SHHHHHHH...Paintgun Silencers

[T-Bird]

Any one ever build one? If so, post some of your projects and any problems you ran into.

Has anyone ever built one simliar to the one that o'l Bill Mills of WARPIG try to get passed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms a while back. Check it out:

http://www.corin.com/bill/paintball/silencer.html

[Lawrence TB Wright]

Paintball silencers are as illegal as the real thing unless you have a class 3 firearms license. However 'barrel extensions' and 'barrel raincovers' are allowed. ;)

[billmi]

The ATF has very wide latitude as to what is and is not a silencer.

They can, at their complete descretion (there is no legal definition) look at anything, be it a barrel extension for a paintball gun, a silencer for a paintball gun, a barrel raincover for a paintball gun, a drill press, a piece of PVC pipe, a wad of steel wool, etc., and declare that it is either a firearm supressor, a component for a firearm supressor, or a tool used in the assembly of firearm supressor.

Posession of any item that the ATF Technology Branch has determined is a firearm supressor, firearm supressor component, or firearm suppressor manufacturing tool requires a class III FFL for ownership of the final product, that the manufacturer has paid the "making tax" and I believe there is additional licensing for manufacture and ownership of the tools.

Several years ago, a well known barrel manufacturer (if you know the name, please do not post it publicly, the owner does not want additional publicity pointed at him personally about this) produced a ported paintball barrel and made an external cover for it - much like the rain covers people make. The cover was designed to hide the moisture cloud common in humid weather, especially when using CO2 that could someitmes give away a hidden player's position.

ATF agents raided this man's place of business and confiscated much of his stock. He was threatened with charges. Letters went back and forth, but last I spoke to him charges were never pressed, and the stock was never returned. Needless to say, the manufacturer no longer makes the product.

The last letter I sent to Chief Owen (head of the ATF technology branch) asked several pointed questions. One of these was "If a device were not declared to be a firarm supressor, could it legally be used to supress the report of a paintball gun." Others were about whether the Technology Branch had ever reviewed any paintball supressors and declared that they were not firearm supressors, others were about the criteria they used to classify a device as a supressor or not, and what type of enforcement has been done.

His brief reply was to give me a list of three addresses where I should send those questions - that enforcement questions should go to one address, statute questions should go to another, and that testing and classification questions (the bulk of the questions I had asked) should be sent to Chief Edward Owen of the ATF Technology Branch. I am left to conclude that since he did not answer the questions, and suggested that I send the questions to him (which I had already done) that he had no intention of answering them.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

[trains are bad]

Gun control is evil.

[Rick927]

go to ATF web site and hit the FAQ section, there is a bit on paintball silencers, it basicly says they "may" be considered a firearm silencer, in which case, If you have one (and run into an A-hole ATF agent low on his quota) your gona get busted and you wont see your gear ever again and you will have to pay thousands of $ in legal fees fighting a BS charge.:mad:

[MJNOLIR]

Thats only if they look at it. Chances are, you will never meat up with them. I would say to go ahead and use one. If they tell you to stop face to face or by conntact other wise, say "Ok I did not know that." then stop.....you enjoyed it for a time...

[Barfly]

yeah I remember you use to be able to buy those silenced barrels, I didn't know the company got into for it. Man I should have bought one when I had the chance, since you can't get them anymore. I heard lots of great things about the barrels about being quiet, the accuracy lagged a little but i think though.

[Rick927]

I don't want so sound like a jerk, but you can't just say "sorry, I didn't know I was commiting a federal felony" and the ATF guy will just let it go. Understand that making a silencer is a crime. 10 years jail and/or $10,000.00 fine (and you can be charged at 13 years old). There are a lot more cops and feds on the paintball field than you know. And not all of us are there to play. Don't risk your life being ruined over a paintballl silencer. It's just not worth it.

