Why are Suppressors so insanely OVERPRICED????

smdub said:

Sure but apples to oranges. No one sells commercial freeze plug suppressors There ARE low end simple suppressors that are inexpensive though. Neither are equivalent to something like a SDN6/Saker in sound or longevity. Just buying raw inconel (or titanium) is going to cost you more than that. The machining time adds a good bit of cost. You could get SDN6s for $500 when on sale (I have two.) I have a full cnc machine shop and figured I can't get the raw materials and machine for much less than that. Can run full auto though them and no appreciable wear yet. I would destroy a freeze plug suppressor in those applications. I've formed 1 a couple suppressors but limit myself to mostly pistol calibers. They have their applications but comparing a $100 DIY to a high $ commercial version isn't necessarily a fair comparison.

What Chad said in all the additional costs to be in business are also spot on.

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I'd like to compare my 9mm can to any of the commercial ones on the market, the only place they would beat it i bet is weight, however the steel and titanium construction should be good for longevity.

SneakySh0rty said:

All about that supply & demand. I'm hoping after 41F perhaps prices will drop again or the actual suppressors I want are back in stock. In all honesty, I am not going to let fingerprints/picture slow my NFA habit.

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Same here.

you can blame the cost solely on the atf. and it is 100% on purpose. they don't want them to be "normal"

rational
1) as a person who is concerned about my checkbook, if I am buying a suppressor, and have to pay a $200 fixed tax, am I going to buy a mid grade suppressor that will function well, and probably last a decade (so long as I don't find myself mag dumping my AR through it), or am I going to buy THE BEST suppressor that will be a heirloom item? without the tax stamp, I'd buy a 200 dollar suppressor that may not work as well as the SDN6, or if it does, will be heavy, or not have the longevity.

2)there is no market for a $200 centerfire rifle suppressor. at that price you are paying a 100% tax, and the item you would be buying would be more of a consumable than an accessory. at 400 total cost (plus sales tax) you can spend 50% more and get a top of the line.

3) there are other ATF taxes said company pays to make them, thousands annually.

4)add a fixed cost on top of any product and sales will go down. that's the theory of the gas guzzler tax. that way only the well off can afford such luxuries....

5)who is going to wait 6 months to take home a suppressor that they will have to replace in 1-5 years depending on use?

honestly, if I were to set up a production for high end titanium and Inconel suppressors, with a large enough quantity (lets say 10,000) you could do it for $100 a unit ($1,000,000, for 10,000 supressors) in cost (this includes labor and all the taxes and whatnot... includes marketing and office folks to sell your suppressors to gun shops, spare parts so you can provide warrantee work etc...) sell for $300 (the retailer would sell it for $400 so they make profits) so you have profits (or else why... in this case spend 1 million to get 3 million, which is a decent ROI, but for a business it isn't very large.. having your product cost be 33% of your sell for price is acceptable profit for manufacturing... but honestly a business should be closer to 10% (invest 1 million in production to make $10 million... usually businesses look at ROI in terms of time) and the problem would be convincing consumers that your $600 ($300+$100 retail markup+$200 atf stamp) suppressor is as good as the $900 one with a brand name and years of proven reliability... and better yet convince gun shops that your product is just as good...

also how long is it going to take to sell 10k suppressors? if you can do it in a year, and make 10k in a year, you have a steady business, one worth creating, if you set up a production run to make 10k, and then layoff all your employees, and shut down your shop... who is going to buy them? you will have no spare parts... no ability to provide warranty service, if people like your product they won't be able to buy more, and if they don't there is no resale.

if you want to set up a shop to make 100 supressors a month... you'll need to make 125 tubes (you'll do sample testing to verify you made them correctly.... the material is correct, some won't make dimensions etc) 400 Inconel baffles, 600 titanium baffles (well and design a baffle, but we are assuming you have a design that is acceptable) as well as the washers, rings, etc to make 100 suppressors ( basically enough product to make 125 suppressors, but you'll only be able to sell 100 of them). if your total build cost is $10k (which I am going to laugh at.... if you have 1 manufacturing worker working full time doing all of the machine operating, your cost alone to employ them that month will be at least $5k), that is $100 per suppressor, that's just making it, not actually selling it to your customers at wholesale.

now you could contract out a larger firm to make all the parts for you, and just assemble the parts... but then you have the costs of putting out contracts, verifying that the company made the product to you specification, did the appropriate physical property testing of each part, and then you would have to monitor the contract, pay for the parts (before you have an opportunity to assemble and sell them). you'll likely have sub vendors who make the bare metal part, one who coats (paint, surface coating, corrosion resistance, case hardening).

one last thing... packaging your product... cardboard packaging designed to fit your can and keep it from getting scratched during shipping isn't free (does your customer want a can with bubble wrap 3 inches thick stuffed into a flat rate box? no)

A company that makes a high precision product in the USA (well some parts could be from overseas... but I wouldn't do it for a suppressor... ) that is well designed, and has longevity, and has branding attached to it is not cheap. a lot of other products, (clothes, durable goods, appliances) are made over seas where you can pay people a couple bucks a day and not care if they die in your factory (or remove one of their own fingers). anything firearm related you can't do that, it is illegal. (same is true for things the DOD purchases)

TLR

is it possible to manufacture a centerfire rifle suppressor that has a retail price of $200? absolutely. but as long as there is a $200 tax stamp, selling a suppressor that costs you 40 bucks to make (to sell retail at 200 that is what your cost would need to be to even be worth building it) just doesn't make sense. remove the tax stamp, (not just the cost... but the paperwork) and people would buy a "disposable" suppressor (shoots 1000 rounds and then throw it away). todays supressors need to be serviceable due to the tax and paperwork implications.

also, when the law was put in place, for the $200 USD the tax was, you could make 1000 top of the line (by todays standards) suppressors, the tax was always a deterrent... and infringement.

$299.99 suppressor, lifetime warranty http://rebelsilencers.com/223-2

jimbobborg said:

$299.99 suppressor, lifetime warranty http://rebelsilencers.com/223-2

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They also have a $99 .22 can. +$50 for upgrade to stainless baffles.

I'm guessing New Zealand does not have all the costs associated with production that we do here. just curious, no offense meant to anyone.

These guys asked the same question...

Now that's affordable. Does anyone know if the 5.56 replaces the flash hider or does the barrel need to be rethreaded?
I think I googled the answer 1/2 x 28 which is the threading on the flash hider.

JBinDC said:

These guys asked the same question...

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I saw those as well. Funny and sad how I instantly question the quality of the can being so cheap.... My mind is thinking "Do I really want to go through all this for can that might be bad but I won't know for 6 months."