OSS RAD 22 Review
Whenever I think about 22 silencers, I separate them into two categories: the cute ones, and the tough ones. The cute ones are aluminum, extremely lightweight, but only rated to do .22 long rifle. The tough ones are made of stainless steel. They’re a little heavier than the cute ones, but still relatively light. They are usually rated to do more rounds along with 22-caliber guns, like .22 magnum, 17HMR, and 5.7. Both the cute and the tough have their place; however, I always recommend that people buy a tough can as their first .22 suppressor.
As soon as you buy a .22 can, while it’s in NFA jail, you will acquire a gun in a .22 caliber and won’t have a can to suppress them. It happened to me and has happened to many people I know. The OSS Rad22 is one of the toughest variety and rated up to full-auto five-seven; if you are lucky enough to have that problem. The RAD22 is just over five-and-a-half inches long and weighs in at 6.2 ounces, making it very comparable to competitive cans on the market.
OSS is known for their rifle suppressors and their flow-through design, with channels and coils inside the suppressor to divert and cool the gas, reducing blowback. In the OSS design, the gas is never trapped; it continues to flow through the suppressor and out of the ports in the front. Contrast this with how traditional baffles work, trapping a certain amount of the gasses while some of the gasses get pushed back into the firearm.
For the .22, OSS changed things up quite a bit. Their new simpler design has radial grooves cut into the outside of traditional baffles. OSS calls these “flow baffles.” These grooves work in a similar way to the coils and channels in OSS’s rifle cans. A portion of the gasses is picked up by the baffle extension and diverted to the outside perimeter of the silencer, then vented through these extra ports in the front cap.
So the Big Question: Does it Work?
In our testing, we were able to capture gasses and fouling exiting the suppressor through these ports on film. That’s gas and fouling escaping, some of which would normally get pushed back into your firearm. It’s kind of hard to prove how much back pressure is being reduced, but all of that tells me there is something substantial to the flow baffles. They are more than just a gimmick.
We shot the OSS RAD22 alongside some competitors’ cans, and it performed very well. It maintained a very pleasant, deep tone across several different platforms and was even very comfortable to the ear on the CMMG Banshee chambered in 5.7 with only a 5-inch barrel. Of course, it is stupid-quiet shooting subsonic .22 through it, and will instantly bring a smile to your face.
Since all of the internals on the OSS RAD22 are stainless steel, you can dump them all into a sonic cleaner for easy, trouble-free cleaning. They’ve also made the internals very easy to reassemble. You have the baffle extension, then all the flow baffles, none of which need to be timed or oriented in any specific way followed by two cone baffles. Really simple and easy.
The OSS Rad 22 is an awesome .22 suppressor, and I would highly recommend this can as your first .22 suppressor or your fifth. It’s crazy-quiet with .22, it’s tough enough to handle 5.7 in full auto, and is easy to maintain. I don’t know what more you could ask of a .22 silencer.
Key Features: OSS RAD 22
- Weight: 6.2 oz
- Length: 5.57 in
- Diameter: 1.08 in
- MSRP: $449
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