Work was not fun this week.  Yeah, yeah, I can already hear you saying that it wouldn’t be called work if it were fun, but it still wasn’t.  Putting in about 35 hours of overtime last month and another extra 8 hours last Saturday has gotten me rather farther along the path to burnout than I really prefer to be.  I need this weekend

Thankfully, I’ve got the great guys at Infinite Arms / New Frontier Armory to go hang out with when I need to decompress

Being a licensed manufacturer, Infinite Arms can make brand new machine guns like this PPSh-41.  Not all of the parts are new, but the registered portion – the receiver – is a brand new part.  This type of submachine gun was developed in 1941 in the Soviet Union and was widely used in WWII.  It’s definitely not light and because of this and the 7.62 x 25mm pistol caliber it’s chambered in, it’s said to be very controllable in full-auto fire.  What’s really cool is that if all goes as planned I’ll have the chance to try out this very gun on 3 July 2010   I might not be allowed to own this gun, but thanks to Infinite Arms, I have the opportunity to get acquainted with a very cool piece of history

Most people think that silencers (or suppressors – the BATFE uses both terms) are illegal.  That’s just not true for most places in the United States.  As a matter of fact, private ownership of suppressors is legal in AL, AR, AK, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, and WY.

You can’t just go down to the local gun store or hardware store, drop money on the counter, and walk out with your new equipment but it’s not all that difficult either.  You just fill out the forms, get ‘em signed by the Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) in your area, get fingerprinted, photographed, and send the whole packet into the BATFE along with a check, money order, or credit card number to pay the $200 tax on the transfer of ownership.  The feds run a background check which is pretty much the same as  the one for any firearm purchase from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) wh0 deals in firearms, affix a tax stamp to the paperwork, and send it back to your Class III FFL and you can take it home.

There are quite a few misconceptions about owning items regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (AKA the NFA).  They think the feds can come into your home at any time, that you have to keep a record of how many rounds you fire, that they can only be used at approved ranges, and all sorts of other notions.  None of that is true.  It doesn’t matter if you own an NFA controlled item – the feds (and any other law enforcement agency) still need a warrant.  You can use your machine gun, silencer, short barreled rifle, short barreled shotgun or Any Other Weapon (AOW – generally disguised guns or smooth bore pistols) anywhere it’s legal to shoot.  The only real restriction is on interstate transportation of the NFA controlled items and even then it’s easy to do.  You just have to get permission from the BATFE by faxing in a form.

The silencer you see in this post is a Silencerco Sparrow which is made to be used on rimfire guns like .22 and .17 caliber.  It’s full-auto rated in case you own a registered machine gun in one of those calibers.

I’ve been planning on purchasing a suppressor for quite some time now.  After shooting some of them, I’ve been hooked   I hate hearing protection (plugs muffle everything and muffs get all sweaty and muffle or distort sound) and these make all those problems disappear.  Eventually I want to get a .45 1911 with a suppressor along with a silencer for my PSL, but that would be prohibitively expensive.  The .45, threaded barrel, and suppressor would be $2,000 if I keep the pistol cheap

There are many reasons to own a suppressor.  They make shooting much more pleasant not only from the standpoint of noise, but also by reducing felt recoil.  .22 rounds may not be all that noisy from a rifle, but they’re FREAKING LOUD when it comes to pistols.  Rimfire suppressors aren’t all that expensive and with muzzle mounted units like the Sparrow I can use the same can on both my 10/22 and a pistol to be purchased later.  I’ve shot some of these cans that are so quiet that the loudest thing you hear is the hammer hitting the firing pin

The downside of rimfire suppressors is that rimfire ammo is dirty in a couple of ways.  First you have the carbon and debris from the burning powder which can accumulate on the internal parts.  The other thing you have is a spray of molten lead coming out of the barrel of the gun because rimfire bullets aren’t copper jacketed like most centerfire is.  This mist of liquid lead particles cools and hardens on the internal parts of the silencer.  The combined accumulation of carbon and lead causes suppressors to become heavier and due to decreased internal volume they also become louder.  Sealed suppressors have to be shipped back to the manufacturer for cleaning which takes paperwork from the BATFE, time, and money (usually about $120) about every 1,000 rounds.  I don’t know about you, but that’s like an afternoon of shooting to me.

