threaded suppressor after five or six rounds to make sure it hasn’t started to shoot loose. When we did, the Mystic X was pretty toasty. Unlike a dedicated 5.56mm suppressor such as AAC’s benchmark M4-2000, this unit doesn’t have an inconel blast baffle to take the hit from emerging gasses. So the Mystic X is limited to longer barrels and a slower rate of fire (except those listed in the specs) — screw it onto your 10-inch SBR and the unburned powder emerging at 12,000 psi will erode it in short order, but follow the manufacturer’s instructions and it’ll last a long time.
Compared to some other cans, it’s pretty long, but the upside to this is greater internal volume, hence better noise dampening. On our Brethren Armament MP5 clone, it’s stupid quiet with 147-grain subsonic ammo. In .22 LR, despite the big gap between the projectile and baffle stack, it’s at least as quiet as a dedicated .22 muffler, even if it does look a little out of place on a Ruger 10/22.
Our only niggles were that after a while, disassembly becomes something of a chore due to carbon buildup. We had to heat up the adapter with a blowtorch in order to break it free, and the lock ring needed more of the same, plus the gentle ministrations of a set of Vise-Grips. Apart from that, it lives up to the manufacturer’s claim and is one of the most versatile suppressors currently on the market.
Make:
Liberty Suppressors
Model:
Mystic X
Caliber:
9mm and smaller
Length:
8 inches
Diameter:
1.375 inches
Weight:
10.5 ounces
MSRP:
$799, plus $95-$155 for adapter
URL:
libertycans.net
Notes:
Full-auto rated for the following calibers: .22 LR, 4.6x30mm, 5.7x28mm, 9x18mm, 9x19mm, .300 BLK subsonic (8-inch barrel), .380, 7.62x25mm
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