Theodore Roosevelt lived big. He was an enthusiastic outdoorsman and hunter, among many other things, and had an extensive firearms collection. He was particularly fond of lever-action Winchester rifles, owning at least 20 different examples. He also had Springfield Armory build him a custom Model 1903 when he was President of the United States. So, it’s no surprise that Roosevelt was intensely interested in the then-new Maxim Silencer, with which he equipped three of his rifles.
Hiram Percy Maxim’s Silencer
First, I know the proper term these days is “suppressor,” but Maxim himself called his product the “Silencer,” so we’re going with that for this article. Hiram Percy Maxim was the son of Sir Hiram Maxim, who invented the Maxim machine gun.
Maxim the Younger began working on internal combustion engines but soon turned to suppressing noise, partially because he didn’t like how loud automobile engines were. His work led to the first commercially viable firearm suppressor in 1902. He patented the design in 1909. Maxim spent the rest of his career improving the “Maxim Silencer” and applying similar technology to car mufflers.
Unlike modern baffled suppressors, the Maxim Silencer forced the gases into a series of curved vanes, spinning the gases in small vortices until they cooled. Cutting edge at the time, this design is now obsolete because it’s expensive and produces more heat than the baffled designs. But for 1909, it was world-class stuff.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Safari
Roosevelt’s 1909-1911 safari is legendary. The former president and his son, Kermit, accompanied several others on a hunt led by the noted hunter-tracker, R.J. Cunninghame. The trip was funded by Andrew Carnegie and sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution to collect specimens for the Smithsonian’s new natural history museum.
Roosevelt brought along his custom 1903 Springfield, chambered in the original .30-03 cartridge, and a mammoth Winchester Model 1895 in .405 Winchester. Both rifles sported Maxim Silencers. They got plenty of work.
The expedition killed or trapped over 11,000 animals. Teddy and Kermit’s big game kills seem a bit unclear, with numbers varying wildly. Let’s just say that the Roosevelts took care of business, harvesting multiple lions, leopards, cheetahs, cape buffalo, rhinos, elephants, zebras, and hippos, among many others. Much of the game went to feed the expedition and its multitude of guides and porters. Roosevelt chronicled his adventure in the book, African Game Trails.
Roosevelt’s Suppressed Rifles
As we’ve seen, Roosevelt hunted the biggest game with his Winchester Model 1895 rifle chambered in .405 Winchester. The 1895 was a John Browning design unusual for its fixed box magazine, as opposed to the common tube magazines on other lever action rifles. The box magazine allowed the Winchester ’95 to shoot the sharper-tipped Spitzer rounds, providing greater velocity and range. Teddy called the Winchester ’95 his “Big Medicine.” Indeed.
Maxim probably custom-built the .405-caliber Silencer since the company’s catalog does not list that caliber. Such things weren’t unusual for Roosevelt. He routinely ordered firearms and gear tailored to his specifications. He could afford it.
Likewise, he ordered his 1903 Springfield straight from Springfield Armory’s commander. He wanted a shortened, Monte Carlo stock (what we would call “sporterized”) and sights that were identical to his Winchesters’ buckhorns. In fact, he sent one of his Winchesters to Springfield so they could match them exactly. As noted, the rifle was chambered in .30-03 Springfield, from which the more powerful .30-06 was derived. Army sharpshooters tested the rifle before shipping it to the President. In case you’re wondering, Roosevelt did pay for this rifle. It cost $42. That’s over $1,200 in today’s money. This was the other rifle he took to Africa.
Teddy’s third suppressed rifle was his “Little 30,” a Winchester Model 1894 Takedown chambered in .30-30 Winchester. Always preferring large calibers, Roosevelt was skeptical of this rifle until he took an antelope on a Western hunt at 220 yards. He then pronounced the gun “Aces,” and it remained one of his favorite firearms for the rest of his life.
It seems that Roosevelt added Little 30’s Maxim Silencer as a courtesy to his Long Island, New York neighbors. Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s estate, bordered other high rollers’ residences, like the DuPonts. But the former president wanted, and needed, to keep critters under control on his property. Little 30 was his weapon of choice. Now, a .30-30 seems a bit extreme for handling raccoons, opossums, and the like, but this was Teddy Roosevelt. He never did anything small. So, he had the rifle’s barrel threaded and attached a Maxim Silencer. He reportedly patrolled his property for hours at a time, no doubt enjoying himself very much.
All three of these rifles are part of the collection at Sagamore Hill, now a museum. They are sometimes loaned out to other museums, such as the NRA’s National Firearms Museum in Virginia.
Teddy Roosevelt and Silencers
Roosevelt clearly understood the benefits of suppressed firearms. He was an avid and active shooter, hunter, and general outdoorsman. He understood that shooting damages hearing and that suppressors can mitigate that damage. He also clearly grasped the benefits reaped by others who may be nearby.
That the United States regulates suppressors so harshly is ridiculous. Lawmakers in 1933-1934 had no real understanding of the benefits of suppressors, falling victim to sensational images they saw in the movies. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Americans still think of suppressors as “assassins’ tools,” or some other nonsense associated with criminality. The usual argument against deregulating suppressors is that active shooters would gain an advantage because potential victims couldn’t hear them coming. Again, the people making those arguments know nothing about how suppressors really work and how they really sound.
Ironically, Europeans, where strict gun control is the norm, can buy suppressors right off the shelf. No bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Just pay for it and walk out. They understand how suppressors benefit the public and not just shooters. I rarely want to emulate modern-day Europe, but that’s one thing they do right.
But the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) seems further away than ever. I am encouraged by what appear to be brewing challenges to the NFA, but those are still in early development, and none have been filed as of this writing. On the other hand, I’ve heard from some industry sources that suppressor companies, at least some of them, don’t really want the HPA anymore. I’m told that they don’t want to lower their prices, but it seems to me that increased demand would balance things out. Volume works, after all. I have not confirmed that, but it’s what I’ve heard. I’ve also heard that removing suppressors from the NFA would cost jobs that facilitate moving suppressors from manufacturers to customers, making the industry reluctant to push that endeavor. Make of that what you will.
I wonder what would have happened had Teddy been president when the NFA came down, instead of his younger cousin, Franklin? Hard to say. But I suspect he would have asked some pointed, and informed, questions that were not asked at the time. One thing’s for sure, they don’t make presidents like Teddy anymore. Too bad for us.
