My latest silencer project

[Ian]

Port noise is the limiting factor for me, and being left handed, it's particularly an issue being 7" from my right ear. Still, most of my Blackouts are tolerable, the .458 is louder in my ear so I usually wear a plug in that one except when hunting. Repeaters are still king of quiet, and with some of them, the lock is the loudest part. There are some tricks for adding buffers to bolt-action rifle firing pins, but at some point, quiet enough is quiet enough.

 

[Pistolero]

Yeah, worrying about the firing pin strike noise does seem a bit too much.

Yes, lefty's have different issues.

Make sure you never fire a bullpup AK..... a friend is a lefty, did that. Said it was like
getting hit in the mouth with a small hammer. OWW! Fortunately no broken teeth.

Bill

 

[Brad]

I can load a 120 plain base in my Marlin 32-20 with 3 gr of Trailboss and I can hear the twang of the mainspring thru the stock. Runs around 750-800 fps. Hitting steel at 100 is easy and fun. Pop, wait, tink. No silencer required.

 

[fiver]

the impressive part is being able to get 3 grs of trail boss in the 32-20 case.

 

[Brad]

It fits to the base of the shoulder or so. I don't think 4 gr would fit, at least not very well.
I haven't shot TB in years. That rifle likes the same bullet with 5 gr of Unique quite well. I will always remember that mould as it was my first Lee GB mould. Good old Willbirds 120 rnfp. Pretty sure it was a Bob design.

 

[Pistolero]

Don't need no stinking suppressors!

 

[Brad]

I can see where one would be fun but the cost deters me. One of those things where I get cheap.

 

[fiver]

I could make use of a suppressor.
they are legal for hunting here [big game too] and up until a couple of years ago you could make and use your own without a stamp.
if I didn't have to register a tube with the 'govmnt' I'd be all over using them.

 

[Pistolero]

"up until a couple of years ago....."

Hmm. I thought these were always NFA items, since '34, but no expert. KS passed a law saying guns made in KS and never leaving
are not in Interstate Commerce, so no requirement for fed papers. Two guys who tried making
guns, possibly full autos, don't remember the details, are now in jail., Fed's weren't having any of it.

I would be interested to know the legal background on that, just for general education. Never heard of this
before.

Bill

 

[Ian]

A couple years ago being 1934.

Need is relative, I guess. I could buy them, but I'm compelled to make my own, same way as I don't buy my cast bullets, bullet lube, case lube, targets, etc. I could live without them, but with them I can hunt without hearing protection or hearing loss, and combined with night vision I can go shoot a group out the back door at two in the morning on a Tuesday and nobody will know or care.

 

[Ian]

Bill beat me to it. Yes, 1934, the GCA. All silencers had to be serialized and added to the registry with $200 tax paid. Except the criminals just ignored it and so did a lot of honest people.

 

[Pistolero]

Hope they get "legalized", or moved off NFA status. If so, I will have many.

Bill

 

[fiver]

they could get them off the list,,, but we ain't gonna see that.

 

[Pistolero]

There is a bill in Congress, seems to have a lot of cosponsors and I believe Trump would
sign it. We'll see. Frequently it takes two or three runs at overturning gun laws to win, I
guess they finally get used to it.

Bill

 

[Ian]

What happens is it gets watered down enough and enough "plea deals" added to make the other side happy that it finally gets through. The HPA was brilliant in both name and in the amount of extra sacrificial fat that was packed into it so it would still have meaning after being negotiated "down" by the libs. What they say about the making of sausage and politics is true.

 

[freebullet]

if I didn't have to register a tube with the 'govmnt' I'd be all over using them

Yep, yup, & yes.

 

[Pistolero]

They asked for refunding $200 for last year of suppressors, probably sacrificial - something to give up
to compromise. Putting it on 4473 will be good. If that works like firearms, you can make whatever you
want for yourself, just not 'engage in the business'. I know people who have made guns, basically made
the receivers, and put the rest of the parts in them. So, if this works out, suppressor innards would probably
be just parts, and all I'd have to make was the can, although the relative simplicity and "lathe friendliness" of
the parts mitigates towards making all of it.

And I really like the idea of no POI change! Glad you guys have cracked that one.

Bill

 

[Ian]

Had a little fun tonight. I'm way short on time this week but 'Rocker came over on short notice this evening and brought one of his little suppressed SBR's to shoot against my new can with my shrouded 10.5" Blackout. We did a little side by side shooting and then some double-wielding to let each other listen to both rifles alternating from a slight distance, and other than my shroud ringing a little they're essentially equal cans and both very quiet. I'm happy that this necked cone and double-hybrid clip design compares favorably to a state-of-the-art, larger-diameter, Blackout-dedicated cone and K-baffle can that is far more complicated to make and no doubt has a significant POI shift, not to mention isn't made for high-powered rifles. We put a few factory rounds and subs through my .308 with my can on it and it was big smiles all around.

I think there's something about the expense and extreme regulation that adds to the appreciation and enjoyment factor of NFA toys. In similar fashion, Geddy Lee said in an interview that after he took to researching and learning about the origins and history of various fine wines that had been gifted to him over the years, "it tastes better". I agree.

 

[Full.lead.taco]

As a fellow gun muffler user, I was curious if you had noticed any POI shift each time you clean your suppressor and put the baffles back in (without them having notches to lock them together back in the same position as before). Was wondering if having the different gas flows each time you put the suppressor back together affects the POI significantly, or if your POI shift remains pretty constant.

 

[Ian]

Most of my other cans have asymmetrical baffle clips or baffle shapes, and yes, the POI shift is significant and will change if I don't get the baffles back in just exactly the same way every time I clean them. One great thing about powder coating is I don't have to clean them very often, if at all now. Before, I'd clean and reassemble as best I could like they came apart, then have to go re-check half a dozen rifles to make sure they were still hitting in the same place with the can.

The baffle and clip design I tried out on this can doesn't shift POI at all, no matter how the clips are oriented with each other or the tube. The clips seem to suppress best when aligned with each other, sort of, meaning I intentionally off-set the clips half a notch or so as I stack the baffles but generally all the clips are in a row. I can mix the clip orientation up and it doesn't affect POI at all, but does affect suppression a tiny amount vs. alternating the baffle clips 90° or 45°.