Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo on the Future of Silencers

Ammoland ^ | 8 June, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Part 1 dealt with legislative efforts. At the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, I was able to talk to Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo.

(snip)

I talked to people at the SilencerCo booth during the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, KY.  I was told that SilencerCo produces about 65% of the silencers in the United States.  The company is growing so fast that it was hard to keep up with the number of employees, currently about 330 and rising quickly.  There is no doubt that SilencerCo holds a dominant market share and is growing at an exceptionally fast rate.

The National Firearms Act (NFA), passed in 1934, imposes severe regulation and a $200 tax on legal silencers.

I asked Josh about the future of silencers and silencer legislation.

Do you have a plan, and can you tell me about it?

“It starts as education. Ever since we started the company in 2008, we have had a focus on education and advocacy.  When I first started the company there were only 18,000 silencers were sold in the United States each year, and that was every manufacturer.”

“From the time we have started until now, there were 18,000 then, we are now selling about 18,000 silencers every month, just SilencerCo.

In the last five years, this has been the fastest growing segment of the firearms industry.”

“People are just starting to understand. This is not a ‘cool accessory’ as much as it is a personal protection/personal safety device, just as you would consider any other device that keeps you safe while you shoot, such as safety glasses.  It is really the only true way to hunt while you protect your hearing.”

[Squantos]

.....using a AAC Micro 7 which is a rem mod 7 rifle with a 1/2x28 thread with a SOCOM RC2 can in 300 blk using 220gr subsonic on coyotes and if they are out beyond 250 yards I hit em with a 110gr fast load thats pretty good to 600 yards.

http://www.surefire.com/socom762-rc2.html

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/12/foghorn/gun-review-remington-aac-model-7-300-blk/

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_1064/products_id/77820

....top it with leupold 1.5-5X Mk 4 with their blackout reticle. The one with bunny’s and turtles on the reticle.....:o) Greatest scope ever for the 300 blk / whisper loads.

https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/scopes/mark-4-mrt-riflescopes/mark-4-mrt-1-5-5x20mm-30mm-blackout/

Very very nice quiet lightweight “bolt action” rig for predator control. Add in all the free MP3 predator calls on freeper Varmint Al’s web page and its a solution to a problem tool of the nth degree in my opinion and experience.

http://www.varmintal.com/coy5-20.htm

Stay Safe my friend and hope yer well.....

[Myrddin]

Thanks for the recommendations. Have a 6.5 Creedmoor to tag targets at 1 mile. Locals are picking off woodchucks at 700 yds with the 6.5 Creedmoor for warmups.

[Squantos]

Been looking at that...... interested in your pros and cons of the 6.5 Creedmoor . BTW here is a great site you need to spend some read time on.

He is an awesome engineer of the precision rifle game and long range gear, tools and shooting. Good man, Texan, etc....

http://precisionrifleblog.com

[Myrddin]

6.5 Creedmoor has a great set of load books and factory support from Hornady with their new polymer tips. Load books are biased to 24 inch barrels for ballistic info. Hornady discovered that older formulations of the polymer tips were melting about 1,000 yards downrange and causing the trajectory to change. That's fixed with the ELD series. They fly nicely to a 1 mile target. The Ruger Precision is the best off the shelf rifle for tagging 1 mile targets. I opted for the Ruger Hawkeye Predator with 24" threaded barrel and a grippy fore-stock. The 28" Varmint model is a bench oriented fore-stock...wide and flat to sit on a rest. I wanted the compromise to actually use for hunting. Sierra MatchKing bullets are built for tagging paper targets. The GameKing series have better terminal performance for hunting.

If you're hot to tag 1 mile targets, the other detail is the scope base will be built with 20 MOA elevation as a starting point. You need some very good glass to do it.

For less demanding use in a 6.5 bullet, the 6.5 Grendel barrels are being delivered on AR-15 compatible uppers. The 6.5 Creedmoor needs an AR-10 platform. Normal bullet weights are 120 and 140 gr. Muzzle velocities are around 2950 FPS. Twice the weight of a typical 5.56 with similar muzzle velocity and better ballistic coefficient for a very long flight.

Creedmoor has broader factory ammo support than Grendel. Hornady supports both. Same bullets. Different brass.