Hollywood makes suppressors seem sinister and the popular for the villainous intent.  Growing up, I never thought about using a suppressor for hunting.  I would use ear plugs when zeroing and checking my rifles yearly but when in the field I’d shoot without any hearing protection.  Whether it was the adrenaline or something else, I never thought about the sound of the shot and my ears didn’t hurt after until three years ago. 

My dad and I were hunting some family land and had several good bucks coming in daylight consistently on a field edge just in time for muzzleloader season.  My dad only being interested in one of the bucks said any of the other bucks were fair game, so we sat together.  We sat on the ground and little sooner than normal (within an hour and half), my dad’s buck came in and we had a perfect consistent wind.  He lined up the shot and the buck feel in his tracks.  We quickly ran out to the buck and dragged him into the shade. 

About an hour later, dad whispers, “right”.  I look to my right and see a dark rack coming slowly over the hill.  With my heart thumping with intent, the buck came into view and squeezed the trigger on the ole smoke pole!  The buck took off toward a thicket and my dad decided to try a follow up shot for added security and shot his muzzleloader with a muzzle break on my left side not much forward from me.  With the boom came an unfamiliar silence with a high pitch consistent ringing.  I couldn’t hear anything from my left ear.  It took over an hour for me to be able to hear anything out of the ear and for over a month any bass arrived with an irritating static. 

Ever since that unfortunate occurrence, I have been beyond careful to protect my hearing.  Every time I’d go hunting, it just wasn’t the same.  I didn’t feel one with nature like before having to have earmuffs or hearing protection.  I would have to choose between wearing the earmuffs with the sound amplification turned on or know that I would have to give myself time to put them on before a shot opportunity wasting precious seconds and adding additional movement to my shot prep. 

Suppressors have become a game changer and giving me back my feeling of being one with nature.  I recently recorded a podcast with Brandon Maxwell from Diligent Defense Co Suppressors and am going to share some of the benefits of suppressors and why everyone should consider one. 

Benefits of Suppressors:

• They reduce felt recoil. 
• They remove the need for hearing protection in the field. (we suggest still using hearing protection on the range). 
• They improve the experience in the field by keeping you more aware of what’s going on around you. 
• They can improve accuracy by removing flinching from the anticipation of a loud sound and the reduction in recoil. 
• They help with communication for first time and young hunters that benefit from instructions in the moment. 

General Info:

• Not all muzzle threads are the same.  You will need to look up the direct thread size of your gun. 
• The suppressor boar size matters. Most people start with a 30 cal suppressor fitting .300 and smaller caliber guns. 
• Suppressors can be used and moved from one gun to another with the same thread size or with available adapters. 

The Process of Buying a Suppressor:

1. Purchase your suppressor from the manufacturer or shop. 
2. Get the suppressor shipped to your preferred Class 3 FFL (not every FFL can receive suppressors). 
3. Once the suppressor arrives at your FFL it is time to start the process with the ATF. 
4. The most popular service people use to get their tax stamp for a suppressor is using Silencer Shop kiosks. You need to create an account on Silencer Shop’s website and buy a tax stamp for $200. 
5. You will receive emails from Silencer Shop after completing step 4 with each step you need to do.  The next step is going to one of their kiosks to do get digital finger prints done and provide some additional information. 
6. After that process is finished, you have to go to your FFL with your id and they have something on their account with Silencer Shop that doesn’t take long.  After this process, your waiting period begins. 
7. 2024 has proven to be a golden time for short wait times.  Historically, the waiting process has taken several months, my waiting period was under 24 hrs for my suppressor.