SILENCER SATURDAY #92: NFA Wait Time Updates – Patents – Products

Good afternoon suppressor super enthusiasts and welcome back to another edition of TFB’s Silencer Saturday. We’ve got a bit of a potpourri of NFA topics for you today, starting with NFA wait time updates, a look at some recent patent filings and a look at some new products announced over the past few weeks. As far as review items go, I’ve been shooting and enjoying the YHM Sidewinder pistol suppressors, including some magic with 40S&W through a 10mm GLOCK G29 – WITH THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK. We’ll get into that whole topic outside of our regular Silencer Saturday content.

NFA tracker is probably the most comprehensive set of data outside the actual NFA registry, even though users submit unofficial dates and information. Let’s call it crowdsourced crown pleasing data. Current Form 4 paper forms approval times are still bumping up against 10-12 months. Unfortunately, there is still no process to use the ATF Efile System Form 4 applications. Rumors are still pointing to sometime in 2020 for ATF’s new electronic filing system. I’m done making predictions at this point – the NFA application process is a ruthless, dark quagmire – like crossing the Hades rivers when entering the underworld. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic.

My most recent Forms 4s were submitted in August of 2018 and approved in the middle of September 2019. (They would have been faster if I hadn’t forgotten to sign them the first time around – again).

The NFA buying process has to be one of the must frustrating aspects of the gun world. Not only do you have to ask permission to trim your barrel from 16.1 inches to 15.75 inches, but you have to pay for the right as well. And then, to top it off, there’s a tedious paperwork process that includes submitting photographs and fingerprints (that most likely just sit in a file cabinet) with an undetermined wait time that can be anywhere from 30 days to over a year. But, I’m preaching to the choir.

A modular suppressor kit includes a modular suppressor and suppressor tool. The modular suppressor includes a barrel attachment portion that has a central passage. The barrel attachment portion is configured to attach to a firearm barrel. The modular suppressor includes a cap portion that has a central passage. The modular suppressor includes a body portion that has an internal baffle structure and an expansion chamber. The body portion is attachable to, and separable from, the barrel attachment portion and the cap portion. The body portion defines a central passage that is alignable with the central passage of the barrel attachment portion and the central passage of the cap portion. The suppressor tool has an engagement feature for engaging with at least one of the barrel attachment portion, cap portion, and body portion.

A suppressor for a firearm includes a casing having rear and front ends. Baffles are inside the casing between the rear and front ends. A cylindrical support has an upstream end, a downstream end, and a circumferential rib. The upstream end is connected to the rear end of the casing. The downstream end is engaged with at least one of the baffles. The circumferential rib surrounds the cylindrical support between the upstream and downstream ends and extends radially from the cylindrical support to the casing. Upstream and downstream annular chambers defined at least in part by the casing, the cylindrical support, and the circumferential rib circumferentially surround the cylindrical support. A plurality of apertures through the cylindrical support provide fluid communication through the cylindrical support to the upstream and downstream annular chambers.