Review: Oceania Defence - The 3D Printed Suppressor

The only item that makes the amount of noise it does, that you can legally; sell, or use, without a silencer. is a gun.

In 1884 Hiram Maxim invents the machine gun, very quickly losing his hearing. Around 1902 his son Hiram Percy Maxim invents and starts selling the first commercially successful firearm silencer, receiving a patent on March 30, 1909. A hundred and something years later they still work in the same way. A series of baffles slow the flow of the rapidly expanding gasses. Despite many different advances in baffle design. Volume is still the name of the game, the bigger the space available to contain the gases, the greater the effect.


If you ever wondered about the intelligence and foresight of your elected representatives, the silencer is the perfect proof of what you should have suspected all along. Even the most dazzling intellects amongst them are quite happy to spend your money, acting against your interest, based on what they saw on TV or at the movies. Let's take where I live as an example. 20 years ago Police forces, ever fond of inventing powers they haven't been given by government, were extremely resistant to issuing licences for sound moderators. Until the Forestry Commission's legal department realised gunshots in the workplace were endangering the hearing of their deer managers and asked who was accepting liability. In Northern Europe they're a safety feature, with demands to legislate their use as protection for your dog's hearing. In Southern Europe the tool of an assassin, with no legitimate use.

Over the last ten years moderators/silencers/suppressors have followed the exact opposite trajectory to your pal SBW, getting lighter, and quieter. I've owned a few. So far the choice has been: very heavy and durable, or pretty light and basically disposable. Sealed, or strippable, out front, or both out front and behind the muzzle. Steel, titanium, or aluminium baffles in a tube of the same materials or even carbon fibre. All have their fans. The heavy ones are great for the range. the stalking designs get lighter.Just like bipods, something that was once quite crude and inexpensive can now be the cost of a new rifle. Yep both have crossed the $/£/E 1,000 price point. Yikes.

“The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.” William Gibson

A few years ago there appeared a new technology, but at three to four times the price its adoption hasn't been that widespread. I was keen to find out more. Bert Wilson, owner of Oceania Defence in NZ patented a process for 3D printing moderators and partnered with Ram3D. At 190g they are much lighter than anything we've seen before. His UK sales team sold a few to the NRA(uk) who unfortunately for them, and fortunately for me, blew one up. When the rest hit the auction, James at Jagersporting was quick off the mark snapping them up. He sold them off to his customers at a massive discount on the list price.

I spoke to the NRA armourer who told me he knew two people who were using Oceania Defence moderators for deerstalking and I should be totally unconcerned. The current advice is clean in an ultrasonic every 500 rounds.

My totally subjective and unscientific opinion. They are amazing! 190g feels like nothing! Those big steel mods of a few years ago are like banging rocks together while OD have rocked up in a space shuttle.

Last time I looked list was £680 + another £100 for the titanium adapter. pretty chronic if you have to have more than one, almost bearable if you're swapping it between several rifles. [Word to the wise never ever use a mod that's been on a rimfire even for one shot on a centre fire, unburned powder init] 

The one thing I'd do differently is the 'out front' designs can't overcome the fact that the over barrel designs have more volume and anything that moves the balance of a stalking  rifle to the mag well is a good thing . There's already another 3D printed over-barrel design by Roedale in Germany but it's 1100+ euro and almost double the weight. Double yikes! For readers in the USofA  the comparison seems to be the  Banish 30 Gold-V2 which Silencer Central  have for $1300. also about double the weight 

Considering the weight penalty and price hike I'd still go for the Oceania Defence. 

More soon

your pal

SBW

  

Unboxing Heavy Cover's Titanium Canteen

I have wanted one of these since the first day I saw one mentioned on BB. So here it is in all it's 'Tec-tro' loveliness. Hmmmmm Titaniummmmmmm.
Full review to follow shortly
SBW

Review: Vargo Titanium Grill

here in the 'burbs spring is springing, buds are budding and your pal SBW is taking the season as the reason to overhaul his camping kit. After my recent round-up of titanium camping gear it seemed like I should do some field testing. Stuck in town all weekend The Littlest Bushwacker and I set ourselves up in her back garden. My childhood bushcrafting began in suburban back gardens, building camps and observing whatever fauna happened to be passing. I'm still enthralled by the wonder of the natural world poking its head up from between the stones people lay to keep it out

Chad from Vargo has been releasing cool titanium ultralight backpacking gear for the last few years, I first became aware of his company when looking for an alcohol stove less crushable than a 'pepsi' and lighter than a Trangia burner. Since then Vargo has grown its offering, and brought out some very cool stuff. like this portable fire-basket and grill. Perfect for nimble bushcrafting, suburban garden popcorn making, and Vagabond-style fishing.

