Evolution, Not Revolution: The SureFire Ryder 9 Ti2

This article originally appeared in RECOIL Issue 41

If you like your SureFire, you can keep your SureFire — at least that’s what the employees of the Fountain Valley, California, company tell us.

Fresh in the booth at SHOT Show 2019 will be a brand-new 9mm silencer from SureFire. The aptly named Ryder 9-Ti2 is the next step for this popular pistol can.

While it seems the pistol suppressor world is currently circling their wagons around modular 45ACP models, SureFire isn’t going down that road. It’s not hard to see why the industry has been hot to trot for 45ACP silencers; when they’re designed well they can be used on nearly every lower caliber. Gone are the days where a 40-caliber silencer is on many company SKUs. With that said, there are benefits to a suppressor specifically made for a given caliber, which is also why 5.56 and similar dedicated caliber cans continue to exist to this day. The same goes for the Ryder 9-Ti2.

No, instead of coming to a whole new design, they’ve decided to spend time giv – ing their current line further refinement. We’ll give you the bottom line up front: If you currently own a Ryder 9-Ti, you don’t need to run out and upgrade right now. But if you don’t own one and are considering a 9mm silencer, give this one a hard look.

SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
There are far more similarities than differences between these two generations, hence why this is a sequel and not an entirely new franchise. There’s the same performance, slim 1.25-inch diameter, and curves. To fully answer the question of revisions we’ll give you two words: strength and longevity. You won’t spot most of these differences yourself without some side-by-sides and some guidance. The Series 2 model has an improved interface with the pistol at the rear. This upgraded mechanism has longer mating and bearing surfaces for greater strength and more consistent alignment. Secondly, the booster assembly has been beefed up and a stronger spring is used.

This comes at a price not of more dollars but of additional weight. The Ryder 9-Ti2 is two ounces heavier, at 11.5 ounces, than its predecessor.

These changes weren’t really made with Americans in mind, but instead to ensure foreign entities issued the Ryder 9 had more time between maintenance intervals. If a silencer goes down for an American consumer, SureFire is just a quick post office trip away. If a silencer goes down for a mil/LEO unit, they can dig into their spare parts and pieces knowing they can get catalog parts replacement in mere days. But a military contract in Myanmar? (Note: We have no idea if SureFire is used in Myanmar, but we liked the way it sounded.) Even airmail takes some time to cross the Pacific.

But just because these upgrades weren’t made for us, we still benefit from them. At the time of this writing, we’re told SureFire will only be producing the Ryder 9-Ti2 and letting the old ones go. Just think of it like gently shushing the person you’re holding the pillow over.

BREAKING IT DOWN
If you’re not familiar with the Ryder series or pistol-caliber SureFire cans, this next section is for you. We’ll break down the design and point out features that we found very thoughtful on the part of the engineers.

Each Ryder 9-Ti2 ships with tools. This shouldn’t be a huge deal, except for the fact that more than once we’ve been forced to buy a special $50 tool simply to remove a suppressor endcap. The three-piece set consists of a threaded rod, a special adapter to push out baffles, and a knurled cylinder wrench with stems on either side for end cap/front cap removal. The reason for stems on both sides? So if one breaks, you can simply flip it over. It’s the little things.

To disassemble the Ryder 9-Ti2, thread the rod into the knurled cylinder, insert the rod into the bore, and turn counterclockwise; this works for either end of the silencer. When the endcap is removed, slide the baffle removal tool over the tip of the rod, insert, and push. These silencers are made with very tight tolerances, so once you get a prudent amount of projectiles down the pipe they can be hard to take apart. We note that SureFire recommends giving the booster a scrub every 300 rounds and the baffles every 1,000, though we regularly exceed these figures purely out of neglect and laziness.

There are a total of six baffles inside. Each baffle has a slightly different length, so there are no spacers sans the one immediately in front of the booster assembly. They’re (thankfully) clearly numbered in the order of assembly.

After you’ve done your share of cleaning and scraping, assembly is up next. However, don’t simply click the baffles in place and let it ride, lest something gets misaligned. Slide your baffle stack and end plate directly onto the tool, and then use the entire apparatus to lock it down all at once. There’s a pleasant ratcheting when you get toward the end.


AT THE RANGE
Regarding sound, we would absolutely consider the Ryder 9-Ti2 “hearing safe” indoors with subsonic ammunition and outdoors with supers — though OSHA would certainly disagree with us. If you’ve heard a Ryder 9 already, this one will be the same. That is to say: excellent performance with great tone.

LOOSE ROUNDS
The SureFire Ryder 9-Ti2 isn’t revolution; it’s evolution. In a world of modular 45ACP silencers, the Ryder still holds its own. Besides, it’s not like you’re still shooting 40-cal anyway.

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