MAE T42 Sound moderator

With the sound moderator market ever expanding in Britain these days it’s a bit hard to keep up to be honest. But with so many ultra lightweight, alloy designs claiming excellence, it’s nice to see that normality remains with MAE of New Zealand still producing sound moderators that are well balanced, actually work well and importantly are built to last!

The reason a lot of moderators work well is due to the actual bulk of the design; i.e. wall thickness and internal cavity or baffle space, to cool the hot expanding gases on firing. MAE have years of experience with building, designing and modifying silencers and their new T42 over barrel model is a blend of extreme noise reduction, coupled to longevity, yet still having a medium weight and good balance that requires minimal maintenance. Most importantly, they are made to work and work well with no compromise

Make up

MAE are, and have always been, stainless steel in their construction, and there’s a reason for this, it means highly effective sound reduction and longevity! They are made to have total integrity, so that you have no parts that need to be exchanged, replaced, modified or stripped. To me, a modular design is a recipe for disaster in the long run. These MAE T42 mod’s are made precisely and are concentric in that form and that means around the baffle stack and bore axis, as the threads are perfectly aligned to the main body.

This all-stainless steel production uses an outer body made from 304L stainless steel tubing and the inner and blast baffles being 100% 304 stainless steel. This negates any problems with corrosion or erosion and the thickness of the material used ensures longevity from flame cutting. You also have a uniform heat build up and expansion, which is actually very important, as it allows the whole moderator to stay the same uniform shape in all shooting conditions. Test have shown that moderators that use a bi-metal make up (aluminium alloys and steel) can twist and bend, so take note!

Sealed to please

I am definitely of the opinion on a moderator that will have a lot of use and not an occasion stalk here or there, should be a sealed or one-piece design. If it comes apart, then the likelihood is it rarely goes back exactly the same! . It is 265mm long with a 42mm diameter and available in two calibre sizes; up to .243” and up to .30 cal, larger are special order and also available with a stainless finish or painted black.

It is an over the barrel (reflex) design, so only 128mm extends in front of the muzzle with the rest sitting rearward over the barrel. This model is specially designed for larger barrels that will accommodate up to 25.5 mm outside diameter (O/D). There is a synthetic rear bush fitment for alignment, although a bush-less model will be available soon. There are two views on these two options in general, 1 – a rear bush will stabilise the moddy and protect it from getting misaligned if it gets a serious knock. However, if the bush is not bored out correctly, it can cause the moddy to take a set from being concentric. 2 – a bush-less allows the can to align naturally with the bore and providing the muzzle thread is cut to bore centre and not barrel O/D you should get 100% concentricity. Whatever, it’s your choice.

Field use

Mounted to a Browning X-Bolt in .243 Win, the T42 balances really well and the weight gives a good degree of balance from the thumbhole stock design. With Geco 105-grain and Hornady’s fast stepping 75-grain SST factory loads, you can hear the MAE T42 really working. You get a very good sense of the enormous pressures on firing being swirled and contained within its stainless steel baffle system. What you get as a report is a low frequency, well-deadened noise that has little or no rolling echo, unlike some thin walled mod`s that ring and carry on.

I also fitted it to a heavy barrelled Accuracy International in 300 Win Mag. Wow, I was impressed; sometimes the more powder actually burnt can work in your favour, as the pressure acts on the flow of the gases and suppress forward movement. With max loads of 70-grains of Hybrid 100V and 3000 fps velocity with 180-grain Sierra Game Kings, the noise suppression was very impressive.

Again, a dull, muted, very low resonance that dissipated very quickly. The reason for this is due to MAE’s inner baffle system and the overall weight of 675 grams that really deadens the noise from firing to a suppressed low resonance, with no rolling echo.

Conclusions

Aluminium mods are fine for infrequent use but for longevity, max noise reduction and peace of mind for integrity, an MAE T42 in stainless steel is worth every penny. People get all weight conscious but when fitted, the T42 balances really well and it will last! This mod is for serious shooters who actually use their rifles and expect top performance.