Thanks to tireless efforts of the NRA, the American Suppressor Association and several companies like SilencerCo and GEMTECH, silencers—perhaps more accurately described as suppressors—are legal for hunting in 37 states. Here’s why you should pay the $200 (plus the cost of the silencer) and start the process to purchase one now.
5. You'll spook less game.
Have you ever been hog hunting and saw three hogs, but only got one because the other two hogs ran off when you fired? With a suppressor there’s a greater chance you can knock all three of them down. If you want the ultimate in spook-less shooting, use sub-sonic ammo. If deer are more your bag, being able to shoot does for management without making the bucks go as nocturnal as vampire bats is worth the $200, albeit ridiculous, tax stamp to me.
4. They can save your ears.
It’s like a muffler for your gun; hearing protection that you make your rifle wear at all times so you can forget yours. After all, if I lose my hearing now due to repeated gunfire, I won’t be able to hear them announce my winning numbers at the bingo hall later on in life. Silencer owners are winners. Remember that.
3. Happy neighbors make happy hunters.
Most of us just want to live and hunt in peace. If we never see a Bambi-hugging neighbor who rushes to the sound of our gunshots and attempts CPR on our dying venison, we’d be peachy. Reality is, most land owners and Americans aren’t anti-gun, they’re just anti-getting-rocked-off-the-rocking-chair-while-they-watch-Tom-Selleck-do-his-thing-in-Blue Bloods. Perhaps you can’t help it that your hard-earned five acres in the country butts up to Mrs. Wallace’s living room window, but if you choose to, you can help limit th noise produced from your 7mm shoulder cannon. It’s called a silencer. Check them out on the Internet.
2. Less recoil means better accuracy.
There is absolutely no way that I am effected by a little recoil from a measly .30-06. I’ve been shooting all my life, and in fact, I relish a little love push from a cherished bullet pusher. Curiously, however, I shoot better with a .22 Win Mag. Isn’t that weird? Most all humans perform better when they don’t expect to get hammered in the face and shoulder by recoil. A silencer is like a muzzle break that mitigates recoil, but it also lessens the sound rather than exccacerbating the boom. Just think, if only someone marketed a silencer for your son’s car stereo system—what a world it would be.
1. It makes you a team player.
Because if you buy one, more people will buy them, and if more people buy them, more people will benefit from No. 2-5. In 1934 the $200 tax stamp was like $3,400 in today’s money, and so because so few people bought silencers, over time many Americans assumed they were illegal. And with so few being sold, only a few companies were motivated enough to produce them. With little competition, silencers were expensive. But now that American hunters know they are legal and more states are legalizing them, more companies have sprung up, and good, old-fashioned competition has taken hold. Now silencers are finally coming down in price. As a bonus you’ll save your ears, spook less game, your neighbors will love you, you’ll shoot better and all your friends will want to be more like you. And that’s a good thing, I think.
