Make a suppressor vs buy a suppressor

Whether you make it or buy it, you'll need to get a stamp for it. I'm in the process of getting one and I went to a dealer that takes care of all of the paperwork for you. Once things get back to normal, I have to get my prints taken and they drop the packet off in the mail.

The process for buying or building is pretty much the same. To build one, you fill out the form 1 send it in along with photo and fingerprint cards and $200.00 and wait to get your approval before you can start to build. E file can take less than a month, last one I paper filed took 45 days.

To by one you pay for it and the $200.00 tax, fill out a form 4, send it in with your photo and fingerprint cards (most dealers will do this for you) and wait 10 months+.
When it is approved it will be sent to the dealer you bought it from and they will notify you how it is to be delivered.

If you know how to use a lathe (and cut threads) they are easy to build.

SC45-70

WestKentucky said:

Next question then, is it any cheaper or easier to do 2 at once?

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Each form 1 or form 4 must be sent in individually in it's own envelope and you need photo and fingerprint cards and $200.00 with every application.

SC45-70

You need to file a NFA Form 1 and pay the $200 tax to make a suppressor (or any NFA item) and must have to approved form in your possession before making it.
If buying, it's basically the same process, file a NFA Form 4 and pay $200 and wait until it is approved and you get your tax stamp back before taking possession of the NFA item.

You must file a form and pay the $200 tax for each individual item.

Say you want to build a short barrel rifle and build a suppressor at the same time. You will have to submit two Form 1s along with a check for $200 for each item ($400 total). Then wait until the forms are approved and you receive each tax stamp back before building them.


SC45-70 types faster than me

Manufacturing your own is faster, because a Form 1 by e-File is months and months faster than a Form 4 transfer, but I suspect the manufactured ones are probably better quality than your average "solvent trap" bubba-made one.

Regardless of which route you take you will have to submit $200, two fingerprint cards and two photos. Since 41F there’s just no way to avoid it.

The fastest and easiest way is to eFile a Form 1 and make your own. EFiled 1s have been being approved in a couple of months as opposed to a year or more for paper forms. Buy yourself a good quality solvent trap kit (consult the Silencer Talk forum for vendor suggestions) and drill it yourself once your stamp is issued. If you buy a commercial can be prepared to wait close to a year.

If you really want the best of both worlds there’s a legal way to make it work faster. Do a Form 1 and then have a conversation with an 02/07 SOT manufacturer about what sort of solvent trap kit they think has the best quality tube. Once you get your stamp have the tube engraved with your info and drill out the baffles and caps. Do your best work on the end cap because it’s important. Now you’ve made a can of questionable performance...but not to fear. Now that you have completed your can you are free to send it off to your SOT friend who can legally recore it with really well-made baffles instead of a stack of marginally effective freeze plugs. You have the advantage of a well-made can of near commercial quality but it hopefully is in your hands months before a Form 4 would have been processed.

Silencer Shop is currently selling a “solvent trap” kit with an optional drilling jig that costs as much as a decent commercial can. The only reason this makes sense to me at all is because of the faster turnaround time for eFiled Form 1s.

Madcap_Magician said:

Manufacturing your own is faster, because a Form 1 by e-File is months and months faster than a Form 4 transfer, but I suspect the manufactured ones are probably better quality than your average "solvent trap" bubba-made one.

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But also note that if you make it yourself (assuming you know what you're doing), you have to engrave your personal information on it. Resale value of such an item is going to be close to zero, compared to a regular factory-made suppressor.

AlexanderA said:

But also note that if you make it yourself (assuming you know what you're doing), you have to engrave your personal information on it. Resale value of such an item is going to be close to zero, compared to a regular factory-made suppressor.

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Does anyone ever buy a used silencer?

Elkins45 said:

Does anyone ever buy a used silencer?

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I've transferred one.....an HK brand something that isn't made anymore.

If I made one I wouldn't be planning on selling it.

Normally I say buying is better, but the prices of suppressors is about a week's pay even before the $200 stamp is added.

Yeah, I can totally see building one being superior. Here are good videos on youtube on the machining:



As a machinist, the turning portion is easy, can be done on a manual lathe at home. The key is keeping the drill from walking and the best way to do that is use a collet (not a chuck), drill from one end, stop halfway, turn part around and indicate it, and drill thru. Could ream too if you want, that's a more rigid tool than a drill and produces a rounder hole. That would be best done with a larger caliber tho, like 9mm or .45 as you can use a 3/8 reamer or a 12mm reamer.

