Building suppressors, OK to discuss?

rockyboy said:

the bill allowing them under hearing protection has passed. .

Click to expand...

None of the Bills seeking to remove suppressors from GCA and NFA restrictions have passed in Congress.

I dont know about the bills passing, but the way i think is still in affect is filing for a form 1 suppressor. You can't build it until the Form 1 comes back approved. I'm not sure how your state views NFA items as well, so you will have to look at that as well, however if they were selling them shamelessly then its a high probability that you can apply for a form 1.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/07/09/build-silencer-part-1/

This is what we have an "NFA Firearms and Accessories" sub forum for!

====> https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?forums/nfa-firearms-and-accessories.58/

I could tell you about 3 different ways off the top of my head without thinking, one of them will give you one round silenced, but they all will get you in trouble, so I guess I won't say anything.....

If you live in a state that allows suppressor ownership, it's perfectly legal to build your own suppressor as long as you have a Form 1 ATF tax stamp. I'm sure you'll find many ideas shared on NFA oriented discussion forums. One reason you'll see many similar designs is because they are proven designs. If I was building my own, I'd try to mimic something that was built by a suppressor manufacturer who spent years of R&D on the design.

www.silecertalk.com is your friend.

plodder said:

www.silecertalk.com is your friend.

Click to expand...

So is spellcheck.

As plodder was trying to say, a good amount of knowledge is on http://www.silencertalk.com/forum/index.php in regards to building different types of suppressors. Very informative. If I remember correctly you have to make an account before it lets you see pictures and all that but I could be wrong.

Also, in terms of design, the baffle system is definitely the standard but these guys changed it up a bit. http://osssuppressors.com/

Silencer Talk is a wealth of knowledge. The guys over there are typically the type to do all the work themselves as opposed to buying not-quite-finished parts to complete a can.

I've built a couple titanium rifle silencers on approved form 1's. I'm happy with the way they turned out, but the process was a bit daunting. As others have said, http://silencertalk.com is a great resource, as is http://form1suppressor.boards.net .

There's an art to designing and building a silencer, and to make a really effective one takes a bit of research. The tax stamp lets you legally build just one, no "extra" parts. No do overs if it blows up so you want to get it right the first time. Repairs must be performed by a licensed SOT (which costs around $3500 a year to maintain with ITAR fees IIRC).

I started out with zero machining experience, but I owned a decent drill press. I kept an eye out and eventually picked up a small lathe on craigslist. One thing I can tell you, don't expect to save any money building one yourself if you don't already have the tooling. Carbide and cobalt bits are expensive . I spent many, many hours sitting in front of that equipment learning how to use it properly and eventually wound up with some great results, but I'm a very patient person that takes pride in doing things myself.

With the available cans on the market nowadays, easy to purchase mounting systems, replaceable endcaps, and even modular length designs, it's tough to justify rolling your own for any reason other than "because I can".

dogtown tom said:

So is spellcheck.

Click to expand...

Oops! Fat Finger strikes again.

I've asked the moderators the thread title question...

Stay tuned for a soup to nuts, "You too can build a silencer!" thread.

My plans to build a .22 can were delayed, but I've got a .45 cal Form 1 approved and waiting.

I've got 3 form 1's approved for suppressors and have built 2 of them ... The first was made from parts I got on Amazon, thinly veiled as an advertisement as a "solvent tube" ... It's not as attractive as one you would pay several hundred dollars for but it makes 9mm hearing safe. #2 is a 9mm from parts purchased from SD Tactical I intended to use on a 9mm carbine but while waiting for my stamp I bought an MP5 SD clone and it's much more effective but much bigger. #3 is a 10" Ti tube but hasn't been finished yet

All in all, I'm happy with my results

Kimberkid, as long as it's OK with the mods, I know I'd appreciate seeing pics or drawings of your three builds. Maybe you could start a thread here of your own.

I am sitting on an approved form 1. I'm mostly working on my machining skills before I start the actual build. When I do get started, I plan on putting up a thread with the details.

