After much anticipation and a long wait, the Q ERECT9R has dropped! It’s the 9mm version of Q’s ERECTOR, which we reviewed here way back in 2017. Much like the ERECTOR was for .22 LR, the Erector 9 is both the shortest and the longest 9mm pistol suppressor on the market as well as the loudest and, potentially, the quietest.

I’ll explain . . .

You see, the ERECT9R is a completely modular silencer. Each and every baffle can be removed and the front cap placed on whatever the user chooses to leave behind.

The extremely lightweight (just over a third of an ounce each), aluminum baffles simply screw together.

There are nine of these hard anodized 7075 aluminum baffles, one front cap, and one 17-4 PH stainless steel blast baffle, which is the serialized component. That blast baffle is mounted to the 17-4 “encapsulator,” which holds the alignment teeth for the piston and is connected to the booster assembly.

Q’s ERECT9R comes fully assembled. In most circumstances the user will be able to unscrew and assemble baffles without the help of a tool, but two plastic anti-rotation tools are included with the suppressor. Each has two pins, which index into the machined grooves in the ERECT9R’s baffles

These tools can be used as hand wrenches or, if the baffles are particularly stuck, one can be used as a vice block and a wrench can be used on the other. I had to do this, as the new-in-the-box ERECT9R that I borrowed from Silencer Shop was assembled extremely tightly.

Frankly, I was worried I might damage baffles while applying the torque necessary to break them apart the first time, but nothing of the sort happened. Two other people who got their hands on an ERECT9R already shared the same feedback with me, so apparently it wasn’t unique to my example.

I believe there are two things going on here.

One, it certainly seems like it was torqued down too tightly by the manufacturer. Q recommends applying just 6 to 8 ft-lbs to the front cap as the method by which to properly torque the entire stack of baffles. An 11/16″ socket fits the gear-shaped feature on the front cap.

Two, hard anodized aluminum threads tend to be sticky and the ERECT9R is completely dry and clean. Screw two parts like this together and they’re going to stick, even before you get them hot and get some carbon buildup going on.

While there’s no mention of lubing the threads in the owner’s manual — and you should always follow manufacturer instructions, so don’t listen to what I’m about to say! — I’d recommend lightly lubing them.

After struggling to separate the baffles originally, I applied a high-temp-rated, light oil to the threads of each baffle and never again had an issue. Baffles stayed fully snug during all of my shooting, yet I never lost the ability to take them apart by hand.

Get this: the full ERECT9R with all nine “add-on” baffles and front cap weighs just 8.1 ounces. That’s pretty dang light.

With the front cap installed directly onto the blast baffle (not hearing safe, for the record), total weight is 5.0 ounces. That’s the lightest 9mm pistol suppressor on the market.

Of course, as it’s definitely well over 140 dB in this configuration I’m not sure it’s exactly “fair” to say it’s the lightest when it’s being compared to longer cans designed to keep things under 140.

BUT…the ERECT9R likely still wins. Compared to other shorty, lightweight cans I can think of, even with three baffles added (two are added in the pic above) the ERECT9R weighs just 6.03 ounces. With four added baffles it’s 6.38 ounces. Compare this to the CGS MOD-9SK at 6.6 oz or the GEMTECH Lunar 9 in short config at 7 oz.

Made from lightweight aluminum with all the fat trimmed off, the ERECT9R is a light duty silencer. It’s made for use on 9mm or smaller caliber pistols. No rifle cartridges, no heavy duty firing cycles, etc.

Similar to what I said about the .22 LR ERECTOR, I wouldn’t recommend the ERECT9R as a first suppressor. It’s a little complex in terms of use and maintenance, and it’s a bit restrictive in what you can and cannot do with it.

But without a doubt, the ERECT9R has some serious upsides.

For one, it’s an impressively quiet silencer. Like a very, surprisingly, awesomely quiet can.

With 10 baffles it wasn’t a surprise that the ERECT9R was class-leadingly quiet in its full-length flavor. But, as you can see in the Rumble-hosted video embedded up near the top of this review, I was truly impressed when I took the silencer down to four added baffles, then again at just three.

I don’t have a professional dB meter, but I’m fairly confident that, with three added baffles, the ERECT9R is a bit quieter than my CGS Kraken SK and my GEMTECH Lunar 9 (in its short configuration). Those both effectively have four baffles (same as the ERECT9R with its blast baffle plus three add-on baffles) and are very close in length to the +3 ERECT9R.

As data hasn’t yet been released on when the Erector 9 breaks 140 dB with subsonic ammo, I chose not to shoot it with only two or fewer additional baffles. Though I darn sure like how it looks on my little P365 with only the +2!

I know Silencer Shop’s Range Report on the ERECT9R is coming soon and they took dB readings at every single length. I’m very much looking forward to seeing that info. My guess, for the record, is that +3 is just under 140 and +2 is just over 140 dB. That’s a total guess, though, and I’ll add a note to the review here when the data becomes available.

On the range, the ERECT9R’s light weight is also very noticeable. Or not noticeable, as it were.

Even in full length configuration it hardly upset the balance of my little P365 here. With about 60 percent of its weight in the first couple inches of the silencer’s length (booster assembly, encapsulator, and blast baffle), the three or less additional ounces added by the baffles doesn’t affect a pistol’s balance very much at all.

On the range, the ERECT9R ran smoothly with less of the strange double recoil springy feeling that you get from heavier pistol silencers. Blowback was also quite minimal.

