.223 Archives

Short Cans

As a long-time suppressor enthusiast I rarely see one I don’t want. In the decades since my first suppressor interaction however, I have noticed a few things about short suppressors. For a long time, there were suppressors designed primarily for law enforcement and military use that were very short. This effected their ability to subdue the report of a rifle to my taste. Times are changing however, and today we are looking at two very short and compact suppressors that do exactly what you’d want them to do. We are comparing the YHM Fat Cat VS. Banish Speed K.

Both of these suppressors are very compact, and they both do a good job of subduing rifle noise. So today I wanted to put them up against each other to see which one I would pick if I couldn’t have both. These compact suppressors are designed for use on 5.56 or .223 caliber semi-auto rifles which most of us commonly use. My analysis will be based on various features but most importantly how these can’s stand up to a heavily used carbine or what many have colloquially called a “fighting rifle” or “battle rifle”.

Fat Cat and Banish Speed K Specifications

	YHM Fat Cat	Banish Speed K
Caliber	5.56mm	.223/5.56mm
Weight	13.2oz (with adaptor)	14.1 oz
Length	4.5” (with adaptor)	4”
Diameter	1.94”	2”
Construction Material	17-4 Stainless/ Cobalt 6	Inconel
Decibel Reduction	20dB	20.9dB
Minimum Barrel Length	10” min.	None
Full-Auto Rated	Yes	Yes
Mount Style	Ind. Standard Hub Mount	Ind. Standard Hub Mount
Finish	Black Cerakote	Black Cerakote
Warranty	Limited Lifetime	Limited Lifetime
Baffle Design	Traditional Stacked baffles	Controlled Flow
User Serviceable	No	No
Included Mount	½-28 sRx Mini QD brake	½-28 Direct Thread

These two suppressors are very similar in size and specifications though there are some differences. The biggest differences that I feel are important I’ll point out here; The Banish Speed K is either 3D printed or DMLS fabricated from Inconel. Inconel is a very robust material (nickel chromium alloy) that is very resistant to both heat and abrasion. This makes the Speed K one solid piece of material, which can be very robust. But for those of us who have broken suppressors before, it makes them nearly impossible to repair if needed. The Speed K uses a finned blast chamber and clipped wall baffles to help reduce sound.

The YHM Fat Cat is built in the more traditional fashion, welding together 17-4 Stainless steel. It uses a cobalt 6 blast baffle to help tame the extreme pressure, heat and abrasion coming from the muzzle. Cobalt 6 (cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy) is also very resistant to heat and erosion. The fat cat uses an interesting funnel shape to increase the volume of the blast chamber, and it appears the design also helps create a turbulent flow to help reduce sound.

YHM Ft Cat suppressor, desert tech Quattro-15

Both suppressors use the industry standard hub mounting system. I can’t tell you how much I like and appreciate the industry moving this direction. It has made mounting your suppressors infinitely easier. You can use whichever mounting system you prefer, whether it be the YHM sRx QD system as provided with the Fat Cat, or something else like the Dead Air KeyMo system, or Plan B from Q. Both suppressors also use a tri-clipped muzzle port, this has become a common feature among many cans.

desert tech WLVRN, eotech Vudu, banish speed k — this combination is an excellent medium range carbine

Host Firearms

To properly test these two suppressors, I put together a small collection of rifles that would give them both a good workout. For pure sound testing, I would run them on my Savage Model 12 chambered in .223. The bolt-action rifle would give the best opportunity to hear the report of both suppressors. I would also use My Desert Tech WLVRN with the 20-inch .223 barrel, the adjustable gas system of the WLVRN would allow me to tune for performance and see how the two cans affected its function.

