SilencerCo – The Doom Of Boom

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 8/26/20 | T Taysom

[w1n1]

Silencerco aims to Upend thoughts on Suppressors - Guns have been around in one form or another for 800 years. Much has changed, but the firearms industry cannot be accused of being on the leading edge of technology. The 1911 handgun is still widely used and adored, as is the AR-15.
The 1911 by its name alone tells you that it has passed the century mark, and the AR-15 is more than 50 years old. These are just two examples of the antiquated technology employed by most firearms industry manufacturers; but not all of them.

THE BEGINNING
What happens when a newcomer to the industry combines tradition with cutting-edge technology and 21st-century company culture? Magic. Welcome to the universe that Josh Waldron and Jonathon Shults have created in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah. Two less likely candidates to start a firearms company have never come together before.

What brings two artists into the world of manufacturing and firearms? Customer service, or more accurately the lack thereof. Waldron told me, "Shults and I have always loved shooting and we started buying suppressors in our early twenties. We were often disappointed in the quality, as well as the customer service. It was horrible." Not only did these two dislike poor customer service, they also felt that the suppressor industry was archaic and inept. The market was ripe for a revolution, and Waldron and Shults were poised to lead it.

BUILDING THE TEAM
Describing the diversity of SilencerCo's team is much like describing the taste of sugar; one must experience it first hand in order to truly grasp the concept. The team is an eclectic group: beards, tattoos, bright red hair and piercings are just a few of the things one will see when walking the floor. What is immediately apparent from the moment one steps into the workspace is excitement, fun and creativity. These are exactly the things that are generally lacking in a firearms manufacturing facility.

THE FACES OF SILENCERCO
Firearms companies tend to use known gun celebrities in their ads and on their websites. SilencerCo headed in another direction. Waldron uses personalities outside of the traditional gun channels. On his website you’ll find videos of Aoki, a music phenom who double majored at U.C. Santa Barbara in Women’s Studies and Sociology; Travis Browne, an MMA fighter in the UFC’s heavyweight division; and Cam Zink, an insane, professional mountain-bike rider who apparently fears nothing. These three have nothing in common except that they all love shooting firearms, sporting suppressors from SilencerCo, and value their hearing.

CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE
It’s not just innovation, creativity and operating at full capacity that have Waldron and the SilencerCo crew occupied; they have also started a campaign aimed at getting the archaic and invasive National Firearms Act changed to reflect the 21st century.
Many may think that the 1934 NFA was passed in an attempt to thwart gangland mobsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Moran from getting silencers and concealable and automatic weapons, but in truth it was designed to thwart poaching and to keep hunters from quieting their firearms to shoot under the radar.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Steve Jobs spoke of people like Waldron and his SilencerCo mates when he said: "Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently, and not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things, they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." Read the rest of Silencerco suppressors.

[BDParrish]

"The 1911 by its name alone tells you that it has passed the century mark, and the AR-15 is more than 50 years old. These are just two examples of the antiquated technology..."

A truly idiotic statement!

[real saxophonist]

A truly idiotic statement!

In other words, about average for 'Am Shooting Journal'.

[Carriage Hill]

YOU HAVE A TROJAN VIRUS ON YOUR WEBSITE, STILL! Norton 360 and MalwareBytes Premium have blocked it.

FIX IT!

[deoetdoctrinae]

The Mosin-Nagant first appeared in 1891, so all current owners should take them to the landfill immediately. /s

[jeffersondem]

“On his website you’ll find videos of Aoki, a music phenom who double majored at U.C. Santa Barbara in Women’s Studies and Sociology; Travis Browne, an MMA fighter in the UFC’s heavyweight division; and Cam Zink, an insane, professional mountain-bike rider who apparently fears nothing.”

And this copy is supposed to convince me to buy their product to attach to a firearm?

[mad_as_he$$]

Because it is pitch perfect?

[cdcdawg]

“The 1911 handgun is still widely used and adored”

My favorite handgun is 106 years old. Having taken it apart and put it back together a couple of times (thank God for a video!), I can’t really come up with how that design could be improved. You could go bigger for more punch or smaller for more easier concealment, but I’m not sure what technological advancement would be had apart from accessories.

[KarlInOhio]

Nine paragraphs and not a hint of how their company or product is different. Sorry, hair color, piercings, MMA fighters and mountain bikers don’t do it. Are you cheaper, more reliable or otherwise better than the competition?

[chrisser]

There’s a difference between antiquated technology and mature technology.

Firearms have been around for hundreds of years. The best designs have risen to the top. The only reason to change existing, proven designs is to incorporate newer materials (if better), try to shave a few cents off the production cost, or comply with government regulations (like the automotive industry has had to do for the better part of 100 years).

I welcome innovation in supressors, but a heckuva lot more would occur if our ridiculous federal laws were changed to allow regular guys and gals to easily own and build them and innovate on their own without having to jump through hoops and/or risk prosecution.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I really despise this mindset that everything new is better than everything old. Maybe that’s why I’ve always been a conservative - I believe our ancestors weren’t idiots and things are they way they are for pretty darned good reasons that we probably haven’t considered or may not even comprehend. In my experience, “newer” is most likely to mean cheaper (in a bad way), less reliable, and made in China with slave labor. None of which translates into “better”.

Sorry. I think I veered into a rant there. I work in IT so it’s not like I think everything new is crap, but I also have enough experience to know that neither is everything old.

[cdcdawg]

“Sorry. I think I veered into a rant there.”

No need to apologize. That was all very well said.

[SuperLuminal]

Since I am always interested in learning something new about hearing-protection for shooters, I read most available articles...

However, this article seems more like a speech by Joe Biden than anything suggested by the expression "doom of boom"...