My various screeds here and on my weekly podcast should erase any doubt on where I stand on the Hearing Protection Act. Specifically, what its passage will do to the current stock of available silencers (decimate it), and what the surge in demand will do to prices (lower them, slightly). Ever the contrarian bunch, our assembled commenters have reminded me of the following:

  1. Silencers are just tubes with baffles
  2. Any competent machinist can make one
  3. There’s less than $100 of materials in a silencer

All of these facts lead our readers and commenters to believe that silencers cost WAY too much. Nevermind that street prices on durable .30 caliber cans are now down below $600 in the current marketplace. Luckily, my local dealer, Capitol Armory, has a steady supply of silencers on hand from various manufacturers eager to have their wares displayed in Capitol’s online marketplace. One such silencer is the least expensive offering on the market right now – the Rebel Silencers SOS – Hunter.

The SOS – Hunter boasts the lowest MSRP out there at $250 (before tax stamp). It’s made of 7075 aluminum and in the full baffle stack configuration adds 10 inches of length to your rifle of choice. With four baffles, a removable end cap, and a direct thread mount that is capable of accepting 5/8″-24 and 1/2″-28, it’s designed for, and appeals to, the extremely budget conscious buyer. Rebel also guarantees that the SOS – Hunter is rated for .300 Win Mag.

Initial inspection showed a roughly finished product with very visible machining marks. The threading for the baffles was on the order of what I’d expect from a high school machine shop – gritty the entire way.

Rebel says that this silencer is finished with Cerakote, but it should be apparent from the photos that they finish the silencer as a complete unit, so there’s obvious overspray and drip lines inside the baffles. The finish is even enough, but the lack of surface prep means that the Cerakote looks a little odd in places.

But hey, if it looks rough, but it works, it isn’t so bad, is it? Given the experience that Jeremy had testing an aluminum muzzle brake, I feared for my safety and elected to test the first few shots remotely. My plan was to first see if it would blow up, then do a standard test for point of impact shift. Assuming that went well, I then planned to meter it.

As you can see, it didn’t blow up. Three shots through that rest and the can was still intact so I elected to don my best safety gear, and fire it into a berm.

I finished off a magazine with seven more shots, loaded up another nine and recorded this for future use. Total round count downrange – nineteen.

After nearly twenty rounds of .308 WIN, the SOS – Hunter was still intact. On the one hand, I was sad because wanton destruction is fun and I’ve never had a can blow up on me. On the other hand, I was filled with doubt.

Maybe I’d been wrong. Perhaps I’d been in my lofty perch for too long. Perhaps the Dead Airs and SilencerCos and Thunder Beasts of the world have been overcharging for their products all this time. Then I broke the SOS-Hunter open.

On the left is the “blast baffle” which is the first baffle nearest the muzzle. There’s no defined blast baffle in the SOS Hunter so whichever one you have near the business end is the one taking superheated gasses, unburnt powder, and tiny pieces of copper jacket.

As you can see from the photo above, the “blast baffle” has already started to suffer from severe erosion and pitting after only nineteen rounds. I ended my test here because further erosion will only make for better pictures and a higher ammo bill for Farago.

Going over the rest of the baffles, they looked pretty good, and it occurred to me that the truly thrifty owner might just swap the baffle position in much the same way I rotate the tires on my truck. After some period of time — call it 200 rounds — the can could go back to Rebel where I’m sure they’d happily replace the damaged bits. Oh, what’s that? Rebel doesn’t offer a warranty. In fact, here’s their position on replacement parts.

We sell replacement baffles, end caps, and thread inserts inexpensively. Most will never need a replacement part, and unless it’s the serialized back piece (very unlikely) that you need to replace, you’ll send us the bad, and we’ll mail you out a fresh baffle or front cap.

So again, like the tires on my truck, I should be able to keep rotating them until they wear out, and then buy four new ones. But what about the front cap?

Oh look, a baffle strike. Somewhere in my limited testing, I managed to just nick the end cap. Given that I tightened the whole thing down to the muzzle tightly enough that it took a wrench to break loose — and I trust Ruger knows how to cut threads — I’m going to let this one sit in Rebel’s lap. Either the aperture on the end cap isn’t large enough or the threads aren’t cut correctly. Neither one is good.


At this point, I suspended my testing. Low round count baffle erosion and an end cap strike are enough of a reason for me to stay far far away from this silencer and encourage you to do the same. There’s no point in checking for point of impact shift with a damaged end cap, and the erosion issue is a ticking time bomb.

