Hello everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you buy Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the YHM Phantom .22 suppressor. Last week we got a second look at the Elevated Silence Evolution rifle suppressor. This week we get an advanced look at the YHM Phantom rimfire silencer that should be available for purchase in just a few weeks. The Phantom stacks on the features, but how does it perform? Let’s take a look.

YHM @ TFB:

• SILENCER SATURDAY #189: The YHM Rifle Suppressor Lineup
• SILENCER SATURDAY #155: Is The YHM NITRO N20 The Best Universal Suppressor?
• SILENCER SATURDAY #140: The New YHM R9 Suppressor – Your Golden Ticket?
• SILENCER SATURDAY #112: YHM Resonator K – Quiet, Short, Light, Affordable

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Side Note: I’ve been working on an NFT art series as a form of “meditation”. Each 32×32 pixel artifact is hand shaded and colored – no automation – so each one takes about 30-40 hours to complete. My hope is to create as many silencer/gun combinations as possible and maybe mint some NFTs for new releases. Search ‘meta guns’ on opensea.com. (I have no illusions that any of these will actually sell).

SILENCER SATURDAY #193: The New YHM Phantom Rimfire Suppressor

If you are a regular Saturday reader or are just a fan of silencers in general, Yankee Hill Machine manufactures a wide range of suppressors that are excellent performers, loaded with features and priced better than any of the other options on the market. From the YHM R9, to the YHM Turbo and Resonator lines, Yankee Hill has you covered. Until recently, the now retired Mite and the Stinger were the only rimfire options YHM offered.

When it comes to evaluating suppressors, I am the most critical of rimfire models. Because they are considered the gateway to other NFA items, I treat rimfire cans like potential ambassadors to prospective first time buyers. That means they need to hit most, if not all, of the requirements of a great suppressor.

1. Suppression
2. Price
3. Weight
4. Materials/Serviceability
5. Ratings/Calibers

In our evaluation of the YHM Phantom, let’s start with the bottom of the list and work our way up.

5. Ratings/Calibers

For the majority of my life rimfire meant one thing: .22lr. Inexpensive, available, and fun, .22lr is one of life’s little pleasures. And suppressed, it gets even better. Later I wandered into two new rimfire worlds: .17 HMR and the CMMG AR-15 rimfire conversion kit with the select fire option.

If you are planning on suppressing any other rimfire cartridges besides .22lr, or even if you aren’t at the moment, check out the ratings before you buy your suppressor. In the case of the YHM Phantom, it’s rated all the way up to 5.7×28, which is pretty much a rimfire cartridge in commercially available loads.

A review of the select fire CMMG rimfire conversion is pending. For now, a full auto rating on a rimfire suppressor might not always show up on the specifications. Aluminum models most likely will not be rated for extended full auto fire, but stainless steel models usually will be. Always check with the manufacturer before subjecting any suppressor to off-label doses of heat, pressure, and lead. The Phantom’s manual states that full auto fire is acceptable, but that a cooling period between magazines is required to prevent damage.

The YHM Phantom can be shot wet and has no barrel restrictions for .22lr. All other rated calibers must be shot dry and have a 10” barrel restriction.

4. Materials/Serviceability

High volume rimfire shooters will tend to steer away from aluminum suppressors. Known for lead and powder buildup, rimfire cans require regular maintenance. Many people just soak their rimfire silencers in solvents and brush/wipe them down. However, aluminum can react poorly with some cleaning solutions which leads shooters towards stainless steel options at the expense of a few ounces.

The YHM Phantom takes a hybrid approach by using encapsulated steel baffles surrounded by a lighter weight aluminum outer tube. When it’s time to clean the Phantom, just push the baffle stack out and drop it in to your cleaner of choice. The outer tube won’t require much in the way of cleaning, but wiping the inside with a gentle lubricant like Ballistol should suffice.

3. Weight

Since rimfire hosts are typically light weight, rimfire suppressors really should follow suit. Hanging any amount of weight from the end of a barrel creates leverage that can negatively impact the shooter and can cause a point of impact shift. In my opinion, any rimfire can pushing six ounces or more is too heavy. Five ounces is acceptable, with three to four ounces as a very good target. Ultralight models are great, but usually sacrifice material choices or overall cost.

2. Price

Above other calibers, rimfire suppressors should be competitively priced. A street price of about $300-$350 is probably the sweet spot for a quality rimfire can. A less expensive model would have me concerned with quality control and material choices. Above $400 and there may be additional features, more expensive materials or other factors at play. As a reminder, a price tag doesn’t necessarily display value or quality.

Before we get to noise reduction, let’s take a look at the details and specifications.

New for 2021! The Phantom® .22 suppressor.

Designed to meet the demand for a lighter, quieter, easier to maintain, yet affordable .22 suppressor, the Phantom® provides superior sound reduction on both pistols and rifles thanks to a newly designed baffle system. The rear of the blast chamber serves as the takedown tool for the muzzle cap, which means you will always have the disassembly tool when you need it.

It features a shielded interlocking baffle stack made from heat treated 17-4 stainless steel, and each baffle has indexing tabs to ensure proper orientation for optimum performance. The outer assembly consists of 2 parts. The 7075-T6 aluminum blast chamber bears the serial number, and the 6061-T6 tube houses the baffle stack. The blast chamber features a stainless steel ½”-28 thread insert to prolong the life of the mounting threads. A stylish aluminum muzzle cap holds everything together.

Thanks to the combination of lightweight aluminum and strong stainless steel, the Phantom® .22 is able to handle rounds up to 5.7x28mm while weighing a mere 4 ounces.

• Manufacturer’s Page: https://yhm.net/phantom22.html
• Part Number: YHM-4380
• Suppression Level: 114 dB
• Diameter/Length: 1.1” / 5.5”
• Weight: 4.0 Oz
• Rating: .17hmr, .22lr, .22mag, 5.7 x 28
• Material: Aluminum & Stainless Steel
• Finish: Matte Black
• MSRP: $388
• Buy @ Silencer Shop: $TBD

1. Suppression

And at last we have noise reduction, the most important factor in rimfire silencers. If a rimfire can doesn’t push the edge of decibel reduction, I don’t want to even consider putting my money on the table. A supersonic rifle suppressor can afford to miss top performing levels by three or four decibels and have other features overrule maximum suppression. Rimfire silencers don’t have thus luxury. If I can detect a difference, I don’t want it. Cutthroat, I know, but when it comes to subsonic rimfire shooting, silence is my top priority.

Luckily, the YHM Phantom ranks among the other market leaders in this category. A decibel meter would required to tell the difference between the Phantom or the Dead Air Mask. There was a hint of first round pop, but nothing anywhere close to some of the rimfire monocore options currently on the market.

Conclusions:

Overall, the YHM Phantom checks all the boxes for a top shelf rimfire suppressor. It’s affordable, light weight, and quiet. As an added benefit, it can handle rounds up to 5.7×28 and the baffles are encapsulated to make cleaning easy. Could it have been modular or lighter? Sure, but not without dramatically increasing cost. I’d like to say I’m impressed, but Yankee Hill has been raising the bar for a few years now, to the point where my expectations for greatness continues to be high.

Update: I just took the Phantom back out for a few more magazines before hitting the ‘publish’ button. Call be a YHM shill if you must, but this is a fantastic sounding rimfire suppressor. It’s really quiet.

Thanks for reading. Be safe, have fun and we’ll see you back next weekend for another Silencer Saturday.

 

Silencer Saturday is Sponsored by Yankee Hill Machine

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DEALERS: If you want your link to buy YHM suppressors included in future Silencer Saturday posts, email: silencers@thefirearmblog.com