Lifeless Air Nomad-Ti OTB First Look: Over-the-Barrel Suppressor Evaluation

Each June our crew spends an extended weekend on the lease in northern Michigan working via the record that must be achieved earlier than deer season. Blinds go up, plots get sprayed, ladders get checked. The deal we make with ourselves is that the work will get damaged up by vary time, as a result of there are all the time a number of new merchandise to check and some rifles that have to be zeroed earlier than the autumn hunts. This 12 months essentially the most attention-grabbing factor on the bench was a suppressor from an organization I had by no means shot earlier than: the Nomad-Ti OTB from Lifeless Air Silencers.

I wish to be clear about what that is. The Nomad-Ti OTB went on a rifle, acquired its first rounds via it, and that rifle is now zeroed. It has not been in a blind but, and nothing has walked out in entrance of it. So this can be a first take a look at a product I already like a fantastic deal, with a promise to report again after it has achieved some actual work this fall.

How a UK Fallow Cull Made Me an Over-the-Barrel Man

OTB stands for over-the-barrel, and till final 12 months I had by no means shot one. That modified on a cull fallow deer hunt within the UK with my buddy Mike Robinson. Each suppressor Mike owns is an over-the-barrel design, and he’s commonplace; it’s the usual approach of doing issues throughout the UK and far of Europe. We spent that journey recognizing and stalking, pushing via heavy brush, and working pushed hunts, and the entire time I stored noticing how little the suppressed rifle acquired in the way in which. A standard can hangs its total size off the top of your barrel. An over-the-barrel can tucks a very good portion of that size again over the barrel, and the diminished footprint is one thing you’re feeling each time you shoulder the rifle in cowl or swing it via a window.

I got here dwelling from that journey a convert, so after I heard Lifeless Air had constructed an over-the-barrel model of its Nomad-Ti, I needed one on a rifle as quickly as potential.

What Lifeless Air Constructed

The Nomad-Ti OTB is a .30-caliber suppressor grown out of the corporate’s Nomad-Ti XC lineage. The physique is 6AL4V grade 5 titanium, 3D-printed with Lifeless Air’s Xeno mounting structure machined straight into it, and it is available in black or FDE high-temperature Cerakote. Ours is the FDE.

The headline numbers are those that bought me. The suppressor is 7.65 inches lengthy and 1.76 inches in diameter, however as a result of roughly 3.1 inches of it sits again over the barrel, it provides solely 4.6 inches to the general size of the rifle. It weighs 10.5 ounces. On the bench that math is summary; in a field blind in Michigan, the place I do most of my searching, it’s the distinction between a rifle that threads easily via a window and one which bangs the body.

It’s rated for cartridges as much as .300 RUM and 7mm Backcountry with a muzzle vitality ranking of 4,400 foot-pounds, so it’s going to deal with any deer or elk rifle most of us personal. Minimal barrel size is 12.5 inches for five.56 and 16 inches for the massive magnums, and since the can slides again over the barrel, the barrel itself must be one inch in diameter or much less on the muzzle. Lifeless Air charges it for bolt-action and semi-auto use, not full-auto.

Putting in It

The field holds the suppressor, a Xeno radial brake in 5/8×24 with a .30-caliber bore, and an set up instrument. The radial brake, which Lifeless Air says is nitrided 17-4 stainless, threads onto your barrel the traditional approach: righty tighty, lefty loosey. You can shoot the rifle with simply the brake put in, although I’m undecided why you’d purchase this suppressor to do this.

Then comes the half that tripped me up. The suppressor threads on over the brake, and that connection runs the other way. You flip the can to the left to tighten it and to the best to loosen it. Lefty tighty, righty loosey. It felt unusual the primary few instances, but it surely’s a easy system as soon as your arms be taught it, and the Xeno structure means the suppressor indexes the identical approach each time you place it again on.

Should you already run Lifeless Air Xeno muzzle units on different rifles, the OTB will mount to these too. The one exception Lifeless Air calls out is the Browning Xeno Recoil Hawg brake, which isn’t appropriate.

First Rounds

With the brake on and the can snugged down, I sat behind the rifle and shot it for the primary time to get it zeroed for the hunts developing. That’s so far as the testing has gone, and I’m not going to fake in any other case. I don’t have a decibel meter, I’m not going to cite group sizes from a zeroing session, and the true check of a searching suppressor is a season, not a day.

What I can inform you is the way it carries. Ten and a half ounces on the muzzle is barely noticeable, and since a lot of the size is again over the barrel, the steadiness of the rifle doesn’t shift ahead the way in which it does with a standard can. Lifeless Air’s personal copy talks about enhanced steadiness and minimized total size, and that half I can affirm from merely choosing the rifle up.

The place It Stands

New model to me, new product to me, and I’m already a fan. Over-the-barrel suppressors have grow to be my factor since that journey throughout the pond, and I used to be excited to see an American firm I’d heard good issues about construct one in titanium at this weight. The footprint is precisely what a blind hunter needs, the construct high quality is apparent within the hand, and the set up, reverse thread and all, takes a few minutes.

The Nomad-Ti OTB carries an MSRP of $1,049. It goes to the woods with me this fall, and as soon as it has sat via some chilly mornings and, hopefully, a shot or two at a Michigan whitetail, I’ll come again with the remainder of the story.

For extra on the Nomad-Ti OTB and the remainder of the lineup, head over to deadairsilencers.com.

Continuously Requested Questions

What does OTB imply on the Lifeless Air Nomad-Ti OTB?

Over-the-barrel. A portion of the suppressor’s size, about 3.1 inches, sits again over the rifle barrel as an alternative of hanging off the muzzle, so the can provides much less size to the gun.

How a lot size does the Nomad-Ti OTB add to a rifle?

Lifeless Air lists it at 7.65 inches total however says it provides simply 4.6 inches to the firearm.

How a lot does it weigh?

10.5 ounces, per Lifeless Air.

What calibers is it rated for?

As much as .300 RUM and 7mm Backcountry, with a 4,400 ft-lb muzzle vitality ranking. Minimal barrel size is 12.5 inches for five.56 and 16 inches for .300 RUM and 7mm Backcountry, and the barrel should be one inch or much less in diameter.

What comes within the field?

The suppressor, a 5/8×24 Xeno radial brake with a .30-caliber bore, and an set up instrument.

How does it mount?

The radial brake threads onto the barrel usually. The suppressor then threads over the brake with a reverse thread: flip left to tighten, proper to loosen. It additionally matches different Lifeless Air Xeno muzzle units, besides the Browning Xeno Recoil Hawg.

What finishes can be found?

Black or FDE high-temp Cerakote.

How a lot does the Nomad-Ti OTB price?

MSRP is $1,049.

Andy Husek

Andy has been a lifelong Outdoorsman and has hunted and fished everywhere in the world however his dwelling state of Michigan is close to and pricey to his coronary heart. He grew up fishing the Nice Lakes and principally hunted waterfowl and small recreation till his teenage years when he shortly turned an avid massive recreation hunter. He has hunted North America from the northernmost components of Alaska to the southernmost components of Florida and all over the place in between. When he isn’t searching or fishing he’s teaching journey softball and watching his two daughters play the sports activities they love.