The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Legal and technical requirements for DIY silencer?

RAnb · October 15, 2010, 07:02 PM

Never supply more than is absolutely required on the ATF form 1. You are not required to supply an overall length, plans or a drawing. It limits you too much. My finished product rarely looks like what I drew up when I submitted the ATF form 1. I am always changing my mind about things.

I have heard of some people getting their ATF form 1 sent back because they did not fill in an overall length. You can minimize this by not leaving anything blank. Fill in N/A for the overall length.

A form 1 silencer is never a prototype, so plans are not required.

I have never seen any book that had good silencer plans. The ones that sell on Amazon that have plans for silencers that require only hand tools suck in my opinion. They typically are too long and too wide, block the sights and will potentially cause baffles strikes which ruin accuracy at best or destroy the silencer at worst.

Al Paulson's books Silencer History and Performance are very good reference material, but they do not contain modern silencer plans or drawings.

A good silencer has near perfect alignment to the bore. This requires a lathe to thread the barrel and make the end caps and baffles. It is very easy to do on a lathe with little or no training, but very difficult to do with hand tools. I only saw one good example of a decent silencer made with hand tools on SilencerTalk.com and I will not try to replicate his project.

The drawings and photos I put up work very well. They are not as good as what the pros can do, but you may need a proper noise meter (with <20micro second rise time >$3500) to tell the difference. What I am not able to do (yet) is make good monocores, welded baffle stacks (stronger for the weight) and excellent finishes. Some conical baffles are precisely machined in an asymmetrical pattern to make the gases more turbulent. These are proprietary designs that can only be revealed by buying one and cutting it apart. Silencer design has progressed a lot in the last thirty years and people are not always willing to share their ideas.

I share mine as part of my dream to promote silencer use and change the WA law banning their use. I am years behind the professionals anyway. But I am having fun.

Ranb

October 15, 2010, 07:02 PM	#9
RAnb Junior member Join Date: July 20, 2008 Location: WA, USA Posts: 447	Never supply more than is absolutely required on the ATF form 1. You are not required to supply an overall length, plans or a drawing. It limits you too much. My finished product rarely looks like what I drew up when I submitted the ATF form 1. I am always changing my mind about things. I have heard of some people getting their ATF form 1 sent back because they did not fill in an overall length. You can minimize this by not leaving anything blank. Fill in N/A for the overall length. A form 1 silencer is never a prototype, so plans are not required. I have never seen any book that had good silencer plans. The ones that sell on Amazon that have plans for silencers that require only hand tools suck in my opinion. They typically are too long and too wide, block the sights and will potentially cause baffles strikes which ruin accuracy at best or destroy the silencer at worst. Al Paulson's books Silencer History and Performance are very good reference material, but they do not contain modern silencer plans or drawings. A good silencer has near perfect alignment to the bore. This requires a lathe to thread the barrel and make the end caps and baffles. It is very easy to do on a lathe with little or no training, but very difficult to do with hand tools. I only saw one good example of a decent silencer made with hand tools on SilencerTalk.com and I will not try to replicate his project. The drawings and photos I put up work very well. They are not as good as what the pros can do, but you may need a proper noise meter (with <20micro second rise time >$3500) to tell the difference. What I am not able to do (yet) is make good monocores, welded baffle stacks (stronger for the weight) and excellent finishes. Some conical baffles are precisely machined in an asymmetrical pattern to make the gases more turbulent. These are proprietary designs that can only be revealed by buying one and cutting it apart. Silencer design has progressed a lot in the last thirty years and people are not always willing to share their ideas. I share mine as part of my dream to promote silencer use and change the WA law banning their use. I am years behind the professionals anyway. But I am having fun. Ranb Last edited by RAnb; October 15, 2010 at 07:30 PM.