yet another supressor question

[mr_dove]

I searched through the many suppressor threads but didn't find an answer to my specific question.

I understand the supressors are restricted items but I don't know if supressors are pre-ban/post-ban or not.

What I mean is do you have to look for a supressor made before whatever law that restricted them? Or, on the other hand, can you buy any newly made, 2004 supressor as long as you pay the $200 tax?

That was my main question. Let me ask a few secondary ones though.

Also, what is required as far as the gun goes to use the supressor? Is it just a threaded barrel or is there more?

Does it need to be a gun that comes with a factory threaded barrel (there's an HK with a factory threaded barrel) or can you track down an aftermarket threaded barrel for your gun to use with the supressor?

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

Mmmm. I hate to see your question go unanswered; unfortunately I can only answer two of them:

You can buy a newly manufactured suppressor, it does not have to be made before a certain date.

And the weapon only needs to have a threaded barrel (unless it's one of the funky integral suppressors like the HK MP5SD or some of the Ruger 10/22s and Mk IIs I've seen).

As to the rest, well here in the great state of California, we like our guns LOUD (and we have no other choice.) so I can't comment.

 

[MP-5]

I thought the BATF, which is now the BATF&E considers the whole weapon as a class 3 firearm which means the whole weapon, not just the threaded barrel is considered "supressed" and licenced as such. I dont think it matters whether you have a aftermarket barrel or not but just because your supressor is not mounted on your weapon it still is a "class 3" weapon. A $200.00 tax also is required (at least it was a $200.00 tax, it might have gone up in years.) for registration Federally. Depending on the state, I believe there are restrictions on transportation, movement of the weapon across state lines, etc. Some states prohibit the ownership of "class 3" weapons as well i.e. California & New York.

 

[boofus]

The suppressor itself does not have any classification of pre/post ban because it wasn't included in that 1994 bill. If you put it on a semi-auto weapon however the whole gun WILL have to abide by the AWB. The sound suppressor also counts as a flash-suppressor so you can not mount a silencer on any post-1994 weapon. You'd have to hunt down a pre-ban to put it on.

Unless you are LE/C3 SOT then you can do whatever you want.

As far as mounting them goes it depends... If you are putting the suppressor on a weapon with a fixed barrel (i.e. they don't tilt up to unlock when the slide is cycling) then you just need the barrel to be threaded. Uzis, Mac10s, Ruger 10/22s, AR15s all are like this.

If the gun you want to suppress uses a Browning type lockup (1911, Glock, USPs) then you will need to get a suppressor with a recoil booster and a threaded barrel. If the recoil booster isn't right for the gun then the slide might not be able to cycle and instead the frame takes a pounding for all the energy that is normally used to cycle the slide. It'd also not be semi-auto any more, since you'd have to manually cycle the slide each time.

 

[Jake 98c/11b]

Boofus, the type of recoil booster you mention is usually called a Neilsen device and there are newer ways of doing the same thing now. As I understand it the newer way of doing things does not create the same problems but I am not sertain of that, call Gem-Tech and ask about their LID (linear inertial decoupler). I think SWR has something else they use as well.