Doing a .22 suppressor is a lot more difficult due to the small diameter of the bore. There are some really innovative .22 LR only suppressors, like the Q Erector, that I would gladly spend money on. For everything .30 caliber and above, building is better.

The milling portion of it does require CNC to machine. If you have access to CAM software and a mill you're in luck. Personally, I would only use subsonic loads because that's where suppressors work best, so you don't need to use Titanium or steel alloys, I feel 7075 is sufficient. As such, you don't need to mill halfway down and flip the piece, you can do the milling in one operation. There may be a bit of tool deflection that causes a taper on the walls of the baffles, but it won't impact the function of the suppressor, you're creating an expansion chamber for gases, not using it to work with mating parts.

IDK why the guy in the video went thru all that trouble with the locating block during milling. I do agree with him that a 4th axis indexer wouldn't have been a better idea, lot of vibrations would have resulted and had chatter using a 1/4 inch endmill with a 1 inch LOC.

The rest is simple parts to make, the monocore is where all the work is done.

You can buy a premade monocore (usually without one or two holes drilled) as part of a "solvent trap" kit for maybe $60. On eBay the term currently being used is "modified fuel filter" to avoid calling them silencer kits. I wouldn't turn one myself for the cost.

This isn't a monocore but it's $25 including shipping from China right now:

This is $17 on Wish:

Given how many of these things are for sale from so many places I have to conclude there are thousands of illegal silencers floating around out there. Buying one of these as a fuel filter is laughably stupid, as is the photo of the monocore with the plastic tube stuck in the mounting hole. There's no way all of these are being registered. Maybe people are buying them but not drilling them until the welfare riots / zombie invasion / TP raid / boogaloo?

The person to PM on this forum if you are serious is MachIV Shooter.

entropy said:

The person to PM on this forum if you are serious is MachIV Shooter.

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He’s the person I was thinking of when I suggested working with an SOT. I’ve been really impressed with the work he has posted here.

entropy said:

The person to PM on this forum if you are serious is MachIV Shooter.

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Paging @MachIVshooter

Elkins45 said:

This is $17 on Wish:

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Do these "Chinese fuel filters" actually work? If so could you file for a form 1 and use one of these?

entropy said:

The person to PM on this forum if you are serious is MachIV Shooter.

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I am planning to do a review of his cans once I get all the ones I have ordered from him. It should be around the end of the year if everything goes smoothly.

rdnktrkr said:

Do these "Chinese fuel filters" actually work? If so could you file for a form 1 and use one of these?

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You absolutely could file a Form 1 on one, but I don’t know that I would trust my $200 stamp to some aluminum tube of unknown quality. ATF rules say you can’t remake your can once you complete it and I would hate for my tube to split after a few shots.

MachVI recorded my .30 cal can. Very happy with the work.

There are ways to end up with a very high quality form 1 can. But unless you own or have access to the machine tools to make the parts, it's not gonna save you any money, just much faster from file to (no) bang.

The majority of the backlog I have right now is recoring of Form 1 cans, with a few production ones in the mix and some other projects. I think I have about 40 recores in the queue right now, most of which are Form 1 critters that were solvent traps converted by the F1 builder. Some have internals, some don't, just a tube with a mount and a front cap the maker (person/trustee on the F1) has bored large enough to pass bullets of the listed caliber. That operation, the boring of the front cap to pass bullets, is the operation which converts an unregulated item like a solvent trap or filter into a silencer. ATF doesn't care about efficacy or what's inside, so don't ever make a "sort-of" silencer by having a tube with a bored front cap that isn't registered, because that will be considered a silencer even if it doesn't do much and doesn't have any guts.

Anyway, from there, service of the completed suppressor can consist of just about anything as long as length and caliber are not changed, and the original primary tube is not replaced.

If anyone here is interested, I can go into more detail later, but right now I have to get to work with some of the aforementioned recores.

rdnktrkr said:

Do these "Chinese fuel filters" actually work? If so could you file for a form 1 and use one of these?

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The short answer is yes, for rimfire, and if you know what you're doing. I did a bit of experimentation with them, as I was getting them for $9/ea before customs started seizing them wholesale.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Armory/The-cheap-chinese-can-experiment/55-502440/

Pass on any of the monocore type, and don't even consider them for anything other than .22 LR if you actually want performance.

Also, some people have had ATF calls, visits & confiscations wtih these. I don't know much about the details of which traps ordered from which sellers prompted the contact, though.

Havok7416 said:

I am planning to do a review of his cans once I get all the ones I have ordered from him. It should be around the end of the year if everything goes smoothly.

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The Phoenix IXs should be out of jail any day now, shouldn't they? It's been nearly a year if memory serves.