The Oculus22 and Mustang22 from Rugged Suppressors are complementary designs. They both feature similar technology. However, they each occupy a different niche. Which can to choose depends upon the application.
Made from 17-4 PH stainless steel, the Oculus22 is the heavier of the two. Rated for everything from .22 rimfire up through 5.7x28mm even on rock and roll, the Oculus is a hard-use design that is amenable to high round counts, exorbitant heat, and ultrasonic cleaners.
By contrast, the Mustang22 is the stealthier, more elegant option. This snuffer features a titanium mount and aluminum particulars. The Mustang is still tough and effective, but it weighs roughly half what the Oculus does. The Mustang22 offers maximum portability.
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Both cans obliterate first-round pop and incorporate ADAPT technology. That means you can thread the distal bit off, swap out the end cap, and make the suppressor roughly 40% shorter. While this inevitably increases the overall racket, it offers a package so small and so lightweight you could conceivably carry it in a pocket. The end result is maximized versatility.
What is Rugged Suppressors?
Founded in 2014 by a couple of gun guys named Michael Derdziak and Henry Graham, Rugged Suppressors has as its mission to produce industry-defining, top-quality sound mitigation devices for firearms. Everything they make is focused on the end user. They recognize that buying a registered suppressor is an investment. The Rugged guys strive to offer a product that looks cool while remaining both functional and indestructible.
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In keeping with that ethos, Rugged Suppressors offers a legitimate unconditional warranty. There’s no fine print. There are no hidden exclusions. No matter what went wrong or how it happened, Rugged will work with the end user to find a solution. Average turnaround for warranty work is 16 hours.
Technological Transformations
Certain mechanical contrivances are legitimately transformational. My grandfather was raised plowing fields with a mule on a rural Mississippi farm in the early parts of the 20th century. Later, as an adult, he and my grandmother took a vacation to Hawaii. I recall his being amazed that he could have started from such humble beginnings and then avail himself of timely air travel to the other side of the world. During the course of his lifetime, mankind had gone from equine agriculture to walking on the moon and launching the space shuttle. He returned from that trip gobsmacked by how much his world had changed in a relatively brief period of time.
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I was born in 1966. As a child of the 1970’s, it is curious to ponder the inventions that have transformed my own life. Principal among them are the personal computer and cellular telephone.
When I was a kid, most every family had a phone. However, that device was the size of a shoebox and was tethered to the wall. Back then, the pinnacle of personal computer power was a mechanical calculator that would add and subtract without necessitating counting on your fingers and toes. My, how things have changed.
Computers Then & Now
Computers are now absolutely everywhere. A modern automobile includes somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 microprocessors. Computers manage our consumer goods, our schedules, our mail, and our health care. We legitimately cannot seem to live without them. No kidding, take all that stuff away, and we’d starve. I’ve seen those movies…
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We still call them phones, but talking to people is but a tiny part of the modern smart phone. That ubiquitous thin, compact device is actually primarily an information processing tool. When I was a wee lad, if I wondered what the annual GDP of Bolivia was, I would have to drive or walk to the public library and consult an encyclopedia for information that was, by definition, already out of date. Nowadays, I just verbally ask my smart phone and SIRI answers that question instantaneously ($144 billion, incidentally). Computers and smart phones changed everything about modern life.
Rimfire Suppressors
Similarly, a rimfire sound suppressor will utterly transform your shooting experience. There are already nearly five million sound suppressors in the national registry. That’s one can for every 66 Americans. Once the transfer tax goes away in a few months, that number will undoubtedly skyrocket. We all wanted sound suppressors to be completely deregulated. However, our recent legislative victory is, hopefully, a stepping stone toward that righteous goal.
I acquired my first shooting iron, a simple no-frills Daisy BB gun, at age 7. I have been utterly immersed in the shooting sports ever since. Handguns, rifles, scatterguns, grenade launchers, and automatic weapons–I gobbled them all up the moment the budget allowed. However, nothing transformed my practical shooting experience like my first rimfire sound suppressor. That simple little tube changed everything about how I shoot.
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Deep Magic
Most all guns are loud, even the little ones. Burn a couple hundred rounds through your grandad’s favorite .22 rifle without hearing protection, and you’ve just sentenced yourself to spend your declining years both deaf and isolated. That squealing sound you experience after a protracted stint behind the lawnmower or while driving home from the AC/DC comeback tour is actually the swan song of a handful of your precious hearing receptors. You only start off with so many. Once those things are gone, they don’t ever come back.
As a result, those of us who do any serious shooting are absolutely compulsive about hearing protection. Muffs, plugs, or both are my constant companions on the range. They’re bulky and uncomfortable, but that’s a necessary evil for anyone who doesn’t want to spend his golden years constantly answering the phone when it isn’t ringing.
