Stingerworx Suppressors: Cutting Edge with Titanium Baffles

Stingerworx is an engineering company based out of Nampa, Idaho. For the last four years, they designed, manufactured and tested parts for well-known defense-industry companies. Now, they’re also working on their own products. They have come out with new suppressors and muzzle brakes that are undemanding on the operator’s body and are also neat for gun nuts like you and me to enjoy.

A few of their new designs have fallen under a scorpion-style name. So, interestingly enough, behind all of the names of their products you’ll find that it’s actually a class of a scorpion. Yay for arachnids in the firearm world! There are over 2,000 types of them, so be prepared for Stingerworx to stay around for a while!

Let’s start with some testing we did on the Stingerworx products. We were fortunate enough to have Stingerworx’s designer and main engineer, Dave Adamson and CEO Jason Hamilton, on site along with members from Oregon’s Sniper Dynamics. The rifles we used were provided by Mike and Kevin from The Gun Co and Prime Ammunition supplied the ammo. Oh, and Mil Spec Monkey came as well!

We used several different types of grain loads through the suppressors and rifle types. We brought out .308 rifle set ups, 5.56 rifle set ups and even a 6.5 creedmoor. With all of that equipment and team work combined, we were sure to have a productive research and development day. At least for the first few hours until the competitions started coming in…

We set up paper targets at 150 meters and steel targets at 600 and over 760 meters. On the paper targets, shooters set par for their groupings and optic/scope settings in order to compete for the best grouping. With a slight windage adjustment, we then sent the rounds down to the steel targets. Ward of Sniper Dynamics and I took turns spotting our hits using a nice Swarovski spotting scope and a Vortex spotting scope. Within two shots, I was dialed in at the 760 Meter target with all calibers using a NightForce scope, the ATACR™ 5-25×56 FI. The scope was easy to use and adjust for incoming wind even when, towards the end of our testing, a snow blizzard decided to drop in on us.

I did not notice a dramatic change in having the suppressor on or off, which is important for a shooter or hunter when dialing in on the range versus the field. Hunting varmint or big game out in the field needs to be as accurate as possible. You will not have time to “sight in” your gear and equipment when it’s go time.

First, we tested the muzzle brake with the different caliber rifles. I noticed minimal recoil and outstanding gas displacement through the exit ports of the brake, which helps the operator stay on target for a follow through shot. The brake itself is 100% titanium with a 17-4 stainless steel insert to help defeat wearing and prevent rusting from gas charges. It is cut from the same bar stock as all Emperor Series Suppressors and weighs in at 1.1 ounces, probably lighter than your thumb. The brake also has a two lead thread around the outside of the brake and a taper lock which mounts the Stingerworx Emperor MB series suppressors as securely as a direct thread suppressor. It also comes standard with a red thread protector so as to not damage the threads when not using a suppressor. That’s super handy for a shooter that is actively changing suppressors or guns. It is also threaded in ½-28 — 2B so you can keep that as a note if you just want to buy their brake and try a different suppressor, or already own a similar threaded suppressor.

When correctly mounted, you’ll see the brake has two angled ports for gas exiting out the left and right sides. Like all muzzle brakes similar to this design, you will not notice any sound reduction. It will actually be a little loud, so make sure you use ear protection if you’re shooting with just this puppy on. The muzzle brake’s retail price is listed at $135, which keeps it at a pretty competitive pricing range.

Next, we tested the suppressors. For our testing, we had our hands on all of them except the AK variant.

Stingerworx puts out four different suppressors:

• The Emperor 556 L2
• The Emperor 65 – L1
• Emperor AK – L2
• Emperor .30 cal L2 (Multi caliber)

On the multi caliber Emperor suppressor, the overall length is 8 inches. Now that’s usually a pretty good length, but it’s superior design and titanium baffle weight of 13.1 ounces does not make it a burden on the operator. Also, the unique modular design of the Emperor Series family of suppressors can be configured from a standard suppressor to an over-the-barrel suppressor for those who prefer increased sound reduction of up to 1.5-3 decibels more. It’s modular, which means that the customer can add or remove the over the barrel expansion chamber without increasing the overall length of the weapon. Bringing the suppressor back over the barrel has been done in the past, but being able to add or remove the portions is the difference here. With their “Over the Barrel Expansion Chamber” or OBX for short, the overall length of your weapon doesn’t increase as can be seen with the 16-inch AR15 rifle design. Differences will be seen with a 10-inch or 12-inch gun because of the smaller length of the barrel. It also changes the tone as well. Again, there are a lot of variables between weapons systems here so this is considered to be an accurate but general statement.

