Praesidia Sound Moderator Covers

Sound moderators are standard equipment for most rifle shooters; offering sound and recoil reduction, they make shooting larger calibres accurately much easier. However, they do generate a lot of heat, which manifests itself as haze when viewed through a scope, which is even worse at high magnification, which reduces image quality, so making precise aiming impossible. A solution is the use of a moderator cover; unfortunately, in the UK, limited availability and cost makes finding one difficult – until now.

Praesidia Rifle Accessories (PRA) was born from repeated requests for high quality affordable rifle accessories. Working closely with UK-based Wildcat Moderators, who have a sizeable following themselves with their range of moderators including the Panther, Whisper, Evo and Predator PRA quickly found demand for their covers.

The covers

As a shooter himself, PRA’s owner has a clear understanding of what is needed and developed the product over a period of time. With the high temperatures involved, the covers are constructed from mil-spec materials, which includes several layers of Nomex and Kevlar, which protects the mod from bangs and knocks, reduces the haze dramatically and stops the firer from burning their hands.

They consist of a square sized piece of Cordura-type material on the outside, which includes stitched loops at the 12 and 6 o’clock positions. The layers of Kevlar and Nomex are on the inside, with a mesh material in contact with the moderator’s surface. The cover is secured via Velcro, which extends the entire length and for a tighter fit elastic paracord is laced through the stitched loops and secured at the rear with a locking tab. There is a webbing loop here that can be used with paracord to secure the cover to the rifle stopping it from sliding forward during heavy recoil. All the stitching is heavy duty.

Sizes

Each cover is hand made to fit a specific make of moderator. With such a huge array of them on the market, PRA can’t hold stock for all types but do offer a great selection, including all the various lengths for the entire Wildcat range, as well as the ASE SL5, SL7, Jet-Z Compact, CQB, North Star, Reflex T8, Stalon W110, SAK and finally Tier One moderators. There is a generous choice of colours; black, brown, sand, green and MTP/ Multicam. Having said all this, they can manufacture custom sized covers on request.

Getting hot

My club’s use of an ETR range on a hot day with no wind was the perfect opportunity for me to get the Predator 12 seriously hot and put the cover to the test! When coverless, heat haze can appear after as few as 10 rounds; this, combined with mirage down range, can lead to a lot of frustration.

On this occasion however, I managed at least 30 rounds before noticing any distortion at all! No nonsense, they work, are well made and are affordable, with prices ranging from £30 for SL5 to £50 for the 320mm Predator 12.