Specifications: Rebel Silencers SOS Hunter

Length: 10 inches
Diameter: 1.5 inches
Weight: 10.8 ounces
Mounting: 5/8 x 24 or 1/2 x 28 with threaded insert
Caliber: .30 Caliber
Material: 100% premium grade 7075 aluminum
Finish: Matte Black Cerakote
Firing Capability: single shot, semi auto, light bump fire
Warranty: None
Price: $250

Ratings (out of five stars):

Fit, Finish, Build Quality: *
The SOS – Hunter has a high school shop class level of finish with obvious tool marks and threads that are roughly finished. The Cerakote isn’t applied to the baffles individually so there’s obvious overspray and drip lines. The whole thing feels cheap because it is.

Sound Attenuation: * * 
It quiets the sound enough that the ATF considers it a silencer, but firing it from from 30 feet away, it was still fairly loud. I never tried firing without hearing protection and I never got to the point of putting it on a meter.

Durability: Dumpster Fire
The Rebel is so unreliable that it makes a vintage Jaguar look like a Honda Accord. Twenty rounds of mild pressure .308 WIN from a sixteen-inch barrel and the baffles had already started to erode. And I had an end cap strike.

Overall Rating *
It meets the legal definition of a silencer. But it’s made of a substandard material that doesn’t hold up to any degree of volume shooting and it’s so poorly constructed that putting it on the end of a rifle and firing it damaged the end cap. It’s loud, cheap, and built like something a teenager would turn out in fifth period. I can think of no situation where I would encourage someone to buy this over a slightly more expensive silencer.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

50 COMMENTS

    • Thanks for the honest review. I appreciate candid assessments even when the news is bad.

      That said, this a bitch’s can for my mall gun. Might slap a SilencerCo sticker on the side of it. Or maybe a heat cover or whatever those cool cloth tubes that slide over can are called. When I slide my Hi Point carbine out of the back seat of my Chevy Vega, my homies will kneel. Spending too much on a can that will never be used is a bad idea. Glad these Rebels make a posing can for the rest of us.

    • You think the baffle strike could have been when you put it on the string and it slid off the mount when firing? Really didn’t seem like much of a test… no sound test, no proper equipment for test fires, not even a visual “string fire” of the suppressor. If you haven’t seen Rebel’s videos, they’re way more informative then this. This is just another person we have to trust in what he says and not experience it with our own eyes. For the price, still going to give it a run.

  3. If that’s a Ruger Scout rifle, the last one of these we had did not have a good perpendicular shoulder behind the threads. The threads on our sample rifle ended at the front of the (cast?) front sight base. The sight base, at lease on the sample we had, did not provide the necessary perpendicular shoulder for properly indexing and aligning a direct thread silencer. this may have been a contributing factor in the end cap strike you observed.

    Mike Smith/AAC

    • “If that’s a Ruger Scout rifle, the last one of these we had did not have a good perpendicular shoulder behind the threads.”

      Thank you, you just convinced me that having a competent ‘smith to verify the threads on every gun I may be inclined to slap a can on would be a good idea.

      And probably the threads on the ‘can as well…

      • “I trust argue knows how to cut threads”

        That’s where you’re wrong kiddo.

        I’ve had ruger barrels with threads so far off that you could actually see the suppressor pointing off at an.angle. worse yet I had to send the gun back twice before they could get it right…

  4. As much as I like suppressing my Ruger rifles, you should not trust their ability to thread a barrel for suppressor use. Check and double check your can’s alignment prior to firing for the first time. The Mini-14/30 lineup and Gunsite Scout rifles are notorious for having flash hider quality thread jobs with a shoulder that is not to suppressor spec. All of my 22/45s, 10/22s, and American’s have been threaded correctly – though I know there are people out there who have had problems with those too.

  5. You’re not wrong about the cost of silencers. You just tend to be an a$$hole on instagram about it.

    • Awww, show us on the doll where the big bad guntruth hurt you… it’s ok, you’re in a safe space Warren.

      • Being an ass is being an ass, one does not need a safe space to recognize an ass. Maybe warren is wrong and you are just a Dick.

  6. Wait for HPA to pass. As consumers, we have no obligation to support any business or industry.

    If and when HPA passes, there will be new silencer companies to take the place of whoever went out of business.

    If HPA doesn’t pass, there will be new silencer companies to take the place of whoever went out of business.

  7. Every 10/22 I’ve ever seen with a factory thread is threaded .200 too long.

    Ruger is not known for correct threading.

    • “Ruger is not known for correct threading.”

      Ruger is known, however, for being no-hassle on warranty work.

      What’s Ruger’s response when notified their threading is out-of-spec?

  8. Been waiting on photos since you talked about this on your podcast.

    Yikes!
    Sometimes, inexpensive is just too cheap.