[DeeEight]

paintball guns are already quieter than real guns anyways. I live about 2 miles from a military firing range. I can hear them doing full auto drills. I can't hear a paintball gun firing a couple hundred meters away up my street.

[Siress]

something as loud as a spyder can't be silenced anyway. I tried. Just buy a autococker and pad the backblock so it doesnt make that smakcing sound. viola.

[PaintballSmurf13]

i pretty much agree with the last post..i have a cocker..it doesnt have any padding and it is still really quite..and if you want to try to get it quite at possible..get a long (16"-18") barrel that has a lot of porting the whole length..drop some AKA parts into the cocker or Sniper 2, screw a HPA tank into it..and bam..quite, accurate gun..
-Ryan F.

[Garrum]

I have one for my A5, and it does reduce the noise somewhat.

In regards to suppressors being illegal, they are not. They are regulated. You can possess one in most states as long as you pay your tithe to the King's openly-rob-you-in-broad-daylight division of our government. "Are your papers in order, Comrade?"

[trains are bad]

Gun control is evil.



In the interest of science, I will share my experiences with making silencers, not for paintmarkers, but air brakes.

You know when Semi trucks park, they bleed off thier air brakes and it goes PHOOSHH and dust goes everywhere?

Well I made silencers out of 2" pvc about a foot long with a glued on cap drilled full of holes and stuffed with fiberglass material from a furnace filter, for my dad's semi.

You could barely hear the brakes set.

[Rick927]

Garrum is right about class II manufactured supressors not being illegal, however, it is illegal for and average citizen to make a supressor/silencer without prior approval from th ATF and having a class II manufacturers licence, and paying the $200 NFA tax when the unit is registered and transfered. Do-it-yourselfers violate the above statuates, and may be in violation of state and local laws as well.

As a side note, a quick search of the net will yeld quite a few sites on building all sorts of things like this. All come with a lengthy legal disclaimer:rolleyes:

[MJNOLIR]

Yah when you have a license for a REAL silencer they actually have the right to take all youer guns at there will with no reason at all....

[chris99506]

i made a silencer outa pvc and house insulation. i put it on my pgp, and i could barely hear the thing. it did sound like a loud crack, then after the silencer, it sounded like somebody gently smacking a pillow. paintball silencers do work if you make them right.
but after a cop saw me at the pb field he told me that they were illegal and i did tell him that i didnt know, all he did was take it from me. this really did happen. and he was a real cop, because he went to his car and got his his badge. now i'm not saying that every cop that sees you will do the same, because i think i got lucky,

it just isnt worth the risk of the legal trouble, because most of the time if the person you're shootin at dont hear you, after the first few shots, they will see you, and the silencers just make you break more paint anyway, plus they are a huge pain to clean when they do.

[doc_Zox]

i wonder what would happen if you mounted a modified muffler from a small gas engine on a paintball marker

its a legal product

[Rick927]

ATF tech. branch has the final say on what is legal and what is not. I think the best answer was posted earlier ported barrel with rain cover.

[chris99506]

lapco makes one for the A-5.

[Meph]

The Lapco A-5 one is a "FAKE" one! Only for looks. There are no supression benefits from that product. Sort of the same idea with the A-5 Flatline. The shroud is designed to give it the silencer look, despite being the loudest barrel out there! Kind of ironic I think.

[chris99506]

flatline, like every other tipmann product i have used sucks, but the lapco one was advertised to silence it, atleast on the website i saw it on
, i'll try to post a link

[Burphel]

I'm guessing you didn't see it on Lapco's webpage. Considering what happened with BOA back in the day, there's no way Colin Thompson would go out and build or advertize something as being a real silencer, rain cover, etc.

http://www.lapcopaintball.com/tippmann.html

[chris99506]

i was thinkin he may have gotten it approved by the ATF, but i believe ya about it not bein real.

[Konigballer]

I remember that silenced barrel by the not to be named company in question. That was years ago, I wish I had ANY barrel made by that company,