The SilencerCo Scythe STM
The One-Size-Fits-All Super Suppressor
The stubby Scythe STM on the IWI Tavor 7 hugely tames the chaos.
Without the can, these short-barreled .30-caliber rifles are incredibly loud.
The original SilencerCo Scythe Ti was designed to be the ultimate hunting can. Contrived entirely out of titanium alloy, the Scythe Ti is lightweight and handy. It works like a champ and adds a minimal weight burden to your typical precision rifle. However, the titanium construction meant that you couldn’t really wring it out. This is not the suppressor to run on your full auto short-barreled carbines.
1) The SilencerCo Scythe Ti (top) is a lightweight all-titanium can optimized for hunting applications.
The Scythe STM uses the same basic design in indestructible stainless steel.
SilencerCo built their enviable reputation on making hard-use, unkillable cans. Realizing they had a great thing going with the Scythe Ti, they took that same technology and built up a new suppressor out of stainless steel. The resulting Scythe STM is a modular design that doesn’t much care what you shoot through it. If the bullet will fit down the bore, you are pretty much good to go. Anything from .300 RUM on down with any barrel length even on rock and roll—all of that is on the table with the Scythe STM.
The modular nature of this design means that you can optimize the suppressor for the application. The Scythe STM sports SilencerCo’s proprietary single-point anchor brake on the scary end. This flush-fitting muzzle brake redirects the muzzle blast to quite effectively mitigate felt recoil. This minimizes the muzzle signature and makes the host weapon all the more pleasant and controllable. In its complete configuration with the anchor brake installed, the Scythe STM is just shy of seven inches long and weighs 14.7 ounces. This setup maximizes performance.
2) The Scythe STM is a hard-use, multi-purpose rifle can.
If maximum maneuverability is the order of the day, you can thread off the distal portion of the can, swap out the anchor brake, and have a suppressor that is not quite so effective but is now appreciably shorter. In its compact configuration, the Scythe STM is just a hair over five inches long and weighs 10.4 ounces. The can comes with a Bravo direct thread 5/8×24 mount as well as a spanner wrench, a radial tool, and the Bravo multi-tool needed to manage the mount. SilencerCo will naturally hook you up with other mounts should you wish to run your Scythe STM on other platforms. I can tell you from personal experience that this can loves 5.56mm as well.
The anchor brake on the scary end of the Scythe STM help redirect muzzle gases and enhance control.
So, What Can You Use It For?
This is a sealed, maintenance-free sound suppressor. As a result, you wouldn’t want to run .22 rimfire through it (that’s a bit too cruddy over time). However, centerfire rifle calibers in both 7.62 and 5.56 are a perfect fit. This is the can that will accompany you to the field when hunting whitetails or mulies. In its long configuration threaded onto your favorite bolt-action hunting rifle, the Scythe STM will make absolutely everything about your hunting experience better.
In addition to the obvious attenuation of the gunshot, the extra mass of the Scythe STM yields better barrel harmonics and improved accuracy potential. The diminution of sound makes the gun stealthier if you need a follow up shot. It also makes all the difference in the world as regards the comfort of both the shooter and surrounding observers.
The Scythe STM is a modular suppressor that can be optimized for size or performance.
Once you get home from the hunt, you thread the can off, swap out the removeable bit at the end, and remount the anchor brake. Use an appropriate mount, and you can now set this rig up on your favorite home defense AR. In its short configuration, the Scythe STM only adds five inches to the overall length of your gun. Make that a registered short-barreled rifle or slap on a pistol stabilizing brace and you have a CQB (close quarters battle) tool that would make a Delta Force operator proud.
The benefit you get with this setup is enhanced control, eradicated flash, and improved capacity to communicate. Unsuppressed short-barreled rifles in either 5.56 or 7.62 are absolutely disorienting when fired in enclosed spaces. If ever you are called upon to use your defensive gun for real, things will be bad enough without the addition of a soccer ball-sized muzzle flash and enough noise and overpressure to burst your eyeballs. The Scythe STM makes all that nasty stuff manageable.
In its compact form, the Scythe STM really isn’t terribly large.
Practical Tactical
For precision work, I mounted up the full-size Scythe STM on my favorite Remington 700 heavy barrel .308 bolt gun. This rig will theoretically reach out to a kilometer or more and remain stealthy doing it. Stoke that bad boy with my home-rolled DIY subsonic loads and, legit, that is James Bond-grade quiet. Shoot steel targets, and the gun noise is lost in the downrange effects. This configuration produces the quietest sound-suppressed firearm I have ever experienced. No kidding, you could touch this off in your backyard and your nosy neighbor next door with the cat fetish would remain blissfully unaware.
I tried the Scythe STM on two different tactical platforms just to compare the auditory results. The first was a Tavor 7 from Israel Weapon Industries. This big-boned 7.62x51mm bullpup offers compact dimensions and battle rifle power. However, when fired unsuppressed, all that muzzle chaos detonating mere inches from your face will reliably clear your sinuses. Even in the short configuration, the Scythe STM excises most of that nasty stuff. The cumulative effect is a bit chunky—this is pretty heavy gun—but the Scythe STM makes this big bore battle rifle behave like a much more placid weapon.
Where unsuppressed the Tavor 7 makes the devil’s own racket, with the Scythe STM in place this gun is more like a nail gun when fired up close or indoors. Despite the radical diminution of noise, the gun still retains that deep .30-caliber punch. This is the tool to grab if the zombies show up in cars or are hiding behind trees.
In its long form on a precision rifle like this tricked-out Remington 700 in .308, the Scythe STM is shockingly effective.
I also set the Scythe STM up on a custom Brownells BRN-4 SBR. The HK416 is the assault rifle to the stars. Used by America’s Tier 1 special mission units, this piston-driven German iteration of the Gene Stoner’s M4 is clean, accurate, and unkillable. It is also pretty much unobtainium. Brownells now offers a drop-in upper assembly that is a part-for-part copy at a working man’s price. Mine sports a 10.4-inch barrel and all the bells and whistles.
With the Scythe STM in place and fired at close ranges, the sound-suppressed BRN4 could masquerade as a pellet gun. High-velocity rifle rounds make ample noise when fired out over open spaces due simply to the sonic crack from the supersonic bullet in flight. The same rig fired into a nearby berm or at across-the-room ranges is simply delightful. That’s the point of the exercise.
Brownells makes a part-for-part replica of the HK416 called the BRN4 as a drop-in upper.
With the appropriate mount, the Scythe STM runs like a crack-addled chipmunk on these 5.56 platforms as well.
Ruminations
Like everything else in a capitalistic society, quality does not come cheap. When seeking out a single hard-use suppressor to use across a variety of platforms, however, the Scythe STM checks all the major boxes. In its extended configuration, it offers maximum performance for long-range precision engagements. Trimmed back and mounted on a short-barreled carbine, the Scythe STM turns your home defense rifle into a stealthy close combat machine. Regardless of the application, you can’t push this can hard enough to hurt it.
Sound suppressors are much more mainstream than was the case even a few short years ago. Nowadays, you really can’t eat at the cool kids’ table at the local range if you don’t have something sinister and tubular hanging off of the end of your favorite smoke pole. The SilencerCo Scythe STM is the one-can-fits-all sound suppressor solution.
For more information visit silencerco.com
