The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

In the past months I shared with you some of my long-range target shooting exploits that I have recently become involved with. I can hold my own with a shot gun in almost any company but when it comes to shooting at targets 1000 yards away, I have a long way to go before I can say I am recreationally proficient.

Shooting long guns on the range for an afternoon requires good hearing protection. I own some of the best made by a company called Sound Gear.  They are pretty high tech and are adjusted using an app on my phone. I started with an entry level pair, and then upgraded twice until I owned a set called Phantoms.

This ear protection is far better than using the old traditional muffs that look like a super insulated set of ear muffs for sub-zero temperatures. Exterior hearing protection always seems to be banging on the stock every time I try to use them.

Enter the world of suppressors.  Back in the day these were called silencers. They were illegal to possess for any rank-and-file shooter. Rules change and suppressors are available to those who can afford them.  They are still highly regulated and cost substantial amounts of money. Hearing protection for yourself when you are doing the shooting is not all that much of a hassle but when you have a number of other shooters taking turns you need to use them even if you are just enjoying a soda under a sun screen.

I shoot a 6.5 Creedmore rifle and it has a very sharp report when fired. I used it to go prairie dog hunting a few years back and after you fired this gun a few times every prairie dog within 500 yards was down the hole never to be seen again, or not for at least 30 minutes. I figured if the gun was fitted with a suppressor, I could shoot prairie dogs all day long without a long wait in between shots.

I shopped around and ended up with a unit designed for my gun and about $2,000 later I was supposedly ready to go. These units require that the end of the barrel be threaded to accept the suppressor or an adapter gets threaded to the barrel and the suppressor attaches to that.

You need to get a super deep  background check in order to purchase one of these units and the wait times are still 6-8 months. I waited for 16 months to get mine a few years back. Even if I have passed the back ground check and own 10 suppressors it is still illegal for me to possess even one of yours. The only way a person other than the original buyer can utilize a suppressor is if they are added to a trust.  I have my suppressor titled in a trust.  The interesting thing is that you can add as many people to your trust as you want and none of them are required to pass a background check. My son has many suppressors that he did not place in a trust initially. I am adding all of his suppressors to my trust but that costs about $250 per unit to transfer ownership to my trust. Once they and he are all titled in the trust then we can interchange them back and forth as we like.

So, I was all set.  We shot on my 1000-yard range for an afternoon and we could all do so without any sort of hearing protection. The convenience of this cannot be understated. I closed the range and then went down range to get my lunch.  I moved out of the line of fire and the group started shooting again.

Here is where my big disappointment was realized.  I was 400 yards down range and out of the line of fire so I was in a safe place. As they started shooting again, I was amazed by how loud those gunshots were. Come to find out that the sound suppression you achieve using one does nothing to muffle or decrease the sound of the shot down range.

I had to move to a quieter location. As I found out, suppressors did nothing to reduce down range sound. Every prairie dog was still going to get chased down the hole regardless if the gun was suppressed or not. I still get the benefit on not having to wear ear protection while shooting but get no benefit of reducing the effects of the game getting scared off.

Everything you have seen on TV where the good guy shoots 10 bad guys off the second-floor balcony without anyone knowing it is total fantasy. This is not to say that a suppressor is not a great tool for the recreational shooter, they certainly have benefits. The only question is if the convenience they offer is worth the money they cost.

You can buy a .22 rifle or pistol suppressor for about $250. Then the additional tax stamp that is required is about that same amount a second time. Add in at least a 6-month wait and you too can be shooting a suppressed firearm.

If you are thinking about one of these as a Christmas present for 2024 you are most likely already too late, but then again there will be a Christmas in 2025 as well.