Weihrauch XL & XLK Moderators

Weihrauch has built up an enviable reputation for some of the quietest airgun silencers on the market, and it’s an obvious factor that makes them such a popular accessory among the hunting fraternity. On show here is one of the new breeds of ‘Moderators’, as Weihrauch likes to call them, the XLK, with its larger stablemate, the XL also available for the same price of £99. The product letters effectively define what you get, and if you hadn’t already worked it out, ‘XL’denotes extra large, and the ‘K’ stands for the Karbine, aka the short version.

Fit, finish & efficiency

At just 5.2” in length, the XLK is effectively Weihrauch’s shortest moderator to date. But with a body tube diameter over 1.5” (40mm), there’s still plenty of room for air expansion. The new silencers are 1/2” UNF threaded, so are simple to fit and screw into place in seconds. Advertised as ‘setting the benchmark with their advanced German engineering’, these cans do have a classy air about them and are treated to a super-practical, matte black, glare-reducing ‘firearms’ finish. OK, they aren’t exactly cheap, but everything feels well made as you would expect from this quality manufacturer.

The outer casing is constructed of aluminium and with some attractive detailing and fluting all part of the design, these moderators do look the business. I should add at this stage that these are strictly for airguns only, and that concerns the wadding etc contained inside, which wouldn’t be up to the aggressive blast from a firearm. The upside of the ‘airgun only’ spec though, is that weight is kept to sensible levels. The larger version is around 7.4oz, whilst the shorter ‘K’ on show here, tips the scales at a mere 5oz. Unlikely to unbalance a combo then.

Unscrew the front, and you’ll see the soundsuppressing compounds and inserts that come together to perform as a whole. Look down the tube and there’s a baffle set mid-way. The internal tube has a series of cut-outs and there is an internal liner of soft wadding material that is held in place by Weihrauch’s famous haircurler- style, perforated insert. At the end of the day, the principle behind any moderator is to allow the rapidly expanding air from the shot to dissipate and channel itself in such a way as to be soaked up, tamed and then released. The end result here is undoubtedly impressive, as decibels are soaked up and hissed out with ease. What notes are left are unlikely to trouble the quarry, and with these moderators billed as Weihrauch’s quietest yet, it gives you some idea as to just how effective they are.

Real-world

I haven’t run them by a decibel sound meter, I must confess, but to the trained ear I can certainly vouch for the minimal muzzle report for the duration of my test period, and compared to several rivals that I had to hand, it’s clear that Weihrauch still deserves respect for their attention to detail in this area. Real-world experience says these new units will find a ready fan base and enhance Weihrauch’s already glowing reputation in this niche sector of the airgun market.