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A top-end rimfire sound suppressor like the Oculus or Mustang from Rugged Suppressors changes all of that. Threading one of these bad boys onto the snout of your favorite rimfire smoke pole lets you leave the hearing protection at home. Avail yourself of one of these rascals and, no kidding, you will never shoot unsuppressed again. They really are that awesome.
Rugged Rimfire Suppressors Details
The Oculus and the Mustang use common technology. Both suppressors can be fully disassembled at the user level. Keyed baffles ensure a tight gas seal and consistent orientation. There’s only one way these things will go back together. That allows you to service these cans yourself for a ludicrously long life.
The base tube is the registered bit. That way, in the unlikely event anything ever needs to be serviced, the ancillary components can be replaced at the factory without jeopardizing the serialized foundation. These cans come with a handy tool that helps you remove the end cap. Basic maintenance is intuitive and easy.
Swapping either of these suppressors between their long and short configurations can be undertaken at the bench. Just thread off the forward component, use the tool to remove the endcap, swap the endcap onto the base tube, and you’re good to go. The short version is for those times the CIA sends you downrange with a sound-suppressed pocket pistol to rescue the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders from some deranged megalomaniacal supervillain. The long sort is for everything else.
Physics
The speed of sound in dry air is 1,125 feet per second. Anything traveling faster than that is going to create a shockwave and produce a sonic crack independent of whatever you hang onto the snout of your smoke pole. In the case of a .22 rimfire, that sonic crack is annoying but not necessarily a showstopper, particularly when shooting out in an open space.
Subsonic rounds fired through these two high performance cans are pure ballistic bliss. Legit, don’t bother with your ear pro. You won’t need it. Whether you are hunting, target shooting, or just burning bullets for fun, shooting without muffs is undeniably addictive.
Specially-loaded subsonic centerfire rounds are invariably expensive. However, subsonic .22 rimfire is not so bad. I just sucked it up and bought a bunch of them at once. Consider it an investment. Cheap high velocity supersonic Winchester blasting bullets are about five cents apiece. The subsonic sort set you back about eight. Once you have a couple thousand rounds set aside, you can just draw off of that whenever you hit the range.
Good Hosts
I mounted up the heavier Oculus on an HK G36 .22 and a Ruger LC Charger in 5.7x28mm. The G36 .22 is a simply spanking rimfire rendition of the selective fire assault rifle used by some of the world’s most capable special operations units. The size is the same, and the weight is close. The rifle also charges via the same cool midline charging handle of the centerfire version.
I registered my 5.7 LC Charger as a short-barreled rifle and added a side-folding buttstock. Thusly configured, that’s about the closest you can come to an HK MP7 without a trust fund and a lot of government scrutiny. This things looks like Delta Force kit and runs like a monkey after a grapefruit.
The lightweight Mustang found a forever home on my Walther P22. I have had this little gun for decades. I actually shot it until the slide broke in half. Don’t be shocked by that. It took several thousand rounds. Walther had the gun back to me with a fresh slide and a free magazine for my trouble in nine days.
The P22 is compact enough for concealed carry if rimfire defensive guns are your bag. It is also still sufficiently substantial as to serve as a decent service pistol analog. Arguably the hardest working gun in the safe, I shoot this thing constantly. With the stock suppressor in place it looks great and sounds even greater. Once I broke the Mustang down to its abbreviated version, I was ready to strike off downrange to rescue those cheerleaders.
Practical Tactical
No kidding, the G36 equipped with the Oculus22 and fed Winchester subsonic ammo is laughably quiet, like giggle-when-you-shoot-it stealthy. Thusly equipped, the gun groups inside a juice can lid out to fifty meters. The extra weight of the can is lost in the rifle. Practically speaking, when just moving about, you won’t know it’s there. However, it takes all the snap out of the gun. I could shoot that thing until the sun burns out.
The Mustang22 adds nothing of consequence to the weight and bulk of the P22, particularly in its short configuration. The gun uses a fixed barrel, so reliability is not adversely affected. The full-length Mustang is almost as quiet on the P22 as the Oculus is on the G36. In its short form, the gun does make a little more noise, but not a lot. I was still comfortable running the P22 outdoors without muffs. When using it in that supervillain’s evil lair, you’ll never notice it.
Verdict On The Rugged Rimfire Suppressors
I have been squeezing triggers for fun and money ever since I learned to feed myself. I’m not the world’s best marksman, and Uncle Sam will not soon be tagging me to train Delta Force in the finer points of tactical shooting. However, my right to keep and bear arms is indeed well-exercised. I can tell you for real that the most transformational gun thing I ever bought was a rimfire sound suppressor.
The world is your oyster when it comes to rimfire cans these days. However, the Oculus 22 and Mustang22 from Rugged Suppressors are the top of the heap. With an MSRP of $542 and $490 respectively, these two cans offer versatility, innovative design, and, well, simple basic ruggedness all at a competitive price. They’ll change the way you shoot.
