Hey All,

My Mustang came in the other day so here is a quick and dirty comparison.

First host is a S&W M&P 15-22 pistol w/ 8 inch barrel. Second is Ruger Mk V Lite, lastly Tikka T1X bolt action.  All ammo was CCI SV

* I have a DA Mask I but didn't test it as I know how it performs and would be the winner by a slight margin, it seems to be the 'benchmark' by which others are judged due to it's performance, and long and popular history; although I do believe the  TBAC Takedown 22 and the just released OCL 22 Titanium may be de-throne the Mask and be lighter to boot.  After the minimal FRP, the Siren is all but indistinguishable to the Mask.  So when I say something about the Siren, know that it is very, very, close to the Mask, and if something is close to the Siren, then by default is is also quite close to the Mask

S&W 15-22
CGS Siren, this silencer, from what I understand, is simply a Carbon Fiber version of the CGS Hydra (a seemingly hi performing silencer, but lost in a sea of other 22 cans), maybe Paco is still around and can verify.  This can is very light, as in can't tell it's on the barrel light.  Very minimal first round pop, like if you had your stereo on sound level 3 1/2 and then turned it down to 3.  No gas to face, very quiet, close enough to my Mask that I can't really tell the difference, maybeeeeee just slightly louder.  Nice tone, a deeper tone and longer sound than the  Mustang if that makes sense.  

The Mustang is very light also, 3.3 oz vs, the Siren 2.5 and the Salamander at 2.5 oz, and modular to boot; once I was looking around for the Mustang and realized it was in my pocket. Very likely to weight less than some of your keys chains.  On the 15-22, the Mustang seems to be about the same DBs (more or less), but the tone slightly higher and sharper, quicker than the Siren.  Just a touch more FRP than the Siren, but not much. *Side note, it was hard to tell the gas blowback on the Mustang, originally I thought it was pretty bad, but then figured out it was burning off machining oil or something.  Once I got a few dozen rounds down the pipe it stopped.
ETA: The Mustang did not change the POI much if any, I was still able to hit a 4" steel at 65 yards, I don't recall testing the Salamander for POI shift.

ECCO Salamander, this is more like comparing a K can to a full size, it is literally the diameter of a bull barrel and only 5 inches long (that's what my wife said ), like a silencer, only smaller.  It's a degree or two louder than the others and expectedly so.  It disappears on the end of your barrel, both literally and figuratively.  If there were a size/performance category, this would win hands down and if it were my only can I would not feel like I was missing anything.  On the S&W it's only slightly louder and a bit more gassy, likely due to the smaller volume, but at about .75 the diameter of the others, some compromise is to be expected.

On the Ruger, all the silencers maintained their positions, but the Siren and the Mustang trade places with regards to FRP, the Mustang slightly beat out the Siren.

On the Tikka is where the Salamander really shines, once again it disappears on the end of the barrel, was within 1 or 2 DBs of the others, and exhibited very little FRP.  The Siren and Mustang are about the same DBs, with a very small amount of FRP.  maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed the take about 3 shots for all the cans to settle down to their best performance.

The action of the S&W was louder than the any of the cans, I had my son shoot it as well as help it out and only then could I discern any differences.  The firing pin noise was louder than any of the cans on the Tikka.

There you go, this is my impression, from the shooter's perspective, on this day.  Your impression may be a bit different, and as we like to say YMMV.

Cool review. If you want, I can take apart one of my Hydras and post a pic of the baffles. I think at least the blast baffle is different on the Siren, but I’m not certain of that…haven’t seen one in a while.

I got ya.  :)

I was cleaning some stuff tonight anyway. You can see the CGS Siren is different in almost all ways from the AL and SS Hydras. Not "simply a Carbon Fiber version of the CGS Hydra".
Hydra is longer overall. Stack is longer. Skirts on baffles are different. Cone shape is different. Exit-endcap is shorter on the Siren. Mount endcap is longer on the Hydras. There is a diffuser ("Pop Reducer Baffle") as the first baffle on the Siren, but is not present at all on the Hydras.


And a pretty lineup shot of the cleaning bench to include from L-to-R, the very nicely designed Griffin Checkmate-HD, the tried-and-true DA Mask, the CGS Siren, the YHM Phantom22, the CGS Hydra-AL and Hydra-SS. (This photo illustrates the length of the Siren as compared to the Hydras.)

@Kel is your Hydra SS discolored from cleaning or use?

I didn't think I missed that on your site.
:-/

@Kel  Thanks for  the correction.  I was always under the impression they were very much the same, I guess not.  Can you tell much difference in sound between the Siren and the Hydra.  Secondly,  is there a tool for removing the Siren from the barrel when stuck?  A time or two I had to use Channel Locks (and tape to cover the mount), but would like a proper way to do it w/o buggering up the mount.

