November 09, 2023
By Tom Beckstrand
I’m happy to see suppressor companies move from the “full-auto rated” focus in years past to the “lightweight and useful” priority in practice today. The reality about shooting, regardless if it’s hunting or target, is very few shooters will ever fire full-auto. I can’t afford the guns or the ammo and I know I’m not alone.
However, every firearms enthusiast that I know either hunts or shoots recreationally and we all benefit from suppressor use. It only makes sense to optimize a suppressor for what the overwhelming majority of us actually do with our rifles. This is exactly what SilencerCo did when they set out to design their new Scythe-Ti .
It is possible to build a suppressor with both sound suppression and reduced weight as two of the top design criteria without compromising on either. The first step is to select the correct material: titanium. The Scythe-Ti is SilencerCo’s first all-titanium suppressor that weighs in at a svelte 7.3 ounces. The direct-thread adaptor that comes with the Scythe-Ti is made from titanium, as is every baffle in the tubeless suppressor. It ships with an aluminum single-port anchor brake front cap, but there are titanium flat front caps in production that will be available soon as an accessory. Don't worry about additional weight though, as it'll weigh the same as the aluminum cap.
One of the first questions that comes up with a new suppressor is does it work more effectively on a bolt-gun or a semi-auto. The Scythe-Ti aggressively traps gas at the muzzle, yielding excellent sound suppression at both the muzzle and the shooter’s ear. However, it has a smaller expansion chamber when compared to other SilencerCo suppressors, so AR-15 shooters will likely find some additional gas exiting the upper receiver. When quickly running a mag through the Scythe-Ti, expect some additional gas to the face. This is a titanium can, so make sure not to mag dump, as that can overheat the can quickly. Why anyone would do this with any titanium can is beyond me. Instead, SilencerCo recommends a shot every 1 second until the can reaches around 600 degrees F before pausing to let it cool down.
The Scythe-Ti is just a hair over six inches long and has a diameter of 1.73 inches, so there is plenty of internal volume and that’s why it’s so quiet. It looks like a tubeless design, but technically isn’t. There is a short titanium tube that surrounds the slightly undersized expansion chamber that houses the direct-thread adaptor. The tube slips over the expansion chamber and is the same diameter as the remaining baffles. This keeps the diameter of the suppressor the same across the length of the can, but allows SilencerCo to easily repair a damaged can without requiring the owner to wait for a new approved tax stamp.
Most suppressor damage occurs from user error or poorly cut threads on the muzzle. No matter how egregious the error is, as long as the short tube surrounding the expansion chamber isn’t damaged, the rest of the Scythe-Ti can be cut away and replaced at the factory. I’ve never seen any suppressor damaged externally around the expansion chamber, no matter how poorly mounted or how bad the muzzle threads were cut, so the Scythe-Ti is about as damage-proof as any suppressor can be made.
Tubeless titanium cans are all the rage right now and, if you follow the goings-on in the suppressor world, there have been some spectacular failures of tubeless titanium cans in the past couple years. These failures occur because it’s hard to weld titanium while keeping it cool enough to avoid making it brittle. Titanium turns purple from oxidation when it becomes too hot, so if you ever see purple on a titanium can, run away. SilencerCo keeps its welds cool enough to avoid the dreaded purple color by laser welding in a closed welding system. The closed system purges all the oxygen away from the suppressor, so it cannot oxidize. Between the absence of oxygen and a laser weld that confines the heat to a small area, there is no purple anywhere to be found.
Being firm believers in “trust but verify,” SilencerCo did exhaustive durability testing on the Scythe-Ti to ensure the tubeless titanium suppressor was robust before releasing it to the public. Their testing included shooting the Scythe-Ti on a short-barreled .30-.378 Weatherby Magnum by shooting two 20-round strings with a shot cadence of 5 seconds. Let the can cool, rinse and repeat.
The .30-.378 Weatherby has the same size case head as a .338 Lapua Magnum, but it’s longer, holds more powder, and is necked down to .30-caliber. It also has a SAAMI maximum pressure of 63,800 pounds per square inch (true magnum pressure). This means the cartridge creates a huge volume of gas and, when fired from a short barrel, carries tremendous exit pressure. I can’t think of a more abusive way to test a suppressor to see if the welds will hold than this one. Only after it passed this crucial testing was the Scythe-Ti put into production.
I did my testing on a Seekins Element chambered in 6.8 Western because I wanted to check both sound suppression and recoil management. The Scythe-Ti excels at both. I was comfortable shooting without ear protection both behind the rifle and adjacent to the muzzle. It was also possible to see the single-port anchor brake working as advertised. As the bullet exited the muzzle, gas flew perpendicular to the bullets path from getting re-directed by the anchor brake. The 6.8 Western is a short magnum cartridge that generates a good bit of gas and I could watch the gas exit the ports surrounding the front cap with the naked eye. Behind the rifle, I could feel the difference the anchor brake made on my shoulder. It is a small but perceptible reduction in felt recoil.
The Scythe-Ti is a strong candidate for the do-it-all suppressor. It is at home on a precision rifle ringing steel out to a mile and beyond, but it also belongs on a lightweight hunting rifle scaling the mountainside. It accepts all of the Bravo mounts, so the owner can use it as a direct-thread suppressor as it ships from SilencerCo, or outfit it for use on a quick-detach ASR flash suppressor or muzzle brake. Regardless of the chosen application, the Scythe-Ti is a lightweight sound-suppressing powerhouse.
SilencerCo Scythe-Ti Type : Caliber: .223 Remington to .300 Remington Ultra Magnum Diameter : 1.73 inchesThread Pattern : Bravo Overall Length : 6.16 in. Weight : 7.3ounces Finish : Oil-rubbed anodizeMSRP : $1,174Manufacturer : SilencerCo 801-417-5384, silencerco.com
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