Hollywood has done us a disservice on suppressors. The pfft of a movie silencer is fiction — real suppressors bring the sound of a gunshot from painful (~160 dB) down to loud (~130 dB). Loud, but hearing-safe. That’s the entire point.

01Why Colorado Hunters Love Them

Colorado allows suppressor use for hunting all game species. In elk country, a suppressed rifle protects the hearing of the shooter and the guides, reduces muzzle blast that can spook a whole basin, and softens the recoil impulse of magnum-class hunting cartridges. Increasingly, they’re standard equipment on modern hunting rigs the way scopes became standard 60 years ago.

02How They Work

Inside a suppressor, a series of baffles catches propellant gas as it exits the muzzle, slows it down, cools it, and vents it more gradually. Same energy, released over a longer time = less sound. Materials range from aluminum (light, short-lived) through titanium (light, durable) to Inconel and stainless steel (heavy, near-indestructible on high-round-count rifles).

03The Purchase Process

A suppressor is a Title II NFA item. Buying one is a federal process, not a store purchase — but it’s simpler than it used to be:

1. Pick your suppressor at our shop and pay for it.
2. Complete the ATF Form 4 in-store on our eForms system.
3. Submit fingerprints and photo (we do both, at no extra charge).
4. Pay the $200 ATF tax stamp.
5. Wait for ATF approval (currently a few weeks on eForms), then pick it up.

You’ll be shooting suppressed by fall.

04Choosing a Suppressor

• Rimfire (.22 LR) — the perfect starter can. Cheap to feed, whisper-quiet with subsonic ammo.
• Centerfire rifle (.30 cal) — the workhorse. One can covers .223 through .300 Win Mag on most modern hunting rifles.
• Pistol — 9mm and .45 cans; some run on both.
• Multi-caliber — modern designs approved for a huge range of cartridges make consolidation easy.

05Come Talk Suppressors

Suppressors

Rimfire, rifle & pistol cans

Suppressor-Ready Rifles

Threaded barrels, brakes

Muzzle Devices

Mounts, brakes, flash hiders

Ammunition

Subsonic & supersonic

Related: Navigating the Silence — Suppressor Purchase Guide