Kel, do you have an order of preference or favorites (and why)?

@Green0   you are correct (it's a Rugged Product), thanks for clearing that up. As a side note, I always appreciate your contributions, the technical side you bring, as well as an insider's view (that goes for all mfg reps on here).


If I were to sum up the review, at least as much as I know, pretty much any decent 22 can is going to be awesome and very hearing safe.  And of my collection, close enough to be almost indistinguishable to my ears, as the shooter.  Once a person has one or two, you get to understand more and start to develop your own priorities.

I really love my little Ecco Salamander. It seems most folks use them on rifles, but I like it on small pistols. It's so small, I can actually use the iron sights on my Ruger LCPII. It's so light, you don't even feel it on there.

Here's my Salamander on the LCPII. The Taurus TX22 Compact has a Sico Warlock II (also a very light can).

Another Salamander fan here.  Love it on my Lifecard 22.

They come anodized multicolored, though I haven’t seen that particular pattern. Mine are pink-purple to green-blue.

The Lifecard actually makes the little Salamander look big!

soooooo, when did CGS stop putting in the "pop reducers" in the hydras? ive never seen one.

do they work? if so WTF CGS. i want one for my hydra SS.

I got both of mine in ‘21, and there are no “pop reducers”. They’re what I was thinking of when I said I thought the blast baffles were different between the Hydra and Siren.

Neither of mine seem to suffer from FRP at all, including on a G44.

Are you talking about the Siren or Hydra?  I just got a Hydra AL and although I only had time to run a couple mags of bulk pack Remington Thunderbolts through a P22 it has a discernible FRP.

Hydra SS x2. I haven’t tried Thunderbolts suppressed. When I say no FRP, I mean none, and I can easily hear the FRP with my Mask, for comparison’s sake.

What ammo are you using? Any hosts besides the G44?

I’ll try some different ammo this weekend. If I recall they say you can change up the baffle configuration by rotating them 90* and that may have some effect on sound and tone, maybe there is a configuration that will lessen FRP.  It’s not terrible but it’s noticeable enough I’m already thinking about going back and getting the Mustang.

I *think @Kel was showing us the pop reducer in the Siren (mine has one).  Not certain about the Hydra.

That blows my mind. Siren FRP is significant to me. I also observe the same on the Kraken/Mod 9. But maybe that's the difference in Hydra/Siren baffles as shown above.

M&P15-22 also. I’m using CCI Clean subs primarily. I’ve shot other stuff, but can’t remember for sure if it sounds as good. I’ll have to play around with other stuff.
I do hear the FRP on my MoD9s.

thats pretty rad. you must have a real special one, cause mine has FRP across 2 or 3 hosts with multiple kinds of ammo. my mod9 also suffers from this, but i feel like thats pretty standard for everyone across the board.

I must have 2 special ones. I dunno. Maybe it’s the ammo or the host, or somehow subjective. I didn’t really expect my Hydras to be anything special, performance-wise. They were on a killer sale, and matched my pink and purple meme-ish .22s.

I've been reading up on the Hydra recently and the manual states that the baffles can be oriented in 90 degree increments. Pretty sure I read a post from someone at CGS that said current Hydra's use the same design baffle stack as the Siren. Not sure about the "pop reducer".

All I know is I have multiple 'notify me' emails in place if there is another run of Sirens.

That's interesting. Paco_Ramirez said something similar about the CGS Mod9.

On all my suppressors I always align my clips and then align them with the serial number on the tube. Not for sound performance, but for consistent POI shift.  I always zero my red dots with a specific can on.

I just do it and haven't tested it. Maybe it's just OCD, but I figure it limits the variables.

Same. I always put a little electrosound gel in the blast chamber to mitigate it.

I do the same for the same reasons.

There is a video from  SilencerCo  that tested baffle port arrangements vs. POI, DB's and accuracy, the results are interesting.  The TLDR version (if I recall) is to align the ports.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tq2XZU6KM&ab_channel=SilencerCo

Another anomaly is the .22 Switchback that on a pistol vs. rifle or sub vs super, the second set of baffles are turned 180 degrees and it's quieter. Go figure.

Thanks for the link!

Yeah, the Switchback blows my mind. That is a weird can. I'd love to get one someday.

Pulled my Hydra AL apart today, the baffles look like the Siren baffles in your photo(assuming siren is on the right). No pop reducer and the baffle clips weren’t aligned, the first two were 90* off the next was the same as the second and the rest were 90* from that. I put them all in line and will go from there.

I’ve got a few types of ammo coming to try but so far everything I’ve tried has a pretty noticeable FRP.