Quattro 15, trijicon MRO, banish speed k suppressor — this little rifle’s upper half is from **CMMG**, while the lower is from **Desert Tech**

Additionally I would run them both on a couple other AR15 based rifles like most folks would likely use. One of them a 16-inch Aero Precision build and the other a short barreled 5.56 that we’d also run some full auto through the cans.

yhm fat cat suppressor — the Fat Cat was an excellent companion to my **AR-15**

Shooting the YHM Fat Cat and the Banish Speed K

Sound Suppression

Shooting these two suppressors across the host firearms gave a pretty good idea of how they compare. I kept switching them out back and forth to compare.

YHM Fat Cat, desert tech WLVRN, eotech vudu — the **Desert Tech WLVRN** worked great with the Fat Cat and the **Eotech VUDU 1-6**

Both suppressors sounded very hearing safe on the longer rifles. The 16″ Quattro 15 and the 20″ WLVRN were very pleasant to shoot without hearing protection. Of course I have to add the caveat that you should always wear ear protection, even when suppressed.

Backpressure

Almost every suppressor out there adds at least some back-pressure in my experience. And these two were not exempt.

desert tech Quattro 15, eotech vudu, banish speed k suppressor

Finish Reading Here

yankee hill machine suppressor fat cat 5.56 — Both cans worked great with **YHM’s Phantom QD muzzle devices**

YHM Fat Cat, Desert Tech Quattro 15, Trijicon MRO — my little gun used a **Trijicon MRO**

Finish reading about these two suppressors here

Preface

I’ve been shooting Yankee Hill Machine (YHM) suppressors for several decades now, and I can say with confidence that it has been a good experience. Suppressors have become an everyday thing for me, I use them on most of my guns. I’ve got a variety of suppressors from various manufacturers, but I keep coming back to YHM for good reasons. Today I am happy to bring you yet another new to me suppressor from the good folks at YHM. That can is the YHM Fat Cat 5.56 suppressor, a compact can designed for hard use on your auto-loading 5.56 rifles.

YHM Fat Cat Specifications

Caliber	5.56mm
Weight	11.2 oz/ 13.2 oz with adaptor
Length	4.25 in/4.50 in with adaptor
Diameter	1.94 in
Material	17-4 Stainless steel/ Cobalt 6
Included Mount	sRx ½-28 QD adaptor
Decibel rating	139 dB
Min Barrel length	10 in
Full Auto-rated	Yes

Compact and Compatible

The YHM Fat Cat is a compact suppressor, a trend that has gained some popularity as the suppressor market has grown. K cans have been around for a long time, and offer shorter overall weapon lengths. But the Fat Cat falls into a different category, a short and fat category. There are a few different options out there that offer short cans with larger diameters, the idea behind them is that the greater diameter of the suppressor aids in its effectiveness.

The Fat Cat from Yankee Hill Machine incorporates many of the companies other features as well. Using the industry standard hub allows you to use whatever mounting system you prefer. The Fat Cat comes with the newer sRx system, which is compact in its own right. But other options can also be used, like the Phantom QD system, or various direct thread options. And thats just some of the YHM mount options, you could also use mounting systems from other manufacturers if you choose.

Construction and Materials

The curious shape of the Fat Cat is due to its interesting blast chamber. The suppressor tapers at the breech end, making the blast baffle detached at its rear. This blast chamber design surely causes a great deal of turbulence as gas tries to escape from the Fat Cat.

yhm fat cat 5.56 suppressor — a view of the blast chamber and cobalt 6 blast baffle

Manufacturing the blast baffle from cobalt 6 was done to increase durability and reduce erosion of the suppressor. Cobalt 6 is an alloy including tungsten and chrome, its resistance to heat and erosion makes it ideal for the Fat Cats blast chamber.

The rest of the suppressors construction consists of 17-4 stainless. This high tensile strength alloy is also resistant to erosion, the entire suppressor is welded together for robust one-piece durability. The finish on the Fat Cat is black Cerakote, which is made to stand up to the heat and action of shooting.

These construction aspects of the Fat Cat are why YHM gives it a full-auto rating. Though it does come with a minimum barrel length requirement, which I suppose is fair. I don’t do a lot of full-auto shooting, so I didn’t expect it would be a huge concern.

