Good morning everyone and welcome back to the 60th installment of TFB’s Silencer Saturday – a safe place to discuss all the fun things that most people think are absolutely illegal for civilian ownership. Because the only people who need suppressors are assassins and James Bond. Am I right? Today we will take a look at some of the best Hollywood movie suppressor appearances. Now before the comments fill up with “how could you forget…” or “my favorite movie isn’t listed” fear not. I’ve already planned for a user-submitted part two. There just is not enough room to include everything in one post. So drop me a messages or send me an email. Bribes welcome.

I know I promised part two of last week’s AAC Ti–RAID 30 review that would included decibel metering data. Unfortunately the weather hasn’t cooperated until today, so we’ll need to delay those results for another week. We ask that you bear with us during this difficult time.

The idea for today’s article came to me earlier this week when a friend, who shall remain nameless, sent me a picture of the above 12’x10’ poster from a booth at an industry trade show this week. Can you spot the issue?

Yes, that is a Gemtech Trek II 5.56 rifle suppressor. So while the image is all kinds of sexy, the firearm-silencer combination itself is far from functional.

Which leads me back to today’s topic: movie suppressor appearances. While elite prop houses like ISS are stocked with all sorts of legitimate firearms and silencers, I can only imagine some other options being less trained and outfitted with more generic guns and gear. Besides, I imagine that no matter how well the prop house is run, they are at the mercy of both the director, writers and the project itself.

SILENCER SATURDAY #60: Best Movie Suppressor Appearances

Based on a very unscientific analysis and years of watching movies, it appears that military and war movies are better at accurately outfitting actors with the correct firearms and acccessories than more generic Hollywood action movies. This observation may come from the fact that period war films may hire better advisors with actual military experience.

American Sniper

An obvious pick, American Sniper is chocked full of special operations goodness. Although it is not one of my preferred war movies, I can appreciate the historically accurate firearms choices. Two examples:

Knight’s Armament SR–25

Knight’s Armament NT4

Zero Dark Thirty

Based on the events leading up to the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the last 20 minutes of Zero Dark Thirty featured Delta operators carrying H&K 416 carbines outfitted with Advanced Armament M4–2000 suppressors.

The a slightly less expensive equivalent available is the AAC 556–SD.

Lone Survivor

The Allen Engineering (possibly Ops Inc) line of suppressors gets top billing in Lone Survivor. While there is a lot of love for the MK12 and the AEM5, there were also appearances from what appears to be AEM4’s on carbine-length guns.

Black Hawk Down

Ops Inc (really Allen Engineering) also got a lot of screen time in Black Hawk Down, I’m not familiar with the old Ops Inc model numbers, so I’ll have to ask Ron Allen to take a look at some of these images for a final determination.

In the Hollywood action, suspense and crime drama genres, the firearms and especially the silence choices for props a bit get more obtuse.

No Country For Old Men

Anton Chigur suppresses his shotgun with a homemade suppressor. The most well known modern commercially available shotgun suppressor is the SilencerCo Salvo 12.

Inception

Pistol silencers in movies mostly end up being small, direct-thread models that are either generic or of a home-built style. This one from Inception doesn’t seem to have a commercial counterpart.

The Professional

Everyone seems to remember Leon carrying a suppressed Beretta in The Professional. Not true, the Beretta pistol was outfitted with a compensator. In the sniping scene however, the rifle was outfitted with a suppressor. I hope this gun was chambered in .458 SOCOM, baecuase anything smaller is just going to be downright loud with such a large bore diameter.

Die Hard

One of the best gun movies of all time is Die Hard and it only features one silencer that Hans Gruber removes from his H&K P7 before shooting stubborn Takagi for affect. Sadly it’s probably not based on a commercial variant, the outer diameter and short length leave little room for internal volume.

Today’s equivalent might be the Dead Air Odessa 9.

Ronin

What a great movie for firearms. But the silencers are either based on generic, one-off models or euro companies that we don’t see here in the U.S.

The Accountant

Finally, an action movie that takes pistol silencers seriously. The Accountant features a Knight’s Armament USP-T and a SilencerCo Osprey 45K.

Pulp Fiction

Obviously there are lots of guns in Pulp Fiction, but only one that I could find sporting a suppressor. The MAC10 that takes Vincent Vegas’ life is sporting an old Sionics suppressor. Today, I’d recommend a Bowers Vers 45 to tame your 45ACP MAC10.

Escape From New York

Snake Plisken’s MAC10 setup had to be one of the most unique ways to run a suppressed micro sub gun. But I guess if your also issued throwing stars to rescue the president on the prison island of Manhattan, you take what you can get.

Patriot Games

I love this little suppressed beretta micro pistol that Samuel L. Jackson’s character “procures” from an IRA terrorist in coastal Maryland.

Mr. And Mrs. Smith

While I enjoyed the movie, Mr. And Mrs. Smith wasn’t the goldmine of Hollywood silencers. But this one looks like a Form 1 Maglite build that Brad Pitt‘s character made in his basement after a series of Amazon purchases.

Finally, I do realize the irony of Hollywood actors wielding NFA items while most of them believe that lowly citizens should be left with five shot revolvers or worse. But look at it this way, these images are always a great way to throw their ‘morals for money’ right back in their faces.

Have fun. Be Safe. Shoot suppressed. And we’ll see you back here next week for TFB’s Silencer Saturday

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