In the past I've always used an old food storage pot with some holes drilled in it as my fire-pot, wonderfully cheap, but bulky to pack. Vargo's grill packs better and opens up a few more cooking options. Just the thing for the traditional hunter's meal of a deer's liver fresh from the Gralloch. Eating them pulled from the fire covered in charcoal had worn a bit thin.

While we were breaking a few twigs off the dead apple tree we discovered some Turkey-Tail fungus in bloom. Boiled for an age it makes a strong liquor, rumoured to have various health benefits, but the flesh is proper chewy. Chewy like boiled boot leather. Not really a 'starter' foraged food. So I didn't brew any up for my daughter. She's had fun picking Blackberries, tried Nettles and said they're OK, so I'm thinking Mussels, which I already know she likes, gathered from rock pools to break the monotony [to her and peace to me] of a fishing trip.

The percussive delights of the lightweight popcorn rig!

More soon

SBW

Titanium Pots For Bushcraft Camping

With the season rapidly approaching, its time to visit with mother nature and stay the night. Obs this is an anti-materialist impulse that can be accomplished with little or no expense, or the enterprise can be conducted as a test lab for the latest in space-age materials.
When hunting, fishing or bushcrafting we seek to reinvent ourselves as we were; full of wonder at the natural world, eyes bright with the first sights of its unknown details. From our desks somehow the ingenuity that once tied a pin to a strand of bootlace, or saw the whole world in a jam jar full of muddy water, is now spent looking for 30 bucks off a $100 cooking pot that saves half an ounce on the one we already have.

That having been said here's a round-up for those of you who, on revisiting their gear-pile, find themselves feeling a little under titanium-ised.

The absolute classic of titanium pots is the MSR kettle: very popular - so easier to find second hand, at one time the only option.

EverNew from Japan have the biggest selection of any titanium pot maker with a massive range of sizes; from espresso cup right up to 5.8l (12.25 US Pints) presumably for cooking shellfish while coastal foraging. They make a 'me too' of the MSR kettle and their own rather sweet design of  'tea kettle' in two sizes, which being wider at the base is more stable - so good for in-tents cooking.

Vargo have some new ideas - the BOT is both bottle and pot, which is both way-cool and annoyingly handle-less. But looks just the thing to eat nuts out of at your desk to remind yourself you really are an adventure dude rather than a slave in a cube farm as the evidence suggests. Proper want one!

They've recently brought out the Fire Box Grill - halfway between a stove and a grill. It's never going to be as fuel efficient as those little stoves that recapture woodgas, but they are not much fun to sit around, I can see it being pretty handy.

This 750ml pot from Dave Canterbury's Pathfinder School, with its hanging handle, is probably the most versatile choice if you want to heat more than water. The hanging handle could be replaced with a length of brake cable making the pot slightly more packable. Lets hope he brings out some more sizes. This would be my choice.

When as mother nature's ambassador/marketing director you need to entice people outside, it may serve you well to be able to offer refreshments to the requisite standard. With this in mind Snow-Peak have added a Cafetiere and milk frother to their titanium kitchenware line-up. I know Glamping is the devils work, but just think of the Brownie-Points these puppys'll get you.

Alpkit's cookware is worth a mention as their gear is very good value, in a way they are the UK's equivalent of an online-only REI. Their eating utensils are literally half the price of most brands. When its in stock buy one, or face a long wait for the next batch. Cheapest on this list.

For true Vagabond-ness this canteen, lid and cup set from Heavy Cover has to be the main contender. They even do a titanium screwcap for an extra $10.
There are a couple of companies that make little fire-box stands for this size of canteen, and dozens who make pouches that would fit the whole kit and kaboodle, which would then be colour-matched to the rest of your kit. ;-)

For the super inventive [or even pious], you could always make your own stove and pot rig with the stainless steel storage pots from IKEA for a fraction of the cost. But that's a different kind of fun for another day.

Be good to yourselves out there, take your rubbish home with you, and please grab and bag a couple of bits of other people's crap while you're passing.

More soon
SBW