Pop Bottle Silencer... Fact or Fiction?

[Carl N. Brown]

Some guy was busted for doing the potato silencer thing.
Remember, to be legal, you must file a Form 1 to make a
silencer, put a serial number on it and pay a $200 tax,
and that's for your own use only.

Putting serial numbers on a potato is an interesting
technical problem.

To make and sell potato or pop bottle silencers, you
must be a Special Occupation Taxpayer or Class III
licensed NFA manufacturer and you and the purchaser must
complete a Form 4 with the $200 transfer tax.

Given eighteen potatoes in a five pound bag, that
would be $3600 taxes on a three-dollar sack of potatoes.
The government ought to love that.

Personally I don't see it. Literally. The potato and soda
bottle silencers obscure the sight picture.

Then there is the silencer from the book and movie
Echoes in the Darkness which I believe was made from
an automotive oil filter. That was supposedly a real case.

Geoffery Boothroyd, who advised Ian Fleming on firearms
starting with the novel Doctor No, once checked into a
hotel room and fired a round into a log in the fireplace to
see if anyone would notice. Nobody noticed. The fictional
use of silencers is vastly overrated.

 

[Sonora Rebel]

Popcorn inna plastic milk jug works quite well (on anything) . Dunno about coke bottles.

 

[Ghost Tracker]

Buy the $200 Tax Stamp or go Federal Prison. I'll be glad to wager that any / everyone who's been convicted would now be ONLY TOO HAPPY to unravel their legal / financial mess for $200.

I've got a close friend who bought a .22 silencer via the Internet from Germany (completely legal) and had it shipped directly to his home here in the States (completely illegal). He not only was convicted of illegal owning a silencer but, because it's a felony, was forced to sell ALL HIS DOZENS OF GUNS because, as a convicted felon, he can't legally OWN them anymore. For the cost of one long day's ammo shooting at the range, he lost his favorite hobby. Quite a bargain, huh?

 

[kellyj00]

you fellas crack me up.
I'm not going to say I tried this in my youth with a .40cal taurus and an ar15 because I'm not sure if it were legal.

My best guess would be that the .40cal would be very very mildly muffled and the ar15 would blow the bottle off no matter how much duct tape you put on it. My best guess would also be that it's a waste of time and that you and your friends would get a good laugh.

Again, I wouldn't say I've tried it.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

And he could have got it legal stateside for about $200 tax
and about a 90 day wait with CLEO sign-off (not that hard
to do, at least around here).

Illegal, the court costs alone average $5000 before the
fine, loss of property and loss of rights kicks in. And there
is no expunging federal felonies to regain rights.

 

[Average Joe]

Did you ever see the old westerns, where the guy shoots a 6 shot revolver about a hundred times, and never reloads?

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

I saw a Steven Seagal movie in which he used a soda bottle for a suppressor. I think it was only duct taped on and that it was good for only one shot, but of course Seagal only needs one shot. I'm sure it would attenuate the noise or change its pitch at least a little.

Wait, did I just say I watched a Steven Seagal movie? Um, I heard about it from somebody else who did. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The character in several Stephen Hunter novels - Bob Lee Swagger, upon whom the "Shooter" movie character is based - used a taped-on binocular or spotting scope case - or the spotting scope itself after smashing out the lenses, I don't remember - as a flash hider in one of the novels. This is a bit more believable.

 

[MisterPX]

You can get about 6-8 rounds off with a 22. Sounds just like a real can, almost.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Steven Seagal did make a watchable movie, the first Under Siege
on board the USS Missouri (actually filmed on USS Alabama).
I doubt if a pop bottle would have suppressed the sound level
of his microwave oven though.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Originally posted by Carl N. Brown:
Steven Seagal did make a watchable movie, the first Under Siege ...

I liked that one too ... but that wasn't it.

 

[8830]

It does work for one shot on centerfire rifles. Water bottles are a perfect fit on AR15 flash suppressors.

 

[BlindJustice]

Potato on the end of a barrel - I think in a Richard Roundtree movie
the BG at the beginning of the movie uses it from a hi-rise building on
the end of a scoped rifle for the killing shot.

I always thought of the above as hollywood but ???

Also, is this an old wives tale: - put a baby nipple on the end of the
barrel, secure with bubber rands or duct tape cut the tip with
a cross hatch and it will work once.

??

 

[PTK]

In all honesty a pop bottle silencer works. You must pack it with packing peanuts, water, sponges, or similar for maximum effectiveness. Accuracy is reduced due to the bullet impacting and piercing the bottle. Sound is reduced to a stunning point considering materials used.