  10. I would like to know if Rebel Silencers ever responds to your review. If they do can that get printed on your site too?

  11. I’m a bored former machinist with access to a machine shop, and I have a couple bills to throw at materials, just waiting for the HPA to pass because I’ll be damned if I am going to pay 200 bucks to the ATF for the priveledge of ditching my ear pro. Seriously, silencers do not need to cost over $400 to be high quality, but for some reason enough of us are paying twice that, meaning the market has adjusted to normalize. Yes, engineering costs money, and yes, there are a lot of factors that go into pricing – but for a guy like me with the skillset and knowledge, it just doesn’t make any damn sense to buy a silencer at any price, let alone artificially inflated prices. I’m gonna wait, but that’s just my take on it.

    • I don’t mind paying for a can, but I’ve noticed a parallel between manufacturers of higher-end bike parts and suppressors.

      Companies spend a *lot* of money on marketing and packaging. One bike company packages their stuff in glossy full-color boxes and crap like a little burlap bag for their ‘widget’. (Not to mention the required stickers or ‘morale patch the ‘can company provides).

      Anything to differentiate themselves from ‘the pack’, I suppose. And *we* are the ones footing the bill…

  12. This is kind of a week review I feel like you should have not have bothered to post it if you weren’t going to complete the testing

    • Yeah I don’t really understand the point here… there’s some pitting so you decide to quit and save money on ammo? What?

      Also, I second the concerns above about ruger threading.

      • You want him to run it some more? Why? There are cans out there that have been run thousands of rounds with less pitting and erosion than that, so it isnt “just a little bit, as you say. What additional knowledge would we gain beyond being even more convinced at just how badly it sucked?

        First people claimed a $200 silencer is just as good as the more expensive ones, so guntruth found a $200 silencer it isn’t even close and lo and behold it sucks a giant bag of dog dicks. Now you are mad because they didn’t waste their ammo proving beyond a shadow of a doubt just how badly it sucked? Guess you just can’t win some days.

        • I am just trying to wrap my head around the image of a giant bag of dog dicks.

          I mean, why would you have this? What happened to the dogs? What are you doing with it? It’s very disturbing.

        • It’s a toy, John, lighten up! Everybody knows a dog’s favorite thing is another dog’s bidness, sniffing and all, this is a toy to make your dog happy.

  13. 300 WM through a can made of 7075? I’d be a little dubious of such a claim. Given the pitting from 308, I wouldn’t test it with a magnum. Probably would be safer however if the blast baffle were steel and everything still in aluminum.

    That said, if the others are right about the Ruger rifle having bad threads, you should find a better rifle to test it on and report back after doing a more thorough review.

    • Or at the very least, get the test guns threading verified. It would suck if that baffle strike was a result of an out-of-spec thread job.

      That would be a serious disservice to the can companies reputation if that were the cause…

  14. Well, you get what you pay for. Something like this *might* be acceptable in a world without the onerous regulations we have now, but until then wise to stay away.

  15. As a dealer who can confirm their business model and customer service are SERIOUSLY lacking, I agree that a follow-up of this test is warranted with a different (higher end maybe, or threads checked for spec) rifle. I have the SOS-556 as a demo can and have not had any issues with either .223 or .22 (super and sub) thru it. Rebel deserves at least a second chance at this like many other reviews have received. JMHO.

  16. Howdy, Eric from Rebel Silencers responding. Mr. Key, we’d love the opportunity to help you troubleshoot this, you can reach us at 888-442-4307. Over here at Rebel, we are passionate about our products and providing exceedingly good value to our customers. If we are ever blessed enough again be given another article in TTAG we’d be over the moon grateful if you could give us the opportunity to comment beforehand. It’s the polite thing to do when writing an article such as this.

    Thanks for taking the time to do a review, we’re flattered and we look forward to continuing to improve, serve our customers, and do many more interesting things in this space.

    V/R,

    Eric Woodard
    Rebel Silencers

  17. These people are rip-offs !! Payed them for my can. They never sent it to my FFL dealer. No response by email, no response by phone !! I’ve stopped the payment to them on my credit card. Please run don’t walk away from these rip-off artists!!

  18. I ordered my SOS-22 on 3 April. On May 16th, I received an email from my FFL dealer that it had arrived, and to come and finish up the paperwork. I have viewed the item, and it seems to be a great value. Hopefully more tests will reveal the cost v. quality/performance equation. R, Jim

  19. I have the .30 caliber can from Rebel Silencers and have shot over 500 rounds of subsonic 300 blackout it is as silent as a pellet gun . I am also a 07 with S.O.T and have sold many rebels with no complaints , Eric has always been available , or called me back every time I’ve contacted them , even after hours . I know Rebel will take care of any issues that may pop up , and They have my support .

