Surefire's Latest SOCOM556-RC3: The Yardstick

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OK, first things first. Yes, it is called the SOCOM556 because it is listed in the government inventory as an issuable item. Surefire has been making the SOCOM556 line for quite a few years now, and they are determined to satisfy their clients, who are (for the most part) the bearded gents who work in dusty places. As a result, the Surefire approach emphasizes some details over others. First of all, the SOCOM556-RC3, like its predecessors, will be a tad on the heavy side for their size. At just over six-inches long, and seventeen ounces, you know just from hefting it that the insides are filled with heavy-duty goodness.

That means high-temperature alloys such as Inconel, along with various steels. Which ones? How much? Where? Really, you expect Surefire to just lay it all out for you? No, they have trade and engineering secrets that they won’t even tell me, but I don’t mind.

The Surefire mounting system is, in the suppressor world, the apex predator. Okay, it depends on their proprietary muzzle device, but so do a lot of others. The trick here is simple: the Surefire muzzle device (they make several versions of it) has a short collar at the rear. The collar acts as the locking flange, and its front face has a bevel machined into it. On the bottom of the mount there is a small tab. The rear of the SOCOM556 (and the other calibers and model designations from Surefire) is an off-center rotating collar. Start with the collar rotated open, as it should be that way since it last left the rifle. As you slide the SOCOM556 onto the muzzle mount, rotate it until a slot in the SOCOM556 lets the little tab on the mount slip in. That indexes your SOCOM556. Then press all the way back and rotate the collar. The ratchet will clickety-click as the off-center collar now rotates its edge behind the flange, locking the SOCOM onto the mount.

The mounting system is fast and secure, and by using the indexing tab, the silencer is mounted the same way every time. Now, this does require that the mount be secured to your barrel in a proper manner, but that is something Surefire also covers. The mounts come with spacer washers, Rocksett goo and an indexing wheel along with instructions. Clean the threads, spin the mount on, see what the indexing wheel tells you, add washers as needed and try again, and once correct then disassemble. Degrease, add Rocksett, assemble, torque up (in the instructions) and leave it alone for a day.

This is all well and good, but why the “3” in the RC3? Simple. As good as the previous generations of the SOCOM556 were, there were drawbacks. I am lucky enough to have a previous generation SOCOM556 one hand. I have had it parked on an SBR for most of that time, used as a loaner in LE patrol rifle classes, and pounded mercilessly in classes, practice and drills. It has never failed, never given problems, and never been anything but good. But. It, like so many earlier designs, pushed enough gas back that “suppressor face” was something to be aware of. It spends most of its time on a piston gun, (even though I’m not a piston advocate) because that was the one advantage piston-driven rifles offered; less gas.

My earlier SOCOM, a fourteen-year-old RC (no numeral) looks pretty much like the RC3 next to it, with a few minor cosmetic differences. Peering in the mount area, they have made some changes to the blast baffle, but otherwise it appears the same. On the exit, the exit hole of the RC-3 is larger, and the front cap has a decided depth to it. I would be fascinated to see the computer modeling of the gas flow dynamics, but alas, that is highly unlikely. (And even if it happens, I’d no-doubt be sworn to secrecy about it.) My old one is black, with the rotating collar the same black shade. The RC3 sent (which is an eighth of an inch longer, by the way) is done in tan Cerakote, and the locking ring is a slightly different shade.

A quick magnet test tells me that the ring is steel, but the body of the RC3, and the RC, is not attracted to a magnet. Hmm, this would indicate that Surefire makes the whole silencer, except for the locking ring, out of Inconel and other non-ferrous metals. No wonder it is a tad portly, as Inconel has some 9% greater density than steel.

The muzzle devices for the SOCOM556 are an interesting set. There are three- and four-prong flash hiders. There’s the Warcomp, and the Warcomp Sport. Well, the Sport isn’t a mount for a suppressor, but it is a very effective comp and flash hider combo. For them that wants them, there are a similar pair of pure comps, one a mount and one not. The Warcomp is a special beast. Most comps dampen recoil by blasting the shooter next to you, and they are usually flash enhancers.

Flash hiders do nothing to dampen felt recoil (with some modified A2 flash hiders as exceptions) but they do kill flash. What Surefire has done with the Warcomp is to make a combo that kills flash and dampens upward rotation due to recoil, without being flashy. It doesn’t seem to do as much for the rearwards component of recoil, but who cares? You’re getting two out of the three things you want, when you are shooting unsuppressed.

Off to the range, I tried the RC on the SBR. (An equally old LWRCI piston model) yep, shoot it left-handed and I can sniff the whiffs of gas and other evil components of smokeless powder combustion, but not a lot. I have to admit, the piston helps here. On a DI gun (which I don’t have a Surefire mount on, but that will soon change) the gas is often oppressive, even more so with other brands of silencers. Some even-older non-Surefire designs leave your face blackened from the gases.

On went the RC3. Pop a few rounds, and I had to stop. Where’s the gas? No gas, so I went on for the day having fun and not breathing the fumes of the underworld. Once home, I checked the info, and I found I had kinda-sorta elided over the spec data. Surefire says the RC3 has 60% less back pressure than the RC2. Since I was shooting and comparing the RC3 to an RC, I was a generation behind even that. Where I had been expecting a great diminution of gas I had been thinking RC3-to-RC2, not 3 to none. The Surefire info, and my conversations with the experts there, also proudly offers up better first-round flash reduction, and that’s a good thing when you need it.

Testing that would require weeks and weeks of low-light shooting with various loads under all kinds of conditions, something the boss isn’t going to give the okay to (budget-wise), so I’ll have to take their word for it. Since they were spot-on regarding the gas reduction, I’ll go with that. Oh, and they did all this extra goodness while taking an ounce off of the weight of my RC, 17 oz. vs. the 18 oz. of my old one. And the RC3 is backwards-compatible to all the earlier mounts, so if you have (like me) an ancient setup, the new RC3 will fit right on.

Which leads me to two things. One, the price of the SOCOM556-RC3 seems a little on the high side, if you compare it to “Bob’s Gun Muffler” silencers. Which is like comparing the sticker price of an econobox sedan to a tough-as-nails SUV. The entry price of the Surefire SOCOM556-RC3 (guys, you couldn’t have come up with a more-compact name, to go with your very compact suppressor?) gets you a lifetime product. Go ahead and invest in multiple mounts, and swap it from rifle to rifle, the RC3 isn’t going to care.

This is a suppressor with a service life measured in barrels, not round-counts. And now that I’ve seen and felt the lack of gas, I have the perfect candidate (and pairing) to conduct the next test: cyclic rate. The range I can shoot select-fire on won’t be available for a bit, so be patient, but when it is, I’ll be checking what the decreased back pressure of the RC-3 does to cyclic rate. I suspect, not add to it much, if at all, but the numbers then will tell. Until then, get yourself a Surefire SOCOM556-RC3, and be happy.

SOCOM556-RC3 SPECS

• OAL: 6.3 in.
• Net Added Length: 3.8 in.
• Diameter: 1.5 in.
• Material: Aluminum, stainless steel
• Weight: 17 oz.
• Finish: Cerakote, black, or tan
• Calibers Available: 5.56
• Full-Auto Rated: Yes
• Mount System Available: Surefire QD mount system
• MSRP: $1,799
• Contact: Surefire.com

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