I’ve had a couple of rimfire suppressors and a .45 rated pistol suppressor for a while now, but had held off on getting a rifle suppressor. Mostly out of indecision and not being sure what to get. I wanted something I could use with all, or at least most, of my rifles. Being that I was shooting a .350 Legend that knocked out the more common .30 suppressors. When I saw the Griffin Sportsman Ultra Light .36 drop, it caught my eye. The features looked good, and the price was reasonable. After a little bit of research, I decided to pull the trigger on one.
The Griffin Sportsman Ultra Light .36
Griffin’s Sportsman Ultra Light HD .36 is a lightweight, affordable suppressor. It’s manufactured at Griffin’s Watertown, Wisconsin facility and has an MSRP of $649.95. Other similar cans I looked at that were $1000 or more. The HD .36 is 6.09 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. It weighs 10.4 ounces. It comes with a high temp Cerakote finish and is available in black or FDE colors.
The original Griffin Ultra Light suppressors were made from aluminum, which was great for weight but limited the number of rounds that could be fired between cool down periods. The new HD (High Durability) models are made from 17-4 H900 heat-treated stainless steel. By utilizing a tubeless laser-welding technique that Griffin pioneered, they’re able to make the Ultra LightHD’s nearly as light as more expensive titanium models. So they greatly increased durability while still keeping the weight down.
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The Ultra Light HD uses a patented ECO-FLOW baffle system that reduces gas blow back towards the shooter. This also improves function on gas operated hosts. The cans are full auto rated, and will run anything from 9mm up to .338 Lapua magnum rounds. You will need a booster housing to use them on tilt barrel pistols though. Another nice thing over some other cans I looked at is that there is no minimum barrel length restriction on the Griffin Ultra LightHD’s.
Griffin has a great warranty too. They warranty their suppressors for the life of the product. You don’t need to do any sort of registration, fill out a warranty card, need a proof of purchase, or be the original owner. If your suppressor gets damaged or is defective for any reason other than loss, theft, or misuse they’ll repair or replace it at no charge to you. That’s pretty impressive, especially coupled with the already good price.
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Mounting Options
The Sportsman Ultra Light HD uses an industry-standard 1.375×24 HUB threading. This allows you to uses any of Griffin’s HUB mounting adapters or any other manufacturers mounts as well. While the Ultra Light HD doesn’t technically come with a mount, you have your choice of adding a 5/8×24, 1/2×28, or a Plan-A Taper Mount for free when you order. Their DUAL-LOK HUB and GATE-LOK adapters are available at an additional charge.
I chose a 5/8x24mm adapter, since that was what is most common for .30 and above rifles. I also ended up ordering a 1/2x28mm adapter which will work on 9mm and 5.56 platforms.
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Silencers to your Door
Once I decided to grab the Ultra Light .36, I took a look at Griffin’s silencer to your door option through Capitol Armory. I knew the program existed but had never looked closely at it. I have a good local SOT (Special Occupational Taxpayer) I deal with normally for NFA items, but decided to see what the Capital Armory program was all about.
The process proved to be very simple, and I never had to leave my house to get my suppressor. Basically you buy your suppressor on the Griffin website. You’ll then get an email from Capitol Armory within a few business days letting you know your next steps, including purchasing your tax stamp.
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Step-By-Step
In the meantime, Griffin mails out a “welcome kit” to you. It includes a welcome letter, a fingerprint kit, some Griffin swag, and free t-shirt. You’ll also get whatever muzzle device/accessory that you chose with your suppressor.
When Capitol Armory reaches out to you you’ll need to provide your fingerprints. This can be done either digitally if you already have an .EFT (Electronic Fingerprint File) or by rolling your prints with the print cards that Griffin sent out. If you need to roll them, you then mail them in to Capitol Armory in the return envelope including in your welcome kit. Once you’ve provided prints, you don’t need to do it again if your make a future purchase through them.
Next you’ll create a profile on the Capitol Armory website. Their email will explain all about this. You’ll fill out some forms and upload a copy of your ID and this will allow them to work on your Form 4 paperwork. Once that’s done, you’ll get another e-mail to set up a quick phone call to walk you through digitally signing your Form 4, and submitting it through the ATF’s e-forms website.
