Sound suppressors, commonly referred to as silencers, have a plethora of applications. From capitalizing on a hunt to providing freedom from ear muffs, these muzzle devices enhance any shooting experience by not only reducing noise but recoil, too. Sadly, unlike nearly any other muzzle device, owning one requires cutting through a bit of red tape, as they have been under heavy regulations since the National Firearms Act of 1934. The takeaway from that statement is the verbiage “regulate,” as it is entirely different from “prohibited.” Currently, you can (see what I did there?) own a suppressor in 42 states, and buying one is effortless through Silencer Central. You see, there's a whole story behind those facts.
Back in 2005 a frustrated varmint hunter by the name of Brandon Maddox needed a solution to better control the prairie dog situation on a farm he was helping manage. As a single shot often sends the rest running, a suppressor was just the ticket. Interested in the process, he quickly found himself applying for a Federal Firearms License and filing to become a Special Occupational Taxpayer to start dealing at local gun shows. Well, like most things in our community, one becomes two, which becomes 10, which eventually becomes 42, enabling the new company to help customers anywhere in the country where suppressors are legally allowed to be owned.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably just as confused as I was before I purchased my first can, which brings us to Silencer Central’s business model: Make the process as simple as possible. All you have to do is give them a call, and they’ll handle all of the paperwork. There is even an at-home fingerprinting kit they will mail you to save you the trouble of finding a location that still uses ink. Once approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the silencer is mailed directly to your door. Most impressive is that this service is 100% free and comes with every purchase. This is great news, as recent revamping to the ATF’s internal process has dropped average wait times down to less than a week, with 20% of submissions getting approved the very same day! If you’re in the area, you can walk straight into Silencer Central headquarters (located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), and do it all right in person as well. While you’re there, you can take advantage of some of their other services, too, like custom barrel threading, which is precisely what I did just a few days prior to this writing. 
Silencer Central wants as little as possible to come between you and enjoying suppressed gunfire; this includes mounting your can to your firearm. Many hunting rifles predate the recent suppressor boom and, therefore, don’t offer a threaded barrel, while some manufacturers leave this step out to ensure compliance with more states or just to offer a lower retail price. To that end, I had a Rossi Tuffy Survival rifle and a Bear Creek BC-201 to my name that were just begging for a can.
Selecting a candidate as a suppressor host can take as much or as little consideration as you wish to put into it. I chose these firearms because their shorter size allows for the additional length a suppressor adds, and both have readily available subsonic ammunition offerings. By firing ammunition that flies below approximately 1,100 feet per second (fps), I eliminate the other noisy component of shooting, which is the sonic boom when the bullet breaks the sound barrier. One of my favorite aspects of suppressor use is that it revitalizes older cartridges like the .45 Colt the Tuffy is chambered in, while adding enjoyment to staples like the .22LR that the BC-201 fires.
The secondary reason for my choices was to give the gunsmiths a chance to flex their muscles a bit. The Tuffy is built to be light, so it exhibits a thinner barrel than most. Complicating matters more, it's threaded on the inside to accept choke tubes to enhance its effectiveness when firing the .410 shotshells it can also handle. Additionally, it has an iron front sight that will need to be removed and set back via drilling and tapping the top of the barrel. The Bear Creek wasn’t quite as challenging, but it’s one of the thickest barrels on the market, which means it needs to be thinned before it can be threaded. This takes a little extra work and gives me an opportunity to get the point across that barrel girth is seldom a barrier.
Silencer Central uses a CNC lathe nearly exclusively for this work, as it cuts straighter, finer threads than manually operated machines. It’s also more adept at cutting barrels that the customer considers too long, or recrowning ones that have been damaged. Pristine threading is important, as a few degrees of cant can cause your bullets to make contact with the inside of your suppressor, causing damage and accuracy loss. This phenomenon is known as a baffle strike, and it could be the costly outcome of having the wrong person attempt to thread your barrel or undertake a DIY project in the name of fun.
While we waited, we were able to sit in on the company’s daily meeting, where all 180 employees gathered to discuss submission and approval ratings, as well as customer support activity. Interestingly enough, since Silencer Central started threading customer’s barrels, requests for replacement parts and rebuilds have dropped significantly, which tells me everything I need to know about the effort they put into that process.
After a quick tour and a little Q&A, both guns were ready for a test fire, and we were invited to try the entire product line at a nearby range. Here, I had the chance to attach a Banish 46 to the Tuffy and a Banish 22 to the BC-201. Both were exceptionally quiet and balanced, especially the Bear Creek, as the paltry 4.1 ounces the Banish 22 added were hidden by its heavy barrel. The Banish 46 is easily Silencer Central’s most versatile can, as it can handle most cartridges that are smaller than .46 caliber. Adapting it to this wide array of firearms is possible through the use of the industry-standard hub configuration. Essentially, by threading the inside of the tube in 1.375×24 TPI, you can interchange the silencer’s breach cap to adapt it to whatever thread pitch your firearm wears.
As we wrapped things up at the range, I was happy to add my two rifles to the 5,000 a year that Silencer Central preps for suppression. Before parting ways, we had a chance for a little more give-and-take and discussion of the mail-in procedure to have a firearm threaded, as a trip to South Dakota isn’t always easy to fit into my schedule.
This process is known as 360 Shipping, and just like buying a suppressor, Silencer Central makes that pain-free as well. After a few clicks, a gun case with a return label will be on its way, and all you have to do is strip your gun down to just its barreled action and mail it back. Stepping off the range, I was deeply impressed with the quality of Silencer Central's suppressors, which is important when you are making that kind of investment. However, without the work of its dedicated technicians and customer support team, we would never have reached the point of mounting one. Therefore, it’s safe to say that the company's best product is its process.
To get the ball rolling for one of your own, visit silencercentral.com!
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