With suppressors more popular than ever for everything from hunting to plinking to home defense, shoppers are faced with abundant options. Helping them pick out the suppressor that’s really right for them is your job, and that’s going to be based almost entirely on how they plan to use it. The market is flooded with suppressors that will all do just fine for range work and for hunting, but when you’re faced with a customer who needs a suppressor for serious tactical work — like law enforcement and other defense professionals — not just any suppressor will do.
Defense professionals face particular needs that your average range goer doesn’t have to deal with. When they’re working in close quarters, length and weight begin to really matter. Backpressure, flash control and reduced muzzle concussion are serious concerns, and of course, sound suppression must be at its best to protect everyone involved. These professionals need a suppressor that’s designed for them and their particular close-quarters use, and Dead Air Silencers has answered that need not with one new suppressor, but with an entire upcoming new line under the Dead Air Defense umbrella.
The first can in the line is the all-new CT5P, designed for semiauto 5.56 NATO and 6mm ARC rifles and specifically created with law enforcement and serious CQB use in mind. Dead Air removed the HUB feature in the rear of the suppressor and uses additive manufacturing to produce a shorter, lighter profile — the CT5P is ultralightweight and compact as a result, just 13 ounces and 5.5x1.6 inches. This makes guns equipped with a CT5P easier to carry and less cumbersome to maneuver in tight spaces, but it also makes them less muzzle-heavy and thus less fatiguing to hold in a ready position for an extended time.
The CT5P is designed to work with minimal change in bolt velocity on direct impingement and piston gas systems. A proprietary baffle design increases surface area in the main channel to slow gas down, and the gas management system allows high-pressure gas to vent around the main channel, forward of the muzzle. That adds up to considerably reduced backpressure and gas in the operator’s face — a welcome feature in close quarters.
Much defensive work happens at night, and this is when muzzle flash — hardly noticed during the day — becomes a big problem, disrupting the operator’s night vision. The CT5P is designed to reduce muzzle flash and spark to a nearly undetectable level, even with barrel lengths as short as 10.5 inches. On top of that, the outside of the CT5P (which comes covered in high-temp Cerakote in black or flat dark earth) is covered in parallel ridges. Although they do look good, they’re not just cosmetic features — they actually increase the external surface area, which speeds cooling and minimizes visual light reflectivity.
Of course, sound suppression is the whole point, and the CT5P is optimized to achieve an overall sound pressure level and tone well below OSHA’s standard for impulse noise — without substantially increasing gas in the shooter’s face. The less sound and gas an operator has to deal with, the safer and more effective they’ll be, as communication and threat differentiation become clearer.
While the function and features are great, it’s all moot if the thing can’t hold up to the abuse LE and military guns are subjected to, including full-auto fire. Dead Air specifically built the CT5P to be rugged enough for anything defense professionals can dish out. It’s tested to the SOCOM SURG standard and is caliber-rated for full auto in 5.56 NATO and 6mm ARC rifles — with no minimum barrel restrictions. A fixed ½-28 direct-thread mount is included, along with the necessary TL001 installation tool, but the suppressor can also be configured with Dead Air’s Xeno or Keymo mounting systems.
MSRPs are $899 (direct thread), $999 (Xeno), and $1,099 (Keymo). Agency pricing is available on request. Though that puts it well within the average price range on the suppressor market, the CT5P is no average suppressor. It’s the first in a line of purpose-built defense-ready suppressors created specifically with law enforcement, military and other close-quarters use in mind. Buyers who are looking to outfit their duty rifle or upgrade their home-defense AR-15 should be directed toward the CT5P as a serious consideration capable of serious work with less of the distracting blowback and muzzle flash that plague operators in close quarters.