I don't have any drawings ... mine aren't that complicated ... I ordered tubes, spacer and "cups" all from the same company so I knew everything would fit. After I got my approved form 1 back I drilled out the baffles (typically called "cups") which were already had a center punch as was the end cap, put everything together and took a long drill bit that went through from end it end to make sure everything was lined up then took it out and shot through it. So far both work fine!

When I ordered the parts I told them what thread I wanted and they drilled and tapped it ... I used a piece of a threaded barrel in the end of the cap to center my bit and I drilled everything a little oversized as I don't have a lathe ... for the 22 I used a 1/4" bit ... for the 9mm I used a 3/8" bit ... I can post a picture of the finished product when I get some time ... I'm moving my photo hosting service since I'm not going to pay Photobucket $100/year blackmail to have the third party linking capability.

BTW, I think it was SP Tactical (where I got my first couple "kits') got shut down as the ATF decided they were selling suppressor parts ... but in all fairness they weren't being very discrete about their products.

SD Tactical's problem is that they were selling the same parts in their solvent trap kits that they were finishing out in house to sell as silencers.

Lots of suppliers out there for kits... lots of them better than SD Tactical.

pdsmith505 said:

SD Tactical's problem is that they were selling the same parts in their solvent trap kits that they were finishing out in house to sell as silencers.

Lots of suppliers out there for kits... lots of them better than SD Tactical.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you have some experiance, would you care to share some of your links?

kimberkid said:

It sounds like you have some experiance, would you care to share some of your links?

Click to expand...

SDTA does provide a few things that are fantastic (mostly for their price point). I'm waiting on a booster assembly from them right now.

I'm a fan of Diversified Machine. They make some impressive kits. The pictures below are the titanium .45 can I'm working on right now... I plan on posting the finishing process when I get it done, but I'm stalled right now because I got over-ambitious and found the limits of using my drill press in ways that it isn't intended to be used.

EDIT: Finished it up after thinking about my game plan, see the thread here.




Other forums are the place to go for this sort of thing. The guys making the best parts don't have a huge web presence... I ordered the above via PM to Diversified.

I would recommend heading over to http://form1suppressor.boards.net

I can't seem to get in ... I get an error that there is already a member with my email address, and I kind of remember filling out the registration a while back ... they say it may take a few days to get approved so I have no idea what might have happened to/with my previous registration ... also my password field auto populates which is another reason I think I may have started a registration.

I tried to log in as a Guest and it said something had expired and it wouldn't let me in as a guest either.

I think I registered before and it took a few days to get my approval code, or maybe it came in as spam and I didn't complete my registration ... it seems overly complicated just to join a form, or maybe its just me.

Did you try clicking the "forgot your password?" link?

Another option is checking out the Suppressors - Build it Yourself forum over at Arfcom. They've got a list of suppliers here.

If you have a mill & lathe, I highly recommend dabbling in monocore designs, especially for rimfire & pistol. I'm an RP on an 07/02, and my title in the shop is gunsmith/machinist/R&D guy, so I've been able to play around with some different designs. One that is relatively easy to mimic on manual equipment and extremely effective is the Gemtec .22 design:



Now, drilling a straight hole 6"+ long absolutely requires a decent lathe, and obviously the baffles are mill work, but for low pressure rimfire and pistol rounds, you can use aluminum, so it goes pretty fast. It's quite a bit quicker than making individual baffles and end caps if you're tooled up to do it.

I'm not going to show you our design right now, as it differs a bit from the Gemtec and may be patentable, but the basic concept is similar, and it's every bit as quiet as the best production cans. It also weighs just 2.8 ounces.

If you're going to do handgun suppressors, you have to incorporate a booster, but that's no more difficult with monocore than conventional baffle arrangements.

Monocore for centerfire rifle could be done similarly, but you're gonna have to use steel, stainless, titanium or inconel if you want it to hold up.