Friday Night Gun Porn: The Sound of Silencer Shop

Silencers have come a long way in America since their regulation under the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. They are almost a mainstream shooting accessory in many areas now, including numerous places where once they were illegal. Several key players in this niche market worked feverishly to bring about these changes. One of those was an NFA dealer known as Silencer Shop.

The company was founded by Dave Matheny in Austin, Texas, in 2010. He started the company after first making two unsuccessful attempts to purchase a silencer on his own. His goal was to develop a distribution network and a methodology that simplified the process of buying a silencer for consumers. Matheny accomplished this by instituting the Silencer Ownership Simplified (SOS) program.

“We offer people the simplest buying experience for suppressors; period,” says Matheny. “We know how daunting and time consuming the obstacles can be, so we’ve streamlined the process of acquiring a suppressor.”

The Silencer Ownership Simplified program allows customers from states where silencer ownership is legal to purchase directly from Silencer Shop without needing to coordinate with a transfer dealer.

“Once the transfer is complete, you simply pick up the suppressor up from your local FFL/SOT license holder,” Matheny said. “We take care of all the paperwork for you, and even find the FFL closest to your home.”

Silencer Shop stocks the newest, state-of-the-art silencers from all the major manufacturers like AAC, Gemtech, Silencerco, Griffin Armament, SIG Silencers and Thompson Machine. They run the gamut from rim fire through pistol to shotgun and rifle suppressors.

Let's look at some of what they offer:

AAC

If you are looking for a deal on a closed out or discontinued silencer, Silencer Shop often very reasonable prices. For instance, I could have saved about half what I paid when I picked up this AAC Evo-45 a few years back.

Though I was given a good retail price on it, in hindsight I'm sure Silencer Shop would have beaten it. This can has paid for itself in the meantime and was profiled in RECOIL's one shot issue ZEROED, which was dedicated to all things FNH. It ran smoothly on an FNX-45 Tactical. Photos courtesy of Shin Tanaka.

The AAC Illusion is an interesting piece; it is an eccentrically mounted silencer that allows use of the pistol’s existing sights. Concentric sights usually block the pistol’s sights unless you run a taller set like in the FNX-45 pics above or you need to learn to “shoot through the can” when obtaining a sight picture. I will offer a more in depth review on the Illusion in the future.

The Element 2 is one of the quietest rimfire cans on the market and features a titanium tube and mount. The baffles are stainless steel.

My  personal favorite pistol can is the Ti-Rant 45. This model is being retired in favor of the new and improved 45M and can run on pistols chambered in 45 ACP, 9mm or 40 S&W by changing the piston.

GEMTECH

This Idaho-based company has been in the silencer game longer than most and they are never one to hesitate when it comes to innovation. They made use of the mono core concept on a few new models this year. This is when the older style “baffle stack” is replaced by a single solid state unit that can easily be removed for cleaning without worrying about misaligning the baffles.

They do not rest on their laurels with what is under the hood. The outside gets the full treatment on occasion as well. Kryptek Multicam in Cerakote, anyone?

SilencerCo

I have not had much personal experience with Silencerco, but that will change soon. This Utah-based company is helping to radically change the way people view and use silencers. The Spectre looks promising for a future FN P90 SBR project.

Most “gun guys” guffawed when they saw the makeshift shotgun silencer in No Country for Old Men. In fact, these cans have been available for a while and SilencerCo’s Salvo looks very cool with it’s modern construction and choke tube style attachment. Stay tuned!

SIG SAUER

A major announcement earlier this year was SIG SAUER's entry into the quiet side of shooting. We hope Silencer Shop will offer them as they become available.  The pics and videos look good to go so far.

Above you see John Hollister shooting a Sig MPX in 9mm with Sig's SRD9-MPX Silencer. He's running it wet, hence the steam. This short can looks very promising.

For hard to find cans that your local shop may not have access to, Silencer Shop often has multiples in stock. Silencers from Griffin Armament and Knight's Armament can most always be found here.

More than silencers

Silencer Shop offers just about every silencer accessory you can think of to help you effectively suppress your firearm. From various proprietary muzzle brakes and mounts to pistons, threaded barrels and thread adapters. They occasionally offer complete firearms coupled with a silencer in an exclusive package.

The bottom line with Silencer Shop is that their unique business model for the NFA world has done a lot to get silencers into the hands of the average shooter and they show no signs of slowing down now.

With silencers now fully legal in 41 states, the next challenge is working on that last 9!

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