    • Your videos is one of them I watched on this suppressor. Very well done. Thank you for putting time into it.

  21. I feel like the test was done by Prestige Worldwide from the movie Step Brothers. I can only take this article with a grain of salt. However, nice to see the Rebel company responding to this write up. Watched some private citizens YouTube videos on this suppressor. I liked what I see. Visited the Rebel webpage and it is nicely done. For the price and other write ups, it is worth a shot (no pun intended).

  23. I still do not have possession of my SOS Hunter (a model between this one and the newest that has milled body…mine has the stainless 17-4 inserts though), however I did get to shoot it on both a 16″ AR and a Browning Buck Mark. I was very pleased with the results. I was shooting along with some folks at a training facility that had some of the finest equipment available, and while I’m confident that their high dollar cans will last longer and get much hotter, sound and function was the same….not just my opinion either. I specifically asked for folks opinions before I ran the course. To be fair, I did have a 16″ barrel compared to others 10.5″ but I was shooting shit Tula .223.

    The .22 was a blast. Even with the 10″, 11 oz. can on the end, it handled like the 5.5″ bull barrel was on there…not the 4″ Tactical Solutions barrel.

    All in all, the original review isn’t terribly in depth and doesn’t reflect the current build of the can. Mine had no pitting after dumping 2 mags through it in about 3 minutes (the length of the course we were shooting). It didn’t show any lead from the 100 rounds of 22 either, but it’s a .30 cal can so I don’t know how that’s suppose to work.

    Rebel Silencers does lag on the customer service side of things. They’re a small but growing company, they have a rapidly developing prototype/designs that make cataloging a nightmare (just my observation), and the phone does tend to not get answered promptly. It requires a persistent customer to get timely service with them but I believe they’re solid and if they go away, someone will surely fill their shoes because they appeal to guys like me who don’t need the best of the best, but a high quality and reasonably priced can…no “but for just a few hundred more…” That’s my tax stamp money.

    I’ll leave it at this. I’ve only put a total of 60 rounds of 223 and 100 rounds of 22 through it, but I’d buy it again. I have no doubts that this can will survive many cases of cheap 223 before I even consider arranging the baffles based on what I have experienced thus far. Time will tell and I’ll share what I find with you.

  24. These guys sell Rebel Silencers to dealers for $100. In my 25yrs of manufacturing, cost is usually 1/4 of price (ball park). That being said what would expect from a $25-$35 suppressor. They are junk and they customer service from Rebel Silencers is horrible. These people are far from honest and their product is a true refection of that. Good Luck Rebel’s.

    • Agree that many suppressor manufacturing facilities have well under $100 in materials for the pieces they are selling, including Rebel, based on my experience with working with metals. I have purchased two suppressors from Rebel, pretty early on when they came on the market. I own the .22 cal. suppressor which had a tip strike, and was acknowledged by Rebel and replaced within a week of notification with updated version. My 9mm suppressor did not fit my Walther correctly and several of Rebel’s employees worked with me to determine if a mod was needed to the suppressor or something else. We determined that the best course was to use a Booster from Liberty (Browning-type action). Solved the problem and also made it possible to use the suppressor on my Glock. Sometimes you need to try several numbers/chat/email to get to the person you need at Rebel but I have always been connected to someone to answer my questions.

  25. DO NOT BUY! I made the mistake of buying. These guys are horrible when it comes to customer service. Being a veteran myself, I wanted to support their business. Long story short, I tried connecting them multiple times. They even blocked me on social media after a simple request for them to contact me. I had an end cap strike and was trying to see what I can do. I know the strike was not my fault which is probably why they are not contacting me back, they don’t want to live up to their “lifetime warranty”. Sadly even though I like to support veteran owned businesses, Do Not trust them or their “lifetime warranty”.

  26. Snobs and whiners I got one for $275 from my stocking dealer plus my stamp . I don’t intend on doing a video of how many mags it will go through in full auto before it failed . It’s cheap it’s good to 300 mag and it has a life time warranty what do you want for $300 . Nobody is forcing you to buy it if it’s in your price range and fits your needs great if not buy something else

  27. If you don’t check your bore alignment before hand its your own fault, I have rebel products and have checked my bore alignment and they work flawlessly. You can buy precision tool grade rods and check this for yourself.
    When you purchase a rifle you cant be sure of the bore alignment tolerances they manufacture t are whats needed to run a suppressor

  28. This a hole doing this review is probally getting paid by other suppressor companies to give it a bad review so people will not buy it and keep buying the over priced ones. I have a SOS Hunter and have shot hundreds of rounds through it with no problems. As a matter of fact getting ready to buy another one. So before thrashing something next time do a real test on the product.

