silencers allowed or not?

[Kevmaster]

A paintball gun isn't defined as a firearm anywhere-- therefore, I believe you can 'silence' it.

yes but if something (ex: the suppressor he wants) can be easily MODIFIED to suppress a firearm, its illegal.

[Head knight of Ni]

yes but if something (ex: the suppressor he wants) can be easily MODIFIED to suppress a firearm, its illegal.

So pillows are now illegal?

[teufelhunden]

yes but if something (ex: the suppressor he wants) can be easily MODIFIED to suppress a firearm, its illegal.

I don't know of many .68 cal firearms, so modifying it wouldn't be so easy..

[trains are bad]

the government will most likly not come barging through your door at night dragging you out into the street because you had a supressor on your paintball marker.

I'm glad you're so sure. I wouldn't try it.

look what happened to triggernomics. It turned out he was legal too.

[Koosh]

"Silencers" are illegal...

"Barrel Extensions" and "Rain Covers" are not...

[VFX_Fenix]

A Silencer can be made by individuals who have paid a fee (something around $200) to the BATF to make one, Law Enforcement and Military, all other supression devices (things that make the report of guns quieter) are considered controlled items and are illegal for general ownership. This includes any devices which can be modified in any way to work on a firearm. This means that supression devices, even for paintball, are illegal as their design and function are such that they can be made to work on a firearm unless you have paid the above mentioned fee to the BATF.

The argument has come up repeatedly on other forums that a paintball gun is not an actual firearm and so are exempt from these laws as they are for paintball use and not firearm use. The bottom line is that any suppression device is still considered to be a controlled item and so cannot be owned or used individuals who are not registered with the BATF.

Also, outside of scenario games, most fields will not let you play with such devices attached to your rig.

Car mufflers are also suppressors both in design and function. Consider for a momment that a barrel, designed specifically for say an Autococker, has a built in suppression device and cannot be removed in any way from the barrel. All well and good and perfectly legal because you can't ever use it on "the real steel" right? Wrong. Consider that the ID of the barrel (~0.689") is large enough (or small enough depending on how you want to look at it) to slide over the OD of a .308 rifle barrel. Here you can see the implications of a "paintball only silencer" and how it can be "easily modified to function on a firearm".

[VFX_Fenix]

I don't know of many .68 cal firearms, so modifying it wouldn't be so easy..

A 12ga. Shotgun is about .68 Cal

(sorry for the double post)

[evo.end3R]

"Silencers" are illegal...

"Barrel Extensions" and "Rain Covers" are not...

its stock, i swear!

[Destructo6]

Any mobile device that can attach to a firearm's muzzle and damp the report, even if it destroys the device, is considered a "silencer" by BATFE.

Here's Beeman's take on it, as BAFE's site is currently unsearchable.

You'd have to go through the whole NFA rigmarole and pay the tax to do it legally.

[eaglelox]

i had made one a long time ago.kind of cool but they absorb alot of the gasses and take umpf out of th shot. not very accurate.

[Mosfet]

From Beemans.net:

Note added 13 May 2003:* A BATF information release recently stated: "Numerous paintball silencers tested by the Firearms Technology Branch have been determined to be, by nature of their design and function, firearm silencers as defined in 18 U.S.C., Section 921(a)(24)."* Actually, although many airgun and paintball silencers/sound moderators have been submitted for testing, apparently not one has ever passed - even those intentionally designed by the submitter not to be functional!

I've been trying to research the Regulations and apparently the key thing I keep running acrross is the key wording "Capable of being modified to fit a firearm" is enough to be illegal.

[Rokudon]

ya same for me, i always run into "modifiable to fit a firearm". still though, its just porting the middle of a barrel and wraping it with a mat...

[Mosfet]

This? Its my barrel's binkie! To keep him warm and cozie officer!
what? oh that? Its a protective shell to keep my barrel's binkie clean and protected from dirt and paint!

:P

[Rokudon]

lol i can just imagine that happening... or how about an inflatable barrel? deadedns the noise on its own! (look around the-whiteboard.com, i forget which one it was)

[Banshee23]

It's not worth the legal risk to make or put a silencer on your marker. If you want to quiet everything down just use a stiffi barrel, they're made from carbon fiber & absorb quite alot of the noise.