This is the first FourGuysGuns suppressor review. But since we’ve had the opportunity to shoot a ton of suppressed guns over the past year, it is by no means our first time shooting a suppressed rim fire handgun or rifle.
Bowers sent us their Paradigm .22LR suppressor to play around with and let me tell you, .22LR is by far my favorite suppressible round. You can take a handgun or rifle and make it quieter than an airsoft gun.
We put a ton of different brands and types of .22LR through the Paradigm and had a lot of fun doing this review. There is one thing I’d like to go into some depth about with this company in particular. The customer service from Bowers has been amazing. I don’t say this too often, mostly because I don’t often need information directly from the source about a product or the best ways to utilize it. If it is your first time looking at or buying a suppressor, Bowers will help you through the whole process of getting it into your hands through a local vendor and even make recommendations on how to make sure you can get it as quiet as possible with various ammo types and the host for the suppressor.
All in all our experience with the can was great. Bowers offers many different inserts on their line of suppressors so they can fit just about any firearm in the caliber supported. We used a Ruger 22/45 Lite in .22LR. This allows you to buy one suppressor to fit a HUGE variety of guns; from rifles to handguns and everything in between. The overall volume was no louder than our range stapler. We avoided doing DB readings for the volume as the pitch can sometimes affect the audible sound more so than the volume and these readings are pretty speculative. Check out the video and in the first 5 seconds you will realize that the Paradigm is a sweet little can.
The Paradigm .22LR suppressor we received was a non-user serviceable model. There are a lot of things to consider when determining whether this is really a pro or a con while shopping for a suppressor. If you move into a new home and yell at the top of your lungs, it sounds loud since there is nothing there to dampen the noise. Once you get all comfy and cozy and start screaming around your new home it gets quieter as there is more stuff to dampen the noise instead of just bouncing off of clean bare walls. This is one of the reasons I do not understand servicing a can. Servicing it can make it louder, plus it has hazardous lead dust in it and most people are not equipped to deal with this safely in their home. Bowers will clean the can for $20 (per cleaning) for a lifetime, if you in fact would need it to be cleaned (EX: The can starts getting louder).
We had two malfunctions that prevented the handgun from cycling another round into the chamber. We put quite a few rounds through the gun at this point and they were the cheapest all-lead ammo we used.
This can was reliable, quiet and backed by a company that will remember who you are and is willing to answer any question under the sun as well as explain their answers without making you feel like a n00b. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Bowers to anyone, both for their customer service and their line of suppressors.
Don’t forget to go check them out. If you have any questions regarding a future purchase or just want some information head on over to their FaceBook page and ask away.