    • This review was done with the first iteration of the can. Rebel redesigned the end cap and started pressing in stainless baffles. The result, the SOS V2, is a much tougher can with better flow resulting in less endcap strike issues.

  29. I believe this is the third time I’ve commented here on my experience as it is the oldest running string on the internet about Rebel Silencers.

    I was at the range a month ago and blew most of the can off my gun. Not good. No injuries, not sure what happened but there is GOOD AND BAD to be learned here. Firstly, I was shooting a 10.5″ barreled AR pistol. I believe that’s the issue here. I was doing Mozambique drills and El Presidente drills. I was on my sixth mag, ensuring there was no unscrewing going on. Aware that mag dumps are not recommended, I do believe my shot speed was excessive but only due to it being on a 10.5″ pistol. The blast chamber/body/serialized portion stayed on the gun but all four baffles blew off. 25 yards down it went and up a 10 foot tall berm. I pooped a little. It was like shooting a soda can off your gun.

    Three baffle strikes and the threads on the closest baffle to the rifle was chewed. I think it over heated being so short of a barrel and because I was doing a series of 6 shot strings. For reference, about 150 rounds in about 10 minutes. So let that be known.

    Now, I contacted them, got free shipping to and from, and a completely new can. My version is between the one reviewed in the article and the newest…it had steel inserts but no flutes on the endcap or body. The new one is exactly as shown on the site. Now I was pretty happy about this. 300 rounds of .308, 1200 rounds of .22 and around 1000 rounds of 5.56 is what I put through it. Went to put it on my guns just to check it out and none of the older adapters fit….it came with two, (1) 1/2-28 and (1) 5/8-20. I needed (2) over the barrel adapters and one conventional one. I contacted them through the texting system. Prompt response. I explained my issue, they said sure, whats your address and they’ll be out the door tomorrow.

    By the way, from the day my can broke to the new one came to my front door was 10 days. Not bad. So maybe not the best thing for short barrels due to higher heat but no problems otherwise. Just thought I’d throw my .02 in as a guy who has had his for almost 2 years.

  30. First off, all suppressors aren’t in contention for the SOCOM trials!
    Some products are made at a “price-point” some are made at a “performance-level”. Compromise is everywhere in this design.Fact is, 4 baffles is NOT going to be as quiet as a 7-10 baffle can. There is almost no angle on the cones. There are no “clips” on the baffles to direct the gas to the next chamber. At this price point, all of that is to be expected. A CNC machine on a factory floor will cost you $150 bucks an hour to run with an OP. These are simple, 2-axis shapes that are designed to be made fast and cheap. They have to make these parts fast and correct to make money at this price point. It’s not a Ferrari! Think AK-47. Some flawed parts will make it thru QC. Allowable tolerances will be high.
    Aluminum is easy to machine and has mostly single operations, no final finishing or polishing, the part is unclamped, comes out of the machine and it’s ready for the go/no-go jig.
    These cans WILL create POI shift on projectiles. It’s called “breaking the plane”.Every time the bullet passes thru a baffle, it’s subject to large pressure change. Unless the bullet passes perfectly centered thru the flat baffle hole, the side-gas coming around it will affect the flight path. You can expect that. Don’t complain about it. Just understand, it’s going to happen with these baffles.This can is an entry level device and should be judged as one. Is it a compromise compared to something like a OSS Helix, YES! You won’t be attaching this to an Arctic Warfare long gun. And I do not get the fact people don’t understand the muzzle threads MUST be known concentric and ALL mating surfaces must be squared to each other. Who ever sells this to you should tell you that. Barrel/Suppressor alignment must be checked by a gunsmith, not the counter guy or you may have screwed a grenade to the end of your beloved firearm.There again, the seller should let you know that.
    And look, a .308 is HARD to suppress anyway because the pressures and volume of gas following the bullet are up there compared to most rounds. This can would work best with 9mm and lower pressures.
    Don’t give the Hellcat keys to a 16 YO and wonder later how he/she wrapped it around an oak tree. You’re smarter than that.
    This device has a place in the world, but face it, it simply is a disposable can……………….

  31. Maybe the exception more than the norm, I mounted their 9mm suppressor on my CZ Scorpion SBR and burnt through 150-rounds and functioned well without any issues. It was a friends can and have not shot it since the time on his private range.

    I run Dead Air and Sure Fire cans on my personal and duty guns flawlessly…

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