Watch: What Happens Inside of a Suppressor

Ever wondered what the inside of a suppressor looks like when you shoot? Wonder no more. Smarter Every Day shot several monocore Soteria Suppressors, housed in acrylic tubing, and recorded the results at 110,000 frames per second. The slow motion footage shows the extreme amount of internal abuse suppressors endure.

We contacted Steve Dean, of Soteria Suppressors, to learn more about the video that has wracked up close to three million views in just under a week and a half.

RECOIL: How did the idea for shooting a see-through suppressor come about?

DEAN: Back in the spring of this year, we had Destin down to record high speed video of a testing session we were doing with a firearms manufacturer. During lunch, Destin explained he always wanted to film a transparent suppressor as the gun was being fired. He had the idea for quite a while and had been looking for a company to help with the project. So, we decided to combine forces and do a joint-venture between Smarter Every Day and Soteria, LLC to do something that had never been done before.

RECOIL: In the video, it sounded like you already had transparent models for display, can you elaborate on those?

DEAN: I did make some display models using thin acrylic and lexane tubing material so that you could see the assembled suppressor as a finished product. But, they were only for display. Those were displayed, of course, after our patents came through for each core design and/or as we got patent pending status. We originally never intended to actually fire a suppressor with a transparent tube.

RECOIL: Did people misinterpret the video and think they could buy a see-through suppressor?

DEAN: Yes, there were many people who misunderstood the purpose of the video. This originally was not to promote a transparent model. Although Soteria, LLC and Smarter Every Day has filed for the patent on a transparent suppressor manufactured to withstand the forces of constant use.

RECOIL: What information did you gain from the video-venture with Smarter Every Day?

DEAN: One thing you don’t see is that we shot a lot of suppressors that day and gathered a ton of data on multiple models that aren’t on the video. Without Destin’s help it would have been impossible to demonstrate the actual chaos and violence that takes place inside a suppressor and collect all of the information. We were able to get a look at the science we applied to our core designs to see if they were, in fact, manipulating the gases the way we had theorized. Needless to say, I was very pleased with the data we collected.

RECOIL: Can you tell us more about Soteria?

DEAN: We have developed premium firearm suppressors that will stand up to the most demanding environment. We also have the ability to custom-make a suppressor for any firearm application. As it turned out, the testing with Destin proved the cores performed just as we intended. From the start of this product line of suppressors, we've had a catch phrase of, “The Science of Silence.” All of our products are developed with the mindset of engineering and applied science.

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