Taken together, these features mean shooting with the ERECT9R feels closer to shooting a non-suppressed pistol than I’ve previously experienced. It just feels more normal.

Except for how quiet it is, of course. Quiet with no concussion. Not that 9mm is bad or anything, but the difference in what you feel in your chest and sinuses and such with and without a suppressor is meaningful, even in the case of a 9mm pistol.

With extremely high quality machining, fit, and finish, fantastic performance on the range, and full end-user configurability, the ERECT9R is undeniably a great suppressor. While it may be a bit complicated and limiting (usage limited, cleaning methods limited, etc.) due to its construction, there are also a heck of a lot of benefits gained from that same lightweight, modular construction as well.

The ERECT9R by Q impressed me for sure.

Specifications: Q ERECT9R (Erector 9)

Caliber: 9×19
Length: 8.7″ in full configuration
Weight: 8.1 ounces in full configuration down to 5.0 ounces for front cap on blast baffle. 0.34 ounces for each additional baffle.
Diameter: 1.375 inches
Materials: 7075 aluminum and 17-4 PH stainless steel
Finish: clear hard coat anodized and raw heat treated 17-4
Mount: 1/2×28 piston
MSRP: $900 (less via Silencer Shop!)

Ratings (out of five stars):

Overall  * * * *
Q’s ERECT9R achieved five-star suppression with five-star performance on the range. It’s also insanely modular and very nicely made. However, I can’t give it a full five-star review as its lightweight aluminum construction does have some downsides related to firing schedule, cleaning, and overall durability. Users also need to be careful about threading those baffles together correctly and not over-tightening them. The ERECT9R may not be a “beginner” can, but if you understand the limitations and are good with them, it’s most definitely an awesome performer that deserves a place in any good stamp collection.

 

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26 COMMENTS

    • You’re safe from that at least. Critters having four instead of five for the required prints, and all… 🙂

      • The American Opposum has five digits per extremity, one of which is an opposable thumb. Each digit has friction ridges which are probably unique. A sitting possum can therefore easily handle four pistols simultaneously. Best not to piss them off.

  2. “After struggling to separate the baffles originally, I applied a high-temp-rated, light oil to the threads of each baffle and never again had an issue.”

    What about a bit of high-temp copper-based anti-seize compound?

    Suppressors getting locked up tight seems to be an issue, I’m wondering why there aren’t solutions to the problem.

    (I get that the core of the problem is powder residue getting hammered into the joints by 10s of thousands of pounds of combustion gasses, is frequent disassembly and cleaning a strategy?)

  3. Wondering if the Interwebs contains plans for a 3D-printed suppressor for .22 Shorts.

    I don’t have a printer, but I’ll bet a robust printed can would survive a few shots. Would be good for taking out rabbits in the yard without bugging the neighbors.

    • For 22 shorts I found this foam thing for kids to wack each other with, got some plastic tubing, drilled holes in it, stuck it in the foam. My barrel didnt have sights.
      Shot squirrels out the window in a residential area. I quit because the old lady east of me trees was where I was getting most of them and she caught me picking them up. From then on it was one of her pastimes to watch my house.

    • A decent air rifle may do the trick…

      • My first gunm was a Daisy boy scout type rifle, when I first got it it would kill a rabbit up close bb in the head, later on the spring got weaker. For my 13th birthday I got a crossman 760( the new ones are less powerful btw). That pellet gunm was like a 7mag compared to .223. What a slayer of beast. The first “Big Game” I got was a possum using a BB. Never had the chance for coon, it had to be a head shot and that was tuff on a coon.
        You find a lot about ballistics using a bb gunm. For shooting through thick heads the bb was the best. My dad shot a snow goose with it, using a cut off nail. Walked along side of the horse to the wheat field until he got close enough. I think it worked better the nail. For accuracy and rabbit’s the pellets were the best.
        They make some pretty fancy pellets now, so nails and shit are probably surpassed .

    • “Wondering if the Interwebs contains plans for a 3D-printed suppressor for .22 Shorts.”

      Most likely, but what you want is something with ‘plausible deniability’ of being a suppressor…

      Something filled with mashed potatoes perhaps?

  4. Aluminum can…can be difficult to disassemble / reassemble, difficult to clean, pretty much only functional in one caliber or close analogues to 9mm, still costs the $200 upfront, still takes a goodly portion of your life waiting for it to be “Approved”…Interesting, but, no thanks. I’ll stick with a more durable and more versatile suppressor for only a few more ounces and within the same price range.

    In a perfect world where suppressors only cost $100 and you could take them out the door with you at the time of purchase I’d consider having one of these for the grins and jollies.

    • The 4473 form is registering enough.
      What I think is. Anybody getting a suppressor must want one pretty bad.
      Itd be easier to set fire to the neighborhood then when they was fighting the fire you could go target shooting without a silencer and nobody would know it.
      There’s always away around these infringments.

      • “What I think is. Anybody getting a suppressor must want one pretty bad.”

        I look at it this way – Pay the 200-dollar tax, and study very carefully what you bought. That should give you the knowledge to reproduce it, if they ever try to take it away from you in the future… 🙂

  6. Yeah, what ever happened to the national “hearing protection act” Trump promised us gun owners he would get through? When Republicans had both chambers of congress AND the white house? What ever happened to that? And national reciprocity?

  7. Great article. I found it very informative.

    What limitations were you mainly concerned about and what did you mean about the limitations the Erectr9 had on a “firing schedule”?

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