There are quite a few “user serviceable” cans out there for centerfire and rimfire these days.  The problem is that they all have the baffles in contact with the outer tube as well as threads for attaching the end caps on that tube to attach the end caps.  You have to unscrew the end caps and then pull the core out against the accumulated lead and carbon to clean it all.  If you damage the registered part (the one with the serial number – usually that tube), you’re on the hook for another $200 transfer tax payment to the BATFE no matter if the new one is free or not.

Silencerco went a different route.  As you can see in the picture above, the half shells go over the one piece (monolithic) baffle stack which is then slid into the outer tube before the end cap is screwed onto the baffle stack.  There are no threads on that serial numbered part (you can’t damage it with cross threading) and it’s never touched by the flame, carbon, or lead from the ammunition as it’s fired so it’s very unlikely to be damaged.  Adding to the ease of servicing, the half shells can be pried away laterally from the baffles so you don’t have to try to drag the stack out against the crud and the threads never come in contact with any nasty stuff either.  Because that serial numbered part is the only thing that has paperwork hassles associated with it, replacing a damaged end cap or baffle stack is as easy as shipping anything else.

I’ll say right up front that the Silencerco Sparrow is not the least expensive rimfire suppressor on the market.  I’ve seen new rimfire suppressors from other manufacturers which cost as little as $175 while the MSRP on the Sparrow is around $450.  I was quoted $375 for this Sparrow yesterday at Infinite Arms which is of course subject to change   Normally I try to stay as inexpensive as possible, but this is one time where spending extra money is worth it.  With a $200 transfer tax that has to be paid every time ownership changes, nobody sells their used silencers.  Why would you when you’re talking about something that’s this inexpensive with that much tax on it?  The way the design of the Sparrow minimizes the chance of damage to the registered part while enhancing the end user serviceability is enough for me to allocate the extra funding for this model

I’ve talked about the baffle stack and I thought I’d give you a better look at that part of this unit.  By allowing the propellant gas from the gunshot to expand and cool in a controlled manner while slowing its exit, the silencer keeps the noise down.  It’s a lot like the muffler on your car.  Mufflers usually have baffles which work in a similar manner – they slow and control the exhaust pulses from your engine.

The bullet passes from left to right in the pictures above.  As it passes through the hole in the center it allows the gas to enter the next chamber.  You can see that they’ve done some research and development on the cross sectional shape.  Instead of a slant baffle, they’ve gone with this shape to decrease the possibility of bullets tumbling and causing baffle strikes.  It also helps to keep the shift in point of impact vs. point of aim to a minimum.  This can be a big problem with some silencers – you put your suppressor on the gun and the bullet hits in a different place relative to where you were aiming.  That’s not good

This stainless steel thread insert at the base of the suppressor is where the silencer meets the gun barrel.  The rest of the unit is aluminum to keep weight down to an incredible 4.7 ounces.  That’s important to keep your gun comfortable and balanced in your hand, but steel is ideal for the required strength at the interface point.

The other thing to notice are the scallops machined into the end cap.  Those are there so you can use a special tool to help take the unit apart.  Most other suppressors need a specialized tool to be able to take them apart, but it’s really optional on the Sparrow due to its design.  They say they sell very few of them.

OK, I just had to do a close up shot of the logo and markings.  Even though it’s still in the store’s inventory and I’ve been told not to worry about showing a serial number, I fuzzed it in the picture for the privacy of whoever buys this one in the end.

That’s all I’ve got for this post.  Here’s hopin’ y’all weren’t too bored and maybe that you learned something from all my ramblings   You’d can bet I’ll have a post up sometime in the next year or so when I get one of these for my own personal use

I also have to say thanks again to Infinite Arms for giving me the chance to see, handle, and photograph all this cool gear

Have a great weekend everyone