One thing I've noticed over the years is how manufacturers just lie like crazy about what it costs to make whatever they make.
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If the population knew how much it cost to make something and how much they were getting ripped buying it, I hope they'd sit on their wallet.
I've been very surprised by two things in this thread.
(1) Ignorance about how modern suppressors are made, what materials go into them, and what real costs of manufacture are, and
(2) The idea that a company is somehow ripping people off by selling a product at a profit, even a healthy profit.
The former is excusable. The latter is disgraceful.
In response to the prior post by Ken70, why should a company even tell you how much it costs them to make something? That's really their own business. If you don't want to pay what the market dictates as the selling price (ie for going concerns, this is basically close to their MSRP), you can make it yourself or go without. In no way are they ripping you off. If someone figures out how to make a good one-ton truck for a cost to themselves of $10k instead of $25k+ or whatever, then more power to them. (And to the prior poster, the term "one ton" refers to a historic payload weight for class 2b and class 3 trucks -- not the weight of the vehicle itself; they typically have a payload of 2-3 tons nowadays.)
Capitalism and the free markets are great because together they provide the best goods to the most people at the best price, overall. If someone really has 99% profit, it should be easy for someone like you to step in, sell a similar product at the same quality for
half the price, take "only" 98% profit, and corner the market. But then someone can sell at 1/2 of
your price for 96% profit, etc. This process continues until the market stabilizes. The end result is that companies making the widget have to be very competitive and the customers get the best value.
The US market for suppressors is not totally "free" due to the NFA and the import restrictions. This has affected their historic use and the demand (as an inverse proportion to inflation). It has also affected the psychology of purchasing. Since the possibility of resale is low (one or two more Form 4's are required) and the paperwork is fairly involved, most people want to buy a high quality suppressor that will last their lifetime. This has influenced the cost and quality/performance of the suppressors sold in the US market, and that is one reason why we have a lot of more expensive ones.
One other issue complicating this discussion is that there is very wide variety of suppressors on the market, varying significantly in suppression, durability, accuracy, longevity, features, etc. What is "a suppressor"? I made an example of the cost of Ti tube and the retort was about a plastic pop bottle (presumably with the $200 adapter). Both may be "a suppressor" but one might be good for a few shots of .22LR while the other has a lifetime of a bazillion rounds of whatever centerfire rifle cartridge you want, as long as the bullet fits through the hole.
Anyway, at one end of the spectrum, there are .22LR suppressors that suppress OK and are basically just a tube and some very simple washers/spacers made of aluminum. At the other end of the spectrum might be a .338LM suppressor that weighs not even a pound and a half, aids accuracy, and makes the rifle almost hearing safe, and will last as long as any part on the host rifle. In the middle we might have the "$800" one in this quote,
What, you're upset that less than $30 in parts and labor are costing you $800?
That $800 suppressor is not any .22LR suppressor, and I don't know any centerfire suppressors that can be made for $30.
I know intimately how much it costs to manufacture silencers. For the following, let me assume we are not talking about a "threaded tube with washers" but a
contemporary well-performing suppressor: The idea of "$30 for
parts and labor" or $10 for finished baffles or whatever is absurd. It has no relation to reality. I am not saying this to be mean or to defend any business, but just as a reality check.
$30?
The bar stock and tube alone used for any centerfire suppressor cost at least 2x-3x that, much more for larger caliber suppressors.
You can't outsource silencer parts to anyone that does not have a class 2 SOT. But even if you could, you'd be looking at a shop rate of $40-60/hour for machine time. If you do it in house, divide the cost of one machine-month (machine cost amortized per month, or just how much you pay for a lease) by 171 (if you're lucky enough to keep it busy 8 hours a day). A machine operator is about $15-20/hr. A trained welder costs more than that. The machine-hour costs is somewhere in that same range. (How fast do you think you can run a boring bar into 316 SS, 718 Inconel, or Ti? Hint: it's
way slower than aluminum.)
Is it possible to build a suppressor for $30? Only if you use a small amount of cheap materials (which limits application), discount all cost of machinery and consumable tooling, and don't pay anyone for their labor. By that logic, nothing should be sold for more than the scrap rate of the raw materials contained therein.
This is not to say there aren't some suppressors on the market that are priced beyond their level of performance, but that's true for any product in any market.
And the above analysis completely ignores all overhead, including licensing and compliance overhead.