Is it illegal to have a homemade silencer?

silencers are the same as suppressors, and yes, they are legal in MOST states

the reason for silencers is not to kill someone w/out them knowing or anyone els. its for ur ears duuu. people who have damage done to there ears dont want to hear a loud sounds to make there ears hurt worst??? so just tell the coppers its just ur ears duuu

Don't be a CABBAGE head!

Be smart, and make cabbage work for you!

Man Detained With Gun and Cabbage Silencer
www.kancof.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=246

...My father born in the 20's told me along time ago that when he was a kid you could buy a silencer for a 22cal pistol at the hardware store...He said they were commonly used for shooting in your back yards and in the basements...And yes...silencers on TV are phony baloney...The real things are louder....

The reason I would want to use a silencer is to plink in my basement and not disturb tne neighbors or people upstairs. There are no gun ranges in my town.

Here is the best way for a homemade silencer.

Goto your local market.. grab a bag of Idaho Spuds, and there you have it

Why go to all the trouble,just use a 1 litre plastic soda container,just cut the big end off,works just the same,makes a bonk sound

How do you have to pay for gas?

The general use for most people like me is trying not to alarm the nabours of gun shots rather then a hammer. You know where ur bullets are going but all the nabour hears is shots and becomes worryed. I use mine just to be friendly as most of my nabours know I do shooting but don't want to hear 200 rounds every saterday morning.

There is no mystical magic to a silencer. It merely prevents the expanding gasses from leaving the chamber at the same rate as the projectile.

It acts just like an inline muffler on an engine. And making one is no major science project either.

3 parts are all that is needed. Thats all I will say about them, Ive made plenty of them and still have them.

But unless you need one to target practice in the back yard, and I would make darn sure the backstop is comprised of plenty of sand bags to capture your projectiles and prevent any strays, there really is no need for a silencer.


Cheers!!!!

reply to post by northwolf


nut ir it the same with silencers on handguns in finland?
can just anyone walk in to a gunstore and buy a silencer for,,lets say a glock?

you would have to register it w the BATFE and it is prohibited in some states.

In New York State, as in MOST states, having a home-made silencer is illegal. I don't know about other states, but having any kind of silencer in NYS is clearly illegal. you'll have to check the laws in other states, which you can do either online or by going down to your local library and checking out the reference books of state laws, you can find out if it is legal to buy a silencer from a weapons dealership.

Does anyone know about the legality of a range silencer or more like a sound trap? What I'm talking about is a stationary device not attached to the firearm at all, and the firearm is fired through it. THe ones I've seen are made out of 55gallon drums mounted to a stand on their side with tires stacked up inside, but I suppose any sound insulated chamber would work. I read some stuff people had done about insulated boxes using carpet and foam. I also remember seeing pictures of a shooting room this guy built on his house that allowed him to shoot at targets placed outside from inside deading sound and protecting him and his equipment from the elements. I'm not sure how much the reduce the sound by but it could might be worth looking into, and might be perfect for situations like the poster wanting to shoot in his basement.

Here's what I'm talking about with the barrels and tires




shootersforum.com...

www.thefiringline.com...

[edit on 8-1-2009 by warpboost]

reply to post by orangetom1999

Psst I am an avid hunter, in a rural setting...
Only hint I can give is anything under a.25 cal. "not high velocity"
Laugh all you want......but,rubber goat nipples, over the barrel of my .22 make it almost, silent! You can buy them from your local feed store, "bottle feeder" stuff....
I use this so as not to scramble all the other game, in the area.....

evan replacemeants for human bottles work," just less addaptable" than the user friendly calf or goat feeders........to the barrel of your guns..

Originally posted by JIMC5499

Originally posted by Harlequin
if the bullet is a subsonic round then all you would get is the same effect as a hollywood movie

Correct. It isn't the cartridge detonating that causes the majority of the noise, it is the sonic boom that the bullet makes. If you reload you own ammunition and use a ballistics table look for the listings with a muzzle velocity under 900 ft per sec. These are generally considered to be subsonic. Load 1 round using these specs and compair it to a normal round. You will be surprised at the difference. These rounds are NOT illegal. Another benefit is look at the weight of the bullet. You can actually make a round with a bigger punch at short distances because you can use a heavier slug.

The majority of the noise is produced by the expansion of hot gasses from the chamber being forcefully expelled into cooler air. This is how supressors work, by offering an extra volume of expansion chamber in which to slow and cool the gasses before expulsion into the colder (even on a hot day) air.

Subsonic ammo won't produce a movie "pffft" at the muzzle end, but less gas and less heat means it DOES run quieter that standard ammo.

As an aside, the quietest supressed weapon I ever personally fired was a custom-built Ruger 10/22 with an integral supressor built the full length of the barrel. It didn't even produce the movie "pffft". The only noise it made was the bolt clacking back and forth, which could theoretically STILL prove a problem if there were too many bad guys too close.

nenothtu out

Originally posted by Oldtimer2
Why go to all the trouble,just use a 1 litre plastic soda container,just cut the big end off,works just the same,makes a bonk sound

I tried the old "plastic soda bottle" trick several years ago, using both 1 liter and 2 liter bottles, on a .22 (which should be easier to silence, eh?). Net results were that the bottle acted exactly like an echo chamber, and if anything INTENSIFIED the sound. Next, says I, reasoning that true supressors have packing inside, I filled it up with packing peanuts to try to dampen the noise. that didn't work either.

Have you ever tried to aim a weapon with a 2 liter bottle on the end of it obscuring the sights?

Not recommended.

nenothtu out

reply to post by hikix

Silencers can be used for a variety of things, and hunting could be much easier with them. In my opinion, silencers should only be used in a private and timid manner. After all, it does seem suspicious at the least to use a silencer for any purpose.