Shooting the Yankee Hill Machine Fat Cat 5.56 suppressor

Putting the Fat Cat through testing with the rest of my 5.56 suppressors would give me a good idea of its performance qualities. You can read more about a direct comparison to other suppressors here.

yankee hill machine fat cat 5.56 suppressor, sRx QD hub adaptor 1/2-28 — a better view of the sRx QD adaptor

Using the sRx muzzle device, I could attach the Fat Cat to most of my 5.56 carbines. But I also used the Phantom QD muzzle devices just because I could. It would also allow me to mount the Cat to rifles that used 5/8-24 threaded muzzles (still chambered in 5.56).

savage model 12, yankee hill machine Fat Cat 5.56 suppressor — shooting from a bolt-action rifle allowed for sound evaluation compared to others

I chose to test the Fat Cat on a variety of host firearms, for various reasons. For example, a bolt action Savage model 12 .223 rifle would allow us hear the pure unfettered muzzle report from the suppressor. Various semi-auto rifles and carbines would allow us to see how back-pressure and other function were affected by the suppressor. For that I used a couple different AR15 type rifles I’d put together, and I also used my Desert Tech WLVRN 5.56 rifle. Five different host rifles would give us a good idea of how the Fat Cat does suppressing the noise.

Sound Suppression

I was very pleased with the sound suppression of the Fat Cat. On every 5.56 rifle I used it, the sound reduction was fantastic. I never felt the need to use hearing protection, though I probably should. Those around also mentioned that it was very pleasant shooting even without hearing protection.

Back-pressure

On the semi-auto rifles this suppressor was destined for, there is bound to be some backpressure. On my direct impingement rifles, there was a slight increase in bolt speed. As well as additional gas venting out of the ejection port. This is something I’m used to when shooting suppressed. Comparable cans like the YHM Turbo, SiCo Saker and Sandman K gave very similar results while being longer and I believe heavier as well.

YHM Fat Cat suppressor, desert tech quattro 15

When shooting the Fat Cat on my Desert Tech WLVRN this was less a problem as it uses an adjustable gas valve. This allows you to reduce the gas volume hitting the piston.

Compatibility

I really appreciated the compatibility of the Fat Cat. To be fair it is equalled by the other YHM suppressor family. The sRx QD system that comes with the Fat Cat is outstanding and compact. Additionally I used the Phantom QD mounting system, which seamlessly threaded on to the Fat Cat just as it did my Turbo T3 and Turbo K.

Using the industry standard 1.375 x 24 thread pattern also allow you to use whatever brand mounting system you wish. If you prefer one of the other manufacturer’s mounting system, you can simply spin it on to the back of the Fat Cat and roll.

YHM Fat Cat Pros and Cons

If you look at the YHM Fat Cat as simply a compact suppressor for your 5.56 carbine, then it is really hard for me to come up with anything I’d change. Its pretty light by comparison, its shorter than most 5.56 cans, its compatible with a plethora of mounting systems. There is just nothing to dislike about it. It brings all these features at a pretty moderate price of only $699.

desert tech WLVRN, eotech vudu, yhm fat cat — the Fat Cat aboard my **Desert Tech WLVRN**, as well as the **Eotech Vudu 1-6**

The only way I think you might have issues with the Fat Cat is if you shoot high volumes of full auto. It is rated for such rates of fire, but your bound to get burnt and left penniless after burning up all your ammo.

Final Opinion

As with other 5.56 suppressors from YHM, I found myself tickled with with the Fat Cat. It was a perfect fit for my smaller rifles that I like to EDC. It added minimal length to the firearm, and yet it suppressed the report handily.

yhm Fat Cat suppressor, desert tech quattro 15, eotech vudu

If I needed only one suppressor for all my .223/5.56 needs, I’m quite confident the Fat Cat would be more than enough. Whether it be on one of my .223 bolt guns, or the semi-autos you see here, the YHM Fat Cat is an easy choice for me. Give it a look if you too are broadening your suppressor inventory.