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Just how simple is a suppressor?
grayingghost
Member Posts: 131 ✭✭
I remember a number of years ago seeing someone with what I think was one of the Mac family guns, 9mm; He just had an aluminum canister a bit larger than a 2 liter soda bottle with a threaded block (tapped) on one end to attach to bbl. and about a half dollar hole covered with fairly heavy rubber on the front. It wasn't 'silent' but no more than someone hacking on a log with a hatchet, you could clearly hear the action and bullets striking wooden target. All he had inside was about a 4" thick piece of foam rubber. I thought suppressors were complicated with baffles and wipes and stuff, are they really just so simple??
Comments
A pillow works up close.
CP
Depends on what caliber you want use it on, how durable you want it to be and how quiet.
The old style (60's and earlier) often used wipes to slow the bullet. These parts decreased the accuracy and wear out fast.
New ones are basically baffles to slow the escaping muzzle blast. They are no more complicated then a car muffler with a hole that goes straight through it. While one using fender washers spaced out inside will work it would not be as quiet as one with properly designed baffles.
I don't want to mess around with this kind of thing, I was just curious if such a simple set up is actually functional. Since recently joining this forum I've spent a lot of time reading all kinds of posts and learning a lot. I've read suppressors can sell for $1000 or such and this guy just used a can!? Yeah, I imagine a pillow would once or twice maybe but certainly not for a couple magazines.
Depends on what you are buying.
Most .22 cans are $200-$450
Most pistol cans and cheep rifle cans run $400-$700
Most larger rifle cans run $600-$1000
Then custom cans for the really big guns (like .338L, 50 BMG, ect) run $1000-$2000
The difference in price is the materials used, the style of mount and quality of assembly. A thread mount .22lr can made out of steel and basic baffles will be heavier and not as quiet as a OD mount .22lr can made out of Titanium using the latest engineered baffles. The steel can will be 1/3 the price though.
For under $30 you could easily build a steel can rated for .22 using pipe and fender washers for you baffles and be pretty effective. Now building a can that can handle the pressures for medium to large centerfire rifles will take a bit more skill.
I still have plans to make my own integral silencer on my GSG-5SD but have not gotten around to it yet.
No matter if you buy or build a can you will have to fill out the paperwork and pay the $200 tax to be legal. This is why buying a good quality can in the first place is a must. There is very little to no market in used cans. If you want to know more about NFA stuff read my NFA FAQ sticky at the top of this page if you have not already.
with an illegal one...
Depending on the circumstances, you probably wont get 10 yrs in jail and a $100,000 fine and lose all you guns and maybe the right to vote.
It all depends on the Judge and which state you live in.
I thought suppressors were complicated with baffles and wipes and stuff, are they really just so simple??
Yeah, they're pretty simple. The technology is over 100 years old; its not "rocket science".
As mentioned, when you get right down to it, a gun silencer is the same thing as a car muffler. . .its just a wide tube (ie "can") with a series of baffles inside.
Yeah, some are more sophisticated than others, and there are designs that don't use parallel baffles, but they all more or less do the same thing.
The better ones will be a bit lighter, stronger, have more secure attachments, and disassemble easily for thorough cleaning. But if you had to (and it were legal to do so), you could probably rig up something functional with $20 worth of parts from Home Depot.