Got 2 Saturday with the 300 BO and thermal. Can't wait for the suppressor to get out of jail, then I'll be set up.

Question for you guys with suppressors and thermal....does the heat coming off of the suppressor impact the image out of the thermal? I see suppressor covers but not sure of the value in them unless it's to mask the heat, but then again, not sure that heat impacts the image. If it does, how many shots does it usually take before you create enough heat to create a problem?

My thermal doesn’t pick up the heat of the suppressor. I have a cover on it but I’m not sure that makes much difference..

I use a 300BLK and have a cover on my suppressor, mainly because the suppressor gets rather warm after several shots. My suppressor is also rather shiny so the cover keeps me from burning myself and also prevents reflection from the moon or other light sources. My cover is home made. It's basically the leg from a pair of OD green jeans with a dish cloth sewn in for extra insulation. I don't think the heat affects the thermal image much.

I bought the jeans for $1.00 at a second hand clothing shop. My wife had the black trim with her miscellaneous sewing stuff. There's a 3/4" web strap on one side to keep the cords in place that I bought for a few bucks. The cord is some camo parachute cord from Home Depot. Total cost was less than five bucks or so.

It takes only 1 shot for the suppressor to become visible

It doesn’t effect the image in other words it doesn’t cover anything you’d be aiming at

It could effect the “auto gain” of the scope depending on what make and model you’re running

And this really is only a matter of occurrence with low magnification small front objective scopes …

Example of suppressor being visible during strings of fire below:

Barrel length and magnification will play a part in being able to see a heat distortion.

My groups all pistols and sbrs for our thermal and nov.

I’ve never seen any of our suppressors show up on the Hogsters and iray but when panning/scanning you will see the hot cans.

I’d say ymmv

No varying mileage. You are spot on. The longer the barrel, the longer the can, the greater diameter the can, and/or the less the magnification of the optic and the more likely you are to see the can after it heats up (and in some cases, beforehand). So either you have the can being forced into the FOV because of the size and shape of the can, or because a long barrel has thrust it into the FOV, or your scope just has a really large FOV, particularly down on native magnification or while in low levels of digital zoom. Zoom in more and the FOV reduces and the can will disappear (in most cases).

I do not see my can on most of my rifles when I am using my 4.5x native magnification Trijicon IR Hunter, but IIRC it shows up on my 22" upper. Getting down to 2x optics and I can see the cans on all my current rifles.

When shooting a gun where the can is visible, I actually like the effect. The can should and usually does point at the crosshairs quite nicely and well centered and it actually seems to help with aiming (see Pig_Popper's video above, his scope on the right side of the video). Visually, I like what a hot suppressor can add to the video, just so long as it doesn't take up too much of the screen or encroach too closely to the crosshair. Pig_Popper's can relative image size is about a big as I want to see it.

Appreciate it guys. Mine will be a 9" long suppressor on an 11" barrel. 2.5X base mag optic. I'll probably get a cover from the guy who sells them on here, just to have ready.

I would absolutely get a cover. Once you shoot, the can will be warm/hot. My thermal is low enough where it will pick up some heat signature, even with the cover on. Without it, it would glow. Thermals are real sensitive to environmental conditions, such as humidity and heat. The heat mirage coming off a cooling suppressor at night will no doubt effect the image quality. A quality cover is highly recommended. I run the Rifle Only covers. I don't recall if it's the HAD or the MAD system, but they are very good covers.

Get a cover from Hunter Steve. The heat dissipation is real but protecting your can at the same time is a no brainer.

He hooked me up. Shipped fast and great quality. Wish the suppressor came this fast.

I like what you did here. Thanks for posting. I think I'll make one of these covers.

One minor problem was that it would slip off if it rubbed against some brush or weeds occasionally. To fix that I made a small, flat wire loop at the end where the suppressor connects to the muzzle, which I looped through the strip of webbing. I then connected that with a light chain and hook to the hand guard. Otherwise it's just been doing its' job.