Suppressor sticker shock

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  • Hohn

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jul 5, 2012
    4,444
    63
    USA
    I have the unfortunate experience of knowing roughly how much things cost to make based on how they are made. I know why castings are cast instead of forged, why machined from bar stock is rarely used, and why stamping is preferred for every military weapon.

    I've never really been interested in a suppressor until I recently acquired my CZ with a threaded barrel. So I go looking.

    I see the Silencerco Sparrow is a popular .22 can, so I figured I'd look into that. $500!! They. are. on. drugs.

    Baffles are stamped, the cheapest forming process of all. Then brazed or welded together. Then placed inside the can that is made (almost certainly) from DOM tubing already at net shape internally and externally. That tubing is cut to length, threaded for the end caps, and then the caps are machined (which SHOULD be the most expensive part).

    I'm seeing MAYBE $100 actual cost in the can, giving a market price of $250 or so.

    Somebody, please explain to this simple-minded OP why the can't are so expensive if it isn't just "people are willing to pay it."

    I am personally NOT willing to pay $550 on top of the absurd $200 "tax" to exercise my right to wear hearing protection.
     

    rooster

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    10   0   0
    Mar 4, 2010
    3,306
    113
    Indianapolis
    I have had this thought before and my beat guess would be that it is a low volume product with high overhead. One of which could be fixed with the hearing protection act.

    However even if that passes would the manufacturers pass on savings to consumers or reap big profits?
     

    chezuki

    Human
    Rating - 100%
    48   0   0
    Mar 18, 2009
    34,152
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    Behind Bars
    Then use your "expertise" and form 1 your own. Sounds like you can have that Sparrow whipped up for around $300 including the stamp.
     

    natdscott

    User Unknown
    Trainer Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    5   0   0
    Jul 20, 2015
    2,797
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    .
    And uh....not nearly all baffles are stamped, even in the same price range.

    -Nate
     

    dave29

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    25   0   0
    Jul 8, 2009
    1,704
    38
    Lawrenceburg
    Street price is $300-$350 on the Sparrow. Have you ever held a Sparrow in your hands and dissembled it? Much more to it than what you are describing....
     

    Goodcat

    From a place you cannot see…
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    151   0   0
    Jan 13, 2009
    3,382
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    New Pal
    I've always wondered why people don't sell things for the price it costs them to make the item.
     

    M67

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    23   0   0
    Jan 15, 2011
    6,181
    63
    Southernish Indiana
    People don't work for free, machines aren't free, warranty work isn't free. Research and Development isn't free. The company that produces the product has to make money. Distributors have to make money. The end retailer has to make money. I'm sure like firearms there's a 11-13% excise tax placed on every silencer that the .gov gets.

    There's also $700 titanium 22 cans out there. There's also $180 .22 cans out there and pretty much everything in between as well
     

    Indy-Mike

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    9   0   0
    Jul 5, 2013
    711
    18
    Carmel
    I've always wondered why people don't sell things for the price it costs them to make the item.

    Because people like to eat.

    if you sell things for what they cost to make, you have no profit, so no incentive to ever make it in the first place.
     

    Leo

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    30   0   0
    Mar 3, 2011
    9,734
    113
    Lafayette, IN
    I have no knock on the product, but yes, from a mass manufacturing point of view, they do get a lot of money from a pipe full of glorified washers.

    To give perspecive, in the late 90's Chrysler corporation paid the transmission plant just over $200 each for a 4 speed automatic transaxle WITH a torque converter and a wiring harness attached. Once you are set up to make and ship 15,000 units a day, you can get crazy efficient. The plant made record profit on that caravan transaxle., and I got a healthy profit sharing bonus to go along with it. They paid the engine plant less than $300 for the matching engine, and they made record profit that year also.

    Of course knowing that makes a bitter pill to swallow when the dealer has to charge you $1700 plus to rebuild that same transmission in your wife's mini van.
     

    jamil

    code ho
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jul 17, 2011
    60,169
    113
    Gtown-ish
    Especially given that this is under NFA, it is a specialty market. It's not mainstream. There's really not a lot of competition, relatively speaking. It's not like there's pressure to keep the cost down. If there were, the R&D would be put into process to reduce the price. But because it's a specialty market, they're not competing for price as much as they are for convincing people their product is worth the price. Other than some budget offerings, R&D is seems more towards making them look cooler, suppress better, blow less **** back in your face.

    And to CM's point, when they get to the point where where they're cranking out suppressors like McDonald's cranks out big macs (kinda like Glocks), that's the kind of market where they focus on cost.
     

    Tactically Fat

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    22   0   0
    Oct 8, 2014
    8,270
    113
    Indiana
    I would REALLY like to Form 1 a suppressor or 2.

    I just don't know how I'd go about it - considering the real help I'd have is almost 2 hours away.
     

    dudley0

    Nobody Important
    Rating - 100%
    99   0   0
    Mar 19, 2010
    3,725
    113
    Grant County
    I did a Form 1 and love it. Didn't even paint the thing yet. Have it currently resting on a .300 blk. Shoots supers well in the hearing safe range and subs are stupid quiet. Made almost entirely out of titanium. Was looking at a good deal from a guy on a stainless tank by HTA. I built this one cheaper and I believe it has better sound reduction.

    Just checked my two remaining permission slips for F1 cans... still in a waiting state.

    If the HPA passes there will be no parts for F1 building for a little while, in my opinion. The market will be crazy for a while. Building all of the parts by hand would take more time than I want to spend. You can look into legal kits and follow all the rules to get a pretty decent can. If they pass the act I will be double happy because then I can change the guts to something maybe even better.

    If retail prices drop a lot I will go back that direction because of the R&D and the fact that I am lazy.
     
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