Your Privacy Choices
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the brand new YHM 338 Bad Larry Suppressor. Last week Pete discussed suppressors with defined borders. This week I am taking over, in Pete’s absence, and the subject is countries where the suppressors roam free, with a focus on the “suppressor” belt in the Nordic.
Suppressors Made In The Nordic @ TFB:
- Sweden Makes Suppressors License Free
- Silent Steel Suppressors – Finland
- Finland’s Ase Utra Dual 7.62BL
- Danish SAI GR-22 & GR-9 Suppressed Rifles
- Heckler & Koch Rifles with Norwegian A-Tec Suppressors
A JP Rifles .22LR NC22 with a Jaki suppressor, shooting steel at 200 yards. Cheap, silent and super-fun!
In Norway, Sweden and Finland suppressors, silencers, sound moderators or whatever you like to call them are basically not regulated, as long as you legally own a compatible firearm. The initial background check is already done with the firearms permit, and continuously monitored by the Police. If you commit a serious crime, you will loose the permit and cannot own the suppressor either.
Glock 45 MOS FS TB. TB stands for Threaded barrel. One has a Norwegian A-Tec suppressor, the other will soon.
To my knowledge, no research has been done to see if crime rates increase, decrease or change at all due to suppressors being (more or less) unregulated for gun owners in these Nordic countries. I have certainly never seen anything in the media suggesting an increase in gun violence due to free suppressors. This leads me to a conclusion that the existance of suppressors has no effect on the crime rates.
One of the solutions I’m looking at for DMR competitions. An A-Tec Marksman PRS suppressor, with a ported exit. I love this look!
Very important note: To avoid this article becoming too massive, here’s a brief explanation of the rules for sound suppressors or silencers for each country. As you surely can understand, this is a vast and complex subject, with possible exceptions (especially for travelling, importing and exporting), so make sure you check out the exact details if you have a specific case.
A-Tec Carbon Wave for .22LR Rimfire. This suppressor also fits pistols like the SIG Sauer P322.
All the translations are done from the original language into English by Google Translate, but some parts are in bold to stand out.
The Norwegian legislation:
Silencers and sights are not considered weapon parts and you can get them without applying for the police’s permission.
and:
It is forbidden to own or possess silencers for firearms subject to registration without the police’s permission. The requirement for police permission does not apply to the holder of a valid weapons card who, by presenting this together with valid identification, can acquire a silencer, directly from a dealer or manufacturer, for weapons listed in the weapons card.
Furthermore:
The requirement for the police’s permission also does not apply to the holder of a valid firearms license who manufactures a silencer for his own use for a weapon listed in the firearms license when the person concerned notifies the police before the manufacture starts, or for silencers that were acquired before 1 January 2001 for legally registered firearms.
The Swedish legislation:
A success story, since most gun laws rarely change for the better. Suppressors were regulated as a part of a firearm until 2022, when the law changed. The basic rule is now that if you own a legal firearm with permit, and the suppressor fits the firearm, no further permit is needed. You can buy a suppressor at a gun dealer and leave with it in the same moment. The first few days the sales of suppressors increased like crazy, but the drama is over and back to normal levels.
Rules for silencers
Silencers should not be equated with firearms, but instead regulated in basically the same way as ammunition.
Transfer of silencer
Transfer may only take place to the person who has permission or the right to possess silencers. Anyone who wants to hand over a silencer is therefore obliged to check that the buyer has permission or the right to possess it. The transferor must check that the silencer fits the receiver’s weapon, which normally means that both the weapon and the weapons license (or loan document) must be available to the transferor. Merely presenting a weapons license is normally not enough because it cannot be determined from this whether the silencer fits the weapon.
To clearify, to purchase ammunition in Sweden you have to present a firearms permit to buy the corresponding ammunition. With a suppressor, you need to have a threading (and caliber, although it isn’t clearly mentioned), or attachment system which is compatible with your firearm.
The Finnish legislation:
The possession and use of a sound suppressor is regulated by the Firearms Act (Asetus Aseista ja Ampuma-aseista) and the Firearms Decree (Laki ampuma-aseista ja ampumaradoista).
Suppressors are considered firearm components, but can be used without requiring any separate licensing.
and:
Section 3
Weapon parts
Weapon part refers to a frame, upper and lower frame, box, barrel, casing, cartridge drum, cartridge chamber, cylinder or another breech piece with frame, a breech head, a silencer and parts that functionally correspond to these.
In Iceland and Denmark, also part of the Nordic area, it seems that suppressors are still regulated and need a specific permit. Do you know of more countries where suppressors are free? Let us know in the comments.
Over the years I have taken several images, where suppressors have been used with success. Here you’ll find some examples in various situations.
Below: Precision Rifle Series. Here shooting 50 cm round steel at 899 meters. In my opinion, you get a nicer, and somewhat softer recoil with this setup. It’s also much nicer for the people in the near vincinity, as well as those living nearby, or just passing the area.
Below: The new Kestrel KST-1000 shot timer has no problems picking up a suppressed .223 Rem. Most timers also work with suppressed 9 mm and .22LR, if you change the sensitivity.
Below you can see the inside of the Finnish Jaki suppressor. Simple, yet very efficent sound reduction. The Jaki rimfire suppressor is about 100 USD, including 25% VAT, so some consider it a consumable instead of cleaning it.
Below: The Barrett M107A1-S with a Pulsar thermal riflescope and one of the biggest suppressors I’ve ever seen. Here shooting steel at 1000 yards.
Below: B&T APC9 with an A-Tech three-lug SMG suppressor and a Glock 45 with an A-Tech PMM-6. With 9 mm subs these firearms become fairly quiet, but I would still certainly recommend hearing protection., specially if there are walls and other reflecting objects nearby.
Below: Hera Arms 18″ hunting legal in Sweden, but used for DMR competition here. Suppressor from Silent Steel (Finland).
Gas gun DMR, running suppressed. All Ranger Officers will approve this concept.
Below: The A-TEC SMG (I wonder where they got the name from…) with three-lug attachment. The new Schmidt & Bender 6-36x riflescope is quite overkill for this gun.
Below: Fully automatic firearms for Full Auto Friday, with a suppressed M4 at the Republic Gun Club in Waco, Texas. Great place!
Below: Solvent traps or suppressors free? Photo from a recent Gun Show in Ft. Worth.
Below: A Midsummer dream! Shooting the JP rifles rimfire with a Jaki suppressor at an event. The action and the ringing from the steel sounds more than the rifle itself. Events like this are great for beginners, as it takes most of the noise and recoil out of the equation and people can focus on the basics instead.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully you liked my guest appearance. If not, my excuse is that I was left unsupervised. Pete should be back next Saturday, and put things back in order. Until then, and forever, stay safe.
