Suppressors are fantastic tools for hearing protection. They also reduce your audible footprint where you hunt and shoot, making things quieter for neighbors, and more. You might be surprised to know there’s a whole back history to suppressors and that they used to be available without wading through red tape and tax stamps. Suppressor history spans more than a century, and counting. Here’s a look at that history and how it relates to modern suppressor use and sales.
Who invented suppressors?
Suppressors got their start thanks to inventor Hiram Percy Maxim.
Interestingly, Maxim was the son of inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim, who is well known for the creation of the Maxim gun, a machine gun. So while the elder Maxim was the father of machine guns, the younger was the one known for quieting them down.
The first commercially available suppressors hit the market in 1902 thanks to Hiram Percy Maxim and gained popularity with relative speed. Maxim didn’t form the Maxim Silencer Company officially until 1908, and those early suppressors were sold in hardware stores (which is actually pretty logical).
What was the first suppressor?
The first suppressor to be a commercial success was, of course, the Maxim Silencer. Yes, suppressors were originally referred to as silencers. The technology behind the Maxim Silencer was similar to that of modern suppressors, but not identical. Rather than stacked baffles in a hollow tube, the Maxim Silencer featured solid, curved vanes for redirecting gases, which had the unfortunate downside of getting really hot, really fast. It was also made specifically for fixed-barrel rifles for a few reasons including the fact that handguns of that era didn’t cycle well when suppressed.
Are suppressors legal?
Suppressors have been legal right from the start, but now they’re regulated as part of the NFA (National Firearms Act). That means you can buy them, but they’re significantly expensive, and you have to fill out paperwork and pay what is currently a $200 tax stamp fee to get one. You also can’t bring them home the same day you buy them. There’s an entire waiting period while your suppressor is jailed and you wait to see if the ATF will approve your request to own it. If your paperwork is denied, for whatever reason, you have to restart the entire process.
For those interested in a bit more detail on the NFA, the National Firearms Act, 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236 was enacted on June 26, 1934. At the time it was framed as a legal action taken to address mob violence. That means it’s been almost a century since suppressors and other items have been regulated with extra fees applied to being allowed to own them.
Why were suppressors invented?
Originally, the silencer was invented as a means to have a quieter hunting experience. Those early silencers were also commonly used for target practice with advertisements often making it look like shooting in your living room or backyard was commonplace (and maybe it was, who knows).
Of course, using a silencer didn’t just make hunting and target shooting more pleasant, it had and has the additional effect of protecting not only the user’s hearing but the hearing of everyone around them. So while silencers got their start as a sound suppression tool for hunters, the fact that they provided other benefits such as hearing protection eventually became the driving force behind their use.
Considering the modern advances in technology and sound measurement, it’s not really surprising that the full impact and importance of using a suppressor didn’t get fully realized for some time after their invention.
Are they silencers or suppressors?
The answer to why silencers evolved into being called suppressors tends to depend a bit on who you ask. Technically the title silencer isn’t entirely accurate, because they don’t actually silence anything. Silencers/suppressors just quiet things down a bit with the effective noise reduction level varying by product and caliber. It’s more accurate to call them suppressors, and it’s also wise from a political standpoint.
Referring to the device as a suppressor rather than a silencer sends a clear message that it simply quiets shots down rather than making them totally inaudible. After all, Hollywood has done a lot to make suppressors look like devices that assassins use because they are capable of making gunshots absolutely impossible to hear. Of course, that’s not how suppressors really work. But silencer was the OG word for them and it’s still used here and there. It’s not inaccurate to call them silencers versus suppressors; both terms are correct, one is just more politically friendly than the other (and a little more accurate as far as its descriptive nature).
Are silencers useful?
There are myriad reasons to use suppressors, including:
- Hearing protection for the user.
- Hearing protection for anyone around the user.
- A far less audible footprint on the area where live fire is happening.
- Quieter shooting makes you a better neighbor.
- Suppressed shots don’t scare game away from an area like unsuppressed shots do.
- You can carry on a conversation and hear what’s going on around you more easily.
- Using suppressors makes it a lot easier to teach new shooters. They can hear the instructor, and the instructor can hear them.
Although the wait time to get a suppressor is currently around nine months or longer, it’s worth the wait to get one. You can purchase a multi-caliber suppressor to use on multiple guns or buy dedicated caliber models for specific guns. You can use them on rifles, handguns, and shotguns. And using suppressors isn’t just limited to hunters and target shooters, either. It might come as a surprise, but there are benefits to using a suppressor on your home defense gun. Think about it: if you’re forced to use your firearm to defend your life, an unsuppressed shot or shots is going to cause major hearing issues right off. Isn’t it better to use a suppressor so those shots remain quieter, allowing you to hear what’s going on around you and to communicate with your loved ones and, eventually, law enforcement?
If you don’t have a suppressor, consider getting one. There are more reasons to have one than to not have one. After all, you can’t really put a price on your hearing (or the hearing of those around you, for that matter).
