Why are suppressors $$$?

[howl]

I saw the article from NRA about how we should buy suppressors now to ensure manufacturers stay open long enough to sell them after the HPA passes. Thing is, I'm not in the market because I don't see the value in them. Hearing protection is pretty cheap and blows nothing in my face. How is a manufacturer of a seemingly overpriced product going out of business because of lack of sales? Just lower your price!

What am I missing?

[mdram]

would you pay $100, if the tax stamp was $200?

perceived value

[Bigs28]

Supressor manufacturers have just as much red tape as we do and have to hire staff just to maintain all the paperwork associated with manufacturing each and every supressor. When the hpa passes there will be such a huge market for suppressors. I wouldn't worry to much about that article. With that said there is no time table for the hpa passing so if you want one buy it now.

[Klem]

Horses for courses. Sure, they can be more problematic in gas guns but some people want them and find them useful.

[Texas]

To manufacture a suppressor, a class 7 or class 10 license is needed plus the SOT which has a minimum cost and a sliding cost based upon total $$$ revenue. The materials used in a quality suppressor are generally more expensive than steel due to a size/weight ratio. The baffles are hit by gas jets as it reduces the pressure before the bullet exits the muzzle, this requires different metallurgy than barrels. Finally, silencers are an art and a science, you can do all of the calculations and not get the results expected -- some small changes make significant differences.

[Drift]

Monoply. With all those goverment regulations there is little room for free market competion. Kinda like back in the day of the Boston Tea Party. The British controled all the tea, and charged what they wanted+added tax. So people were forced to pay through the nose, smuggle, drink coffe or do without.

[mdram]

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/08/dean-weingarten/new-zealand-silencers-cheap-and-unregulated/

http://gunworks.co.nz/shop/category/suppressors

fyi 340 nzd = 250usd

[Texas]

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/201...d-unregulated/

http://gunworks.co.nz/shop/category/suppressors

fyi 340 nzd = 250usd

If you will notice those are foreign manufacturers, and they do not have the NFA. When you pay a $200 per suppressor, you do not want a throwaway. Most of the suppressors made in the US have titanium tubes with a mix of materials for the baffles, but the more titanium there is, the lighter the suppressor. Aluminum cuts easily with the gas jets, stainless is heavy. It is the outer tube that is registered, you can change the internals without re-registering.

[LRRPF52]

Generally speaking, US suppressors are made to last longer, deliver more performance in sound reduction, and offer features that make them more appealing, since they are more difficult to get.

When I bought my Ase Utra Jet QCB face-to-face in Finland, it was at least 400 euros, which would have been about $560 at the time.

The little novelty rimfire cans sold at sporting goods stores were just that: cheap novelties. I've never seen any of my Finnish friends using them, and I have done a lot of shooting there.

Everybody I know is using Ase Utra, BR Tuote, or Brugger & Thomet cans. Prices are comparable to the US on many of the ones I have seen in use there.

There were no regulations when I bought mine, but they since have made it a requirement that you have some type of firearms permit to buy one.

You can make garbage cans that won't last, sure. They will run you a few hundred dollars if you source already-made parts, where you cut your own baffle perforations.

They will be heavy, will have POI shift as they heat up on a gas gun, and you will need to replace your baffles often, then re-zero every time you service them.

People pay for performance, and there are a few great companies in the US that make suppressors that address a lot of the issues cans have faced for over a century.

Those cost more for many good reasons.

[mongoosesnipe]

another factor people do not consider when looking at the cost of suppressors is the labor tooling and machines required to produce a quality product, titanium is actually a very difficult metal to work with as it doe not conduct heat well so the part you are machining holds and extreme about of heat at the work surface which anneals and destroys tooling far faster than steel..... inconel which is a common baffle material particularly the blast baffle, makes titanium seem like butter

there are cheap suppressors on the US market though they are typically small operations and marketed as "hunting" suppressors they are not intended for any sort of rapid fire, additionally many 22 lr cans are reasonably priced as the nature of 22 lr does not require super tough materials

if you have the tools and knowledge you can make them yourself AFTER submitting form1 paperwork and paying your tax stamp and getting approval i know a few people who have went that route and a few more who have nice professionally manufactured suppressors generally speaking the form 1 cans are not as nice as the high end deals but often cost pennies on the dollar excluding the tax stamp

[37L1]

IMHO, suppressors should not cost more than a good rifle. But that is just me.

[Klem]

I have used both US and foreign suppressors and continue to do so on a regular basis. I agree with 55' on everything except the claim US suppressors are quieter. To be fair to reality that is simply not true.. My experience is that suppressors from other countries (Germany, UK, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand) are equally capable of sound reduction. How long they last for however is a case by case matter. My first experience was in the 80's with a Swedish suppressor on an CAR15. It blew off the end on full-auto. The blurb that came with it expressly said not to! But, it was quiet. So are the H&K suppressors and even the old UK WWII Welrod silencer, one of the quietest I have ever used. In Australia until banned Slazenger made the Gold Spot for .22LR. With its nine removable baffles in a narrow steel tube (for iron sights). There must a million floating around farms still. Hushpower in NZ make a 'Bunny Buster' integral barrel suppressor for the ubiquitous Rugger 10/22. Extremely quiet with sub-sonic ammo. DPT (NZ) make a sectional suppressor that is every bit as quiet as any US suppressor I have used.

I do however agree that US suppressors are on average built to last and are of excellent quality. At least the one's I've seen like Knights and TBAC - Very solid. In a place like New Zealand however weight reduction is more important to shooters because they are more consumable items being cheaper and with no tedious paperwork. When one wears out you simply buy another on the way home from work.

[mdram]

if you unregulated them, they will find a way to build them cheaper.
ingenuity is a great thing

[keystone183]

Why are new 3/4 ton trucks $$$$$?

[SDet]

Honestly, they're not bad. It's not hard at all to spend well over a grand on a rifle, then do the same on a scope. But a single suppressor can be used on 10 rifles. Factor the benefits and that they don't wear out? We've got it pretty good outside of the nfa wait.