Earlier this year, Kevin Brittingham put together his dream team to form a new company, named Q. While I initially believed they were going to launch a series of weapon accessories, including optics mounts, they went right after suppressors.
Considering Brittingham and chief designer Ethan Lessard’s background at AAC and SIG it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it did. That’s because the first product is a .22 suppressor called the El Camino.
I thought to myself, “Why would he mess with a .22 suppressor?” So, I asked Kevin Brittingham and he told me he considers the AAC Element the industry standard .22 suppressor, but he found that it isn’t very accurate. That’s why he did it.
Q has a couple of world class shooters who go by the names of Robbie Johnson and Lindsay Bunch. They took several .22 suppressors out and determined that none of them held accuracy. It’s a common issue that few recognize because most suppressed .22 weapons aren’t known for their own accuracy. In the case of the Element, the suppressed shot group was two to three times the size of an unsuppressed group. Consequently, the team concentrated on improving accuracy along with sound suppression.
For instance, Brittingham claims the El Camino is as quiet as the AAC Element although the Element may have a half db edge on first round pop.
In conjunction with Silencer Shop, Q gave the El Camino a soft launch at the recent Texas Firearms Festival. Silencer Shop posted video of the El Camino in action on both rifle and pistol, on their Instagram feed. As unscientific as the demonstration was, the weapons’ actions were louder than the report of the round being fired.
Q put a lot of R&D into the El Camino and there will be two variants. The Stainless Steel (17-4) model weighs about 4.2 oz and the titanium model is around 2.2 oz.
Either way, the construction remains constant. With both styles, the tube is titanium. Additionally, the end cap doesn’t use a proprietary tool for disassembly. Instead, it is compatible with a standard 1/2″ box end wrench or hex socket which most shooters have handy.
The baffles are a steep cone with asymmetric cut, whether 17-4 Stainless Steel or Titanium, and are designed to shield gasses from the outer tube.
During testing, Q shot 1000 rounds and at the end of the string of fire they disassembled the can and the baffles all fell right out. None of them were stuck to the outer tube, or one another.
Interestingly, the El Camino also features PVD coating. That’s a feature you aren’t going to see on a .22 can due to cost.
They’ve already started shipping forms and the first El Camino could be available in as little as two weeks.
Brittingham related that the planned MSRP is somewhere around $400; add about $50 to the cost for Ti baffles.
As I understand it, the entire first year’s run of El Camino suppressors will be available exclusively through our friends at Silencer Shop.
The El Camino might seem like the most vanilla product Q could release but it’s got my attention. I look forward to trying it out, along with several other promised products, including a full line of suppressors with a completely new construction, as well as a long gun, during SHOT Show.