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ATF Approval & More
After that you wait for ATF approval, which has been pretty fast this past year. When the approval comes in, they ship the suppressor to your door. Someone does need to be there to sign for it when it arrives.
All together the whole process took about 30 days. With the current processing times I may have gotten my suppressor a little quicker through my SOT, but I never had to leave the house to do this. Plus, it’s a great option if you don’t have a good local SOT to work with.
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Hands on with the Sportsman Ultra Light .36
The Ultra Light HD .36 came packed in a foam padded box. Along with the suppressor I received a Griffin Bushwhacker wrench, an accessory bag to hold the suppressor, and a pack of stickers. There was also a manual.
My impetus for getting the .36 caliber Griffin was so that I could use it on my .350 Legend rifles, along with my other 9mm and .30 caliber rifles and pistols. I rounded up two .350 Legend rifles, a .300 Blackout pistol, and a 9mm SBR for testing.
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My .350 Legend rifles were a Rossi LWC single shot, and a Ruger American Ranch Rifle Gen II. Both rifles had 16 inch barrels. The Rossi was threaded and was provided with a thread protector. The Ruger was fitted with a muzzle brake that I removed to use the suppressor. The Rossi was mounted with a SIG Romeo 5 green dot sight, and the Ruger had one of the new Winchester Supreme Optics 1-4x24mm scopes.
Sighting In
I did sight in with both rifles without the suppressor initially. The 350 Legend is a pretty pleasant cartridge to shoot, even out of the light single shot Rossi. I had a mix of supersonic rounds and one subsonic load. Accuracy with both rifles was extremely good.
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After getting a feel for the rifles I screwed the Griffin on. The Rossi used the 5/8x24mm adapter which is common on .30 caliber rifles, but the Ruger actually used a 1/2x28mm adapter. I shot the same loads suppressed as I did unsuppressed. I didn’t notice any real difference in accuracy and only a minimal shift in point of impact.
Of course the report of the round is what I was interested in. With the supersonic loads you still got the crack of the bullet, but the sound was greatly reduced. It was definitely in the hearing safe range and would make hunting without ear pro a non-issue. I also noticed that felt recoil, while already pretty mild with the .350, was noticeably reduced.
When I switched to the 355gr Winchester subsonic loads I was extremely impressed. The heavy .350 with the Griffin Ultra Light HD is extremely quiet and pleasant to shoot. This is a round I could shoot all day through the Griffin without any undue stress on my shoulder or ears. It may well have become my favorite cartridge and suppressor combo to date.
Going To .300 Blackout
After shooting the rifles I switched over to my .300 Blackout Solo 300 pistol build. The Solo 300 is an AR upper modified for side mounted manual straight pull operation. It fits a standard AR lower. The .300 used the 5/8x24mm adapter. Like the .350 I had a mix of super and subsonic loads. The supersonic .300’s were a little faster than the .350’s, and seemed to have a bit more crack, although again still in the hearing safe range. The subsonic loads performed well. Not as quiet as the .350, but I also had 12 inches less barrel on the Solo 300 than on either rifle.
Lastly I ran the Griffin on my Gen 1 CZ Scorpion SBR. I swapped the Griffin’s adapter back to 1/2×28 with the provided Bushwacker wrench and let her rip. Like the rifle loads, supersonic 9mm was pleasant but still had the crack. Switching to 147gr Wilson Combat loads made the Scorp extremely quiet. Even though this is a rifle rated can, the size and weight still worked out well on both the Scorpion SBR and Solo 300 pistol. In fact it’s shorter and lighter than my old dedicated pistol caliber can.
Silence is Golden
Although it took me a while to decide on what suppressor to get, I think I made the right choice with the Griffin Sportsman Ultra Light HD .36. It’s a quality suppressor with a lot of mounting options. It works with a wide range of cartridges, and covers most of my needs quite well. It won’t work for my .40 and larger guns, but it will work on just about everything else. For the .350 Legend rifles in particular, it’s a perfect match.
The $649 MSRP on the Griffin is very competitive for a can of this caliber. Couple that with the features and accessories both provided and available, and it makes for an exceptional value. With the Capital Armory program Griffin makes it extremely easy to buy too, even if you don’t have a good local SOT dealer to work with. This was my first Griffin suppressor, but it won’t be my last. I’m already looking at their .45 caliber cans to cover the few things that the .36 UltraLight HD doesn’t already do.
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