Watch: dB Foam for Silencing Silencers
Russ Chastain 04.12.17
This was a new one on me. It’s a spray can of foam from Inland Manufacturing that’s meant to be squirted into a silencer can. Not only will dB Foam protect the suppressor from corrosion during storage, but they also say it will eliminate “first round pop” (caused by the presence of oxygen in the baffles when the first shot of a string is fired) AND reduce overall sound by 3 to 5 decibels over a ten-shot string.
Interestingly, they say it will displace water, but they also say it’s water soluble. Whuuut?
Inland also says:
dB Foam, when used as directed is safe to use with most firearm suppressor designs and will significantly reduce the sound level of firearm suppressors. Independent testing using a variety of commercial suppressor designs averaged a 3-5 dB reduction with 10 shot strings of fire utilizing MIL-STD-1474E sound level testing procedures. The most significant reduction when using dB Foam was found with the first shot fired with dB reduction in some cases that exceeded 10 dB.
dB Foam has been formulated to maintain the foam consistency for up to 6 months of storage. This attribute will provide the great sound reduction when utilizing the suppressor for hunting and tactical applications.
dBFoam displaces water and provides rust inhibiting protection for the internals of your suppressors and firearms. dB Foam is water soluble, simply wash your suppressor in warm water and wipe dry after use.
dB Foam Lubricates as it protects. dB Foam provides a lubricating film that protects the internal components of suppressors with rust inhibiting properties. Residue that is blown back into the firearm action from the backwash of the suppressor will provide the same protection to the firearm bore and action.
Their press release includes this info:
Over the years, suppressors have been additionally muffled with the use of some “liquids.” The effect upon firing the gun is that the liquid became aerosolized and the particulates helped some to interfere with the gases and sometimes lowered the sound, but not reliably. Until now, an efficient and safe wet solution suppressor foam (already pre-aerosolized in the form of tough tiny bubbles) has not been commercially offered.
Many suppressors are costly, so squirting water (little or no effect) or other liquids (some dangerous) into them is not a good idea.
dB Foam is a proprietary, low viscosity (thin), expanding water-soluble foam specifically formulated to do several things for all suppressors:
- Enhance suppressor efficiency
- Make the suppressor easier to clean
- Help reduce internal heat
- Lubricate metallic innards to help prevent corrosion
- Help protect the muzzle, bore and action from particulates that may be blown back into a firearm with a suppressor attached.
A small (½ second or so) shot of dB Foam will expand to fill the dead space in most suppressors with tough, sound-absorbing bubbles that testing shows will last for more than a week.
Tests of dB Foam used Mil-spec equipment in 5.56 and .308 calibers, and subsonic .22LRs and 147-grain 9mm rounds were fired from several handguns and suppressor systems. Results showed that, on average, dB Foam lowered the sound over ten-shot strings by 3-5 decibels – and, more importantly, up to 10 decibels for the first shot.
Follow user directions (basically, a quick squirt into the front of your suppressor), and the stuff works. It is that simple!
dB Foam is available in aerosol cans of 4 ounces ($19.95 MSRP) or 16 ounces ($29.95 MSRP). Oddly, I could only find the larger size in Inland’s online store; here’s a link.
In the video below, Hunter Elliot found that he got an average of 7 decibels of reduced noise (or increased suppression), and found that first round pop was completely eliminated. So basically, dB Foam does what it claims it will do.
Nice.