The suppressors have a sleek, smooth design and overall diameter of 1.5 inches that will not hurt the eyes or compromise any operator in their manliness.

Each suppressor can take quite an amount of abuse. They not only took it for two days of our straight torture with the shooters we had, but also through a full automatic. The gasses are distributed across two separate and vastly different internal gas chambers. With this design the abuse seen by the blast baffle is significantly decreased and spread differently throughout the material thus eliminating the need for the use of heavier materials. The threaded baffle stack is securely held in place in two separate locations with no welds, yielding an extremely robust and durable product. The baffle stack is also replaceable while retaining the ability to change the style of future end caps and accessories. So even if you are abusive with it, you can fix it even easier. It’s even nicknamed the “lifetime” suppressor.

The multi-caliber .30 cal Emperor can be switched in between the following rifles:

• 5.56 x 45/.223 – Up to full-auto rated on all barrels over 10 inches
• 6.5 Creedmoor – All barrels over 12 inches
• 6.8 SPC – Full-auto rated for all barrels over 12 inches
• 7.62 x 51/.308 – Full auto rated for all barrels over 12 inches
• 300 Win – 18 inch barrel or longer

How do the engineers design this in such little time? I got to tour their warehouse and walk through all the machines. Well, an interesting example of this is their CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software. Before they ever cut a piece of metal, they build and test it inside of a computer. To take it one step further, they can tell the software that in order to meet Stingerworx parameters, it (the computer) has the freedom to change certain geometry, length diameter or degrees of baffles, tubes and blast chambers. It (the computer) will then run a simulation, change one of the allowed parameters and run another simulation. It will repeat this process until it finds the most effective solution. This process may take a day or several weeks. However, at the end of it they will have a product that will require significantly less prototyping and testing. Is there a secret sauce to get technology like CFD software to accurately simulate real world solutions? Absolutely there is. It involves a lot of math and secrets that Stingerworx isn’t ready to share with us yet.

To retouch Stingerworx highlights:

• • 100% TITANIUM – All parts are built from the same grade of solid material. They refuse to use tubing.

• • NON WELDED – Their patent pending Stinger Baffle is a system in which each baffle is uniquely designed, and different form the one behind it. It is not simply a repeat of the same baffle. Each baffle threads to the next and is then threaded together from both sides of the baffle tube thus putting the tube in compression and the baffle stack in tension. This creates an extremely robust and durable baffle stack held in place at two separate locations.

• • TITANIUM BLAST BAFFLE – The unique patent pending design shows there is no need for heavier materials such as Inconel to be used. Where other blast baffles take the brunt and damage of hot gases and particles exiting the muzzle, the StingerWorx blast baffle spreads the wear over the vastly larger surface area of the two separate internal gas chambers.

• • REPLACEABLE BAFFLE STACK – The baffle stack is held to the blast chamber via a threaded jam nut and seals on a taper between the blast chamber and baffle stack. This taper makes the baffle stack perfectly concentric to the blast chamber. It also seals hot gases from entering the threads of the jam nut. This patent pending feature allows the baffle stack to easily be removed and replaced without having to replace the entire suppressor. Something like this cannot be done on a welded suppressor.

• • PERFECTLY CONCENTRIC – All parts of this suppressor actually align on tapers including the over the barrel expansion chamber. Not only does this make the entire suppressor concentric, it also seals hot gases and carbon buildup form critical parts of the suppressor.

• OVER THE BARREL EXPANSION CHAMBER – This unique feature of the Emperor suppressor allows the user to add additional volume to the blast chamber without increasing the overall length of the weapon. This will yield an additional 1.5 to 3 decibels of sound reduction depending on the barrel length, ammunition, caliber, etc.

Why is titanium so cool? More industries are using it for its strength, light weight, corrosion resistance, biological compatibility, and it’s not magnetic. Titanium is also very resistant to stress corrosion cracking unlike steel. If it’s safe enough to be used in your body, why not on your gun?

Check out their cutting edge new designs. Do you have any stories with the Stingerworx titanium designs? If so, please share with us!

Check out Stingerworx at Stingerworx.com and on Facebook.

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