Suppressors for firearms have become quite popular with American shooters, especially so since the $200 Federal Tax Stamp was dropped on January 1, 2026. Prior to that, besides the $200 required fee, it could take several months going through a complicated bureaucratic process to be approved to purchase a suppressor (aka silencer, which isn’t an accurate term, because sound is only suppressed and not completely silenced), which today usually only requires a week or two without all that previous fuss and muss.
All the shooters I have talked to who have been using suppressors fully appreciate being able to shoot to their heart’s delight without harming their hearing, as well as not requiring any ear protection. I had interest in giving a suppressor a try, but I was none too fond of that $200 being added to the overall cost, which had a very distinct “gun control” odor about it.
My first suppressor experience occurred on a 2022 roebuck hunt in Scotland, where suppressors affixed to hunting rifles are the acceptable norm. Thus, equipped by using the gamekeeper’s rifle (taking your own rifle into the UK can be a tad testy), I harvested two roebucks firing supersonic hunting ammunition which only offered a subtle “crack” (caused by the exiting bullet breaking the sound barrier and creating a miniature sonic boom) that didn’t leave my ears ringing afterward and recoil was also almost nonexistent. Yep, folks, I was sure impressed more than a bit, but the ongoing cost including the bureaucratic nitpicking red tape back then caused me to refrain.
However, it wasn’t long after everything took a dramatic change at the first of the year, getting a suppressor was at the top of my list, and I soon found myself shopping for one at Randy’s Hunter Center in Bad Axe, which offers a wide array of suppressors. I was also able to go through the application process while there, and less than two weeks later, allowed to purchase my new suppressor, which is only 4-inches long, and is for .45 caliber and under, causing it to be very versatile for a variety of calibers.
The rifle I opted to have it installed on is my Henry Single-shot in .360 BuckHammer, which had a 22-inch barrel with an unthreaded muzzle. My intent was to have the barrel shortened to 16 inches to keep matters more compact and handier after the 4-inch suppressor is added on, creating a total barrel length of 20 inches. Most of the newer straight wall cartridges, including the .450 Bushmaster, are designed to perform quite admirably with rifle barrels from 16 inches to 20 inches.
To do this customization and adding the suppressor, I immediately thought of Mag-Na-Port’s Ken Kelly, who is an award-winning gunsmith, and a skilled artisan I have always relied upon for over 40 years to modify and/or improve my firearms. Mag-Na-Port International has long been known for using its specialized system of porting muzzles and making muzzle brakes (aka Mag-Na-Brakes) for effectively controlling recoil, and I can attest that it works as advertised. The Michigan-based, family-owned business was founded by Ken’s late father, Larry Kelly, who was a legendary and worldwide handgun hunter. Larry developed countless innovations, including the unique porting process, which have impacted the firearms industry to this day. (The museum-quality Handgun Hunting Hall of Fame is also located at the Mag-Na-Port facility in Harrison Township, with all the mounts from around the world displayed on the walls having been taken with handguns).
However, since suppressors have become quite popular and readily available, Ken has been quite busy adding them to customers’ firearms. He doesn’t stock or sell suppressors, but he’ll skillfully customize gun barrels to fit matters according to specs. I sent only my rifle barrel to Ken for its customization, and I recently went to Mag-Na-Port and brought along my new suppressor and the remaining rifle parts, including scope, to have Ken fit all back together.
Yep, folks, I was mighty pleased with the end result, and the compact “can” (a generic term for a suppressor) attached to the front of the barrel adds a tasteful “get’er done” appeal in my eyes. After decades of shooting without any hearing protection, I’m already a bit of a lost cause, but I have no problem getting an assist in hanging onto what little hearing I have left!
I can already attest having a can on my single-shot Henry rifle has made practicing on the shooting range to be a more copacetic and quieter enterprise, and I’m really looking forward to using it for local deer hunting this fall. If I get lucky in drawing a Newberry Unit Michigan black bear tag, there is no question that this will be the rifle accompanying me on an Upper Peninsula bear hunt.
than 40 years and has had his weekly radio show, “Tom Lounsbury
Outdoors” for more than 20 years. Tom grew up on a farm in
Michigan’s Thumb, and it is where his first outdoor adventures began
as a kid accompanying visiting pheasant hunters into the field during
the “pheasant hunting heyday” of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a passion
he still has to this day and being the 4 th generation to own the family
farm, he has put most of it into conservation programs with a focus on
wild pheasants, which in turn helps all wildlife.
Being an outdoor communicator, Tom appreciates all the outdoor
adventures he experiences in different places, and especially the
people he meets in which to share them.
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