Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumGuns And Money: The Silencer Industry Seeks To Break Down Barriers
Sometimes players in an industry have to take on the role of evangelists in order to open up crowds of new customers. The suppressor market an accessory category within the firearms industry is one space thats seen growth as people tune in to the benefits of making rifles, shotguns and pistols less noisy.
Also known as silencers, suppressors have been around since the early 1900s. Traditionally they are cylindrical devices filled with layers of metal baffles, or dividers, which slow the gases that escape a gun barrel when a bullet is fired and muffle the sound. Are they as quiet as often depicted in popular action films? No, but they do reduce the volume of a pistol, rifle or shotgun blast enough to protect the hearing of hunters and shooting enthusiasts, which may explain why suppressors have seen a surge recently despite critics arguments that quieter gunfire would benefit the criminal element.
Though its hard to find exact figures, Americans probably bought between 100,000 and 200,000 suppressors last year, according to industry insider estimates. In 2014 the number of such products registered by civilians with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms surpassed 571,000thats a 58% increase since 2012. Last year the number of people waiting to have their suppressor permits approved surpassed 80,000.
Liberty Suppressors a small manufacturer based in Trenton, Georgia has noticed the increase in interest. Founded in 2004 by husband-wife team David and Teresa Saylors, the 16-person company has enjoyed an average 2X growth every year of operation and David Saylors says the push to educate gun owners, coupled with the ease of research the internet provides, will continue to spur the market, which he says is vast and largely untapped given the number of gun owners in the country compared with the number of suppressors in circulation. Its immediately appealing to a person who fires firearms routinely at a practice range, says Saylors. Once they shoot a suppressed firearm, its so much more pleasant they dont want to go back to unsuppressed guns.
Suppressors are legal, in fact required for hunting, in most of Europe.
More at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2015/03/29/guns-and-money-the-silencer-industry-seeks-to-break-down-barriers/
rickford66
(5,523 posts)I'm not a gun owner and not opposed to responsible people owning guns. But, I thought some of the attraction was the sound. Just as we car enthusiasts like the rumble of a V8.
shedevil69taz
(512 posts)has never been anything other than an unfortunate side effect...and is also why I wear double layerd ear protection when at my local civilian shooting range...can only wear one layer when shooting my military weapons though...because of the required headgear...and we are supposed to do everything in training the same as we would in war...
benEzra
(12,148 posts)is like a car with no exhaust system at all, just open headers.
Firearms sound suppressors are all straight-through designs, like glass packs, so suppressed centerfires are still fairly loud, just not ear-damaging loud. I'm thinking 25 or 30dB reduction would be typical, so a 155dB centerfire might come down to 125-130dB.
aikoaiko
(34,165 posts)shedevil69taz
(512 posts)Sound suppressors have the unfortunate side effect of altering the ballistics of whatever weapon they are attached to.
aikoaiko
(34,165 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Favorite sound.)
The only thing appealing about a gun's report is when it's a deer rifle, 1/2+ mile away, bouncing through the Texas Hill Country. That is strangely calming and galvanizing on a hunt.
Silencers are too damned expensive! That needs to change.
derby378
(30,252 posts)Hearing loss is a public health issue. I can wear ear plugs at the range, but when hiking through the woods, it's not always practical.