I love surprises.  I especially love surprises when it comes to being proven wrong, in a good way.  The first weekend of February I went on a great predator hunt in Ozona Texas and I decided to take a few items with me to review a long the way.  Look here for the story on www.texasoutdoorsnetwork.com.  I had intended on checking out several other silencers but had specifically wanted to use a direct thread 5.56 silencer of a different make.  However, the only one available at the moment was the Gemtech Trek.  I had my heart set on another can, and when I was handed the Gemtech I was disappointed.  I had not heard anything about this little can before, and frankly thought it was heavy and unappealing.  However, I found out after attaching the little can to my sons lightweight rifle that the can added a balance I was not expecting.  The can is kinda heavy, but it’s also pretty short and full auto rated.  I got the impression that this can was built like a tank and would handle anything I threw at it, so I decided to not be kind to it.  The rifle this can was on is a parts gun, but the parts work well.  It has a FN M4 profile barrel that has been re-contoured to a pencil weight but retains the .750 gas block.  It has an SLR Rifleworks 12.5″ Solo handguard and adjustable gas block.  Standard BCG, a Mission First Tactical Minimalist stock and a CMC 1.5/3.5 2 stage trigger.  For an optic, I decided to try something else, and this combo turned out to be really fun.  I pulled the Leupold VX-6 3-18×44 off the .243 AR and tossed it on this rifle.  The gun balanced very well and was a real pleasure to shoot in this configuration.  The lightweight gun with the gas turned down in conjunction with the can provided a super stable platform to shoot with and was a lot of fun to use.

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This can rolled around in a Polaris Ranger all weekend and really took the brunt of some abuse.  We shot this rifle the most when messing around and plinking, to the tune of several hundred rounds.  I found the can to be hearing safe, built like a tank, and had a minimal POI shift on this particular rifle.  It is a little on the heavy side, however on a light rifle that really did not matter until I put the night vision clip on and IR on it.  It’s the top rifle in the below picture.

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It should be noted, I did scratch the finish on the can a slight amount which is normal when I use one.  However, the finish on this can seems to be pretty tough and it came out looking better than most cans that I have checked out.

This little can is not expensive and is great for a dedicated 5.56 rig.  If you were looking to buy a can to leave on a gun, this would be my recommendation.  It’s relatively inexpensive as it’s listed in the $520 range on the website at Silencer Shop here (on sale as of this writing).  On a Recce type build, I think this can is perfect as it does not add much length.  The weight is not as much of a factor on this can as I had imagined, and I think anyone would be satisfied with the performance.  This is the second can that I had made my mind up before using it that I would not like it, but it completely changed my mind.  Without hesitation, this is a great option for a dedicated direct thread can, buy with confidence.

Rifle in the rest below has the Trek

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Thank to Silencer Shop for making these reviews possible.  Check out the Gemtech website here.

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Jason's love of shooting sports started at an early age hunting with his father in the pastures of West Texas. Jason is now Full Time Law Enforcement and shoots competitively when he can.

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