DIY Suppressors
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 10 months ago
On the drop-down menu, select FMI (for Form 1 manufactured), and you’re on your way. You’ll also have to describe the length and caliber of the can you’re going to make. Tip: Some people get wrapped around the axle when it comes to fingerprints. There’s absolutely no reason to make an appointment and pay a third party to fingerprint you, when you’re perfectly capable of smearing ink on your own digits. Order a fingerprint kit from Amazon, and do it yourself in the comfort of your own home.
Once your Form 1 has been approved, which usually takes around three weeks, you can then buy a tube, spacers, baffles, and endcaps from the many online vendors that exist on the fringes of the interwebs. Due to the nature of NFA law, these will be described in rather coy terms, and you may wind up purchasing “barrel shrouds,” “solvent traps,” “oil filter kits,” or “storage cups,” all of which are largely useless for their advertised purpose, but give the vendors a fig leaf of deniability. Yes, it’s all a bunch of bullsh*t, but it’s the system we’re stuck with.
Once your components arrive, you can then set to work engraving the tube to meet the legal requirements of the National Firearms Act (see RECOIL Issue 44). You could go get this done on a laser engraver and make it look all professional-like, or you could just bust out the Dremel. We did the latter, as it’s going to be wrapped in a suppressor cover anyway. With your tube engraved, you can then drill holes in the baffles and endcap, screw everything together, and head to the range with your shiny new can. Enjoy!
I had never really paid this much attention and didn’t know that the constituent parts were available like that. I’m sure that without a lot of effort I couldn’t build a suppressor with the acoustical engineering effectiveness that the large corporations and research organizations put into it.
Then again, rarely does anyone use a suppressor without ear pro anyway, so a little bit more protection is good, albeit not perfect.
If any reader has experience with this, please drop comments below and give us some pointers.
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On January 8, 2020 at 10:45 pm, Pat Hines said:
After you’ve set up your NFA trust, then sent in your Form 1 and $200.00 tax, look up some videos on Youtube with the search words, “fuel filter suppressor”. You can specify 5.56 or 308 if you wish.
Here’s one:
https://youtu.be/ptEOn5JmYCQ
Also, check out http://www.gunthreadadapters.com
On January 8, 2020 at 10:47 pm, Pat Hines said:
One more thing, it’s my opinion that oil filter suppressors are too large and bulky to be desirable.
On January 9, 2020 at 12:43 pm, ROFuher said:
Read a book by a Vietnam era dog handler years back.
He relayed when the orders to return home came down, they were accompanied by orders to turn the kennels and all the dogs over to the South Vietnamese. Attempts by the handlers to adopt them back stateside were denied on the premise that “application reviews” would take too long.
The veteran remembered the normally confident and aggressive K-9s were cowering in fear at the backs of their kennels on the final day. He believed they knew their lives were over.
I applaud any veteran who tackles the task of adopting their retiring K-9.
On January 9, 2020 at 2:49 pm, Paul Scales said:
https://k9history.com/history-vietnam-1960-1975.htm
“Vietnam, 1972. By June, the last American combat troops had left Vietnam. As the letter of the Paris Accords stated, all war combatants, both American and North Vietnameses were to be withdrawn from the contested areas, however both the VC and North Vietnam chose to ignored the agreement and continued the war against the South for another thirty-four months.
The ARVN, hopelessly weakened, and without the support of American troops and resources, fought a loosing battle, slowly retreating south, inch-by-inch.
Victory for the VC and North Vietnamese was now assured; and eventually, both the South Vietnamese civilians and military streamed into Tan Son Nhut Air Base and Saigon hoping to escape the brutiality of the advancing Communist forces.”
The “top brass” or whoever was in charge purposely lost the Vietnam war (like the Korean War), which was gotten into on a false flag anyway, and made a killing both figuratively and literally. Same thing in China: cut funding to the Nationalists so the Communists would win, and create a slave-labor state that they would then ‘trade’ with, and use to deindustrialize the West. All the while they’re “fighting the Communists”, the same Communists Wall Street funded to the hilt in 1917 in Russia.
On January 9, 2020 at 8:56 pm, MTHead said:
You don’t need a trust to do a form 1. It’s the same as SBR paper work. I worked in a gun shop for years. Sold 100’s of suppressors. The ATF, NEVER, approved any suppressor paperwork in 3 weeks. Trust or no. Trusts can do an online SBR in 3 weeks. But not for a suppressor. And if your a trust. Obama sez every, “responsible person”, (anyone with legal access), in the trust has to be fingerprinted and backgrounded.
I would reframe from “oil can” suppressors as the BATF ruled that all parts of the suppressor can be taxed. Ask OSS about their “muzzle break” that the suppressor threaded to. ATF dog styled them hard. Meaning you would need a stamp for the filter and another for the adapter.
It’s not hard to make a suppressor. But it’s hard to make a lite one that will stand up to the punishment. That’s why you see barrel length restrictions for different cans. Short barrel = more pressure = more heat = destroyed can.
My .02.If your not a machinist, go buy one.
On January 10, 2020 at 6:00 pm, Pat Hines said:
MTHead is correct, you don’t NEED a trust to send in a Form 1. However, if you do that the suppressor will only have your name on it, if you want to leave it to your children or someone else, they will have to pay the $200.00 again for the transfer.
With a NFA trust set up, the trust effectively owns the suppressor and you merely have your next of kin listed as trustees, no additional payment of the tax.
On January 10, 2020 at 6:43 pm, TRX said:
No, inheritors don’t pay the transfer tax on NFA items. They still have to fill out some ATF paperwork and jump through any local hoops, though.
ATF.gov has a FAQ about it.
On January 11, 2020 at 4:40 pm, MTHead said:
TRX, it’s a form 5, I believe.
Pat, I don’t know about you, but I want to get buried with my guns!