I always file individuals, as I have no need to share NFA items unattended.

 

2 eForm4's approved in 69 hours.

 

What is this freaking voodoo you speak of??? I just picked up an individual Form4 about a 6 weeks ago that took a legit 240 days. A month later we're down to ******* hours? This has got to be some kind of election-year conspiracy. WTH is going on?

 

New E Form individual submissions are coming back in hours or days right now. I don't think anyone really knows what's going on because there are still a large number of older submissions that have not been approved.

 

Awesome. Glad they came back that fast.

Yep. My belief is that the ATF may have gotten into a little of the DEA's stash and it's causing them to go quickly.

I am still waiting for my trust approval for my OCL titanium.

After testing out my 9mm 3dprinted suppressor, it is super tempting to put a form1 in for a .22lr one.

 

A quick browse of SilencerShop says that may be a good financial move in the short-term... prices for what little there is in stock are as close to the bullshit completely-arbitrary and absurdly-high-in-the-first-place MSRP as I've ever seen. If this keeps up for the next 6 months, expect prices on everything to drop by 50% as backorders catch up with demand. It is an absolute ******* screwjob that any rimfire suppressor should cost more than about $50... currently the cheapest in-stock unit on SS is $380! AYFKM? You can also expect a HUGE influx of new manufacturers to the game as every ******* with access to a CNC tries their luck. There are already dozens of small-time manufacturers out there that 95% of suppressor buyers have never heard of that will take up some of the slack in the short-term, but the new-new guys to the game will start selling decent stuff REALLY cheap before you know it.

OTOH, my conspiracy theory meter is pegged right now... within a week of NFA wait time falling from almost a year to less than a week, we have the new "engaged in the business of buying..." bullshit from the ATF. Granted, I live in a VA which went "mandatory background checks" a few years ago, but for those still living in free'ish states, watch out for your cornhole.

 

I mean you can build a rimfire suppresor for less then $50. For a commercial product that is light and works well, its probably not possible. I have an Otter Creek Labs Titanium in jail right now. No way you could build that for $50. You could probably build a heavy not great one for $150 msrp if you really tried.

I don't think there will be a large increase in manufactures out there. I think the license to become a manufacture is a pita and a bit costly. So that will keep people from jumping in and getting to cheap. Even budget brands have to have enough margin to put food on the table.

Now for some pictures of my 3dprinted suppressor.


AP5-P with 3dprinted magazine.


Carbon Fiber Tube is -5DB

 

My previous ones were a little over 10 months on average in late 2023. Only the eForm1 was quick (10 days-ish on an SBR).

ATF used to batch submit to NICS on first in first out. The bad ones would hold up the lot. They're now supposedly doing cursory reviews and batching forms that are a) properly filled out, and b) use the same SS# for multiple open submissions.

My suspicion is that they are desperately trying to avoid the next wave of lawsuits targeting their turnaround times of nearly a year vs. the 60 days they're supposed to have, and trying to bring the average approval time down as quickly as possible to say "see, everything is fine." I think there's also a healthy dose of "keep them happy so we can keep racking up $200/ea" and hoping that as long as everyone has their stuff, the outcry for "in common use" court cases will subside.

 

Finally! After waiting for more than a year and a half, yesterday I picked up my Mossberg Mariner. First they were too expensive, then I could never find them in stock. A lot of places started showed them in stock about two months ago but since I was at work all I could do was hope they were still available when I got home. It makes the Maverick 88 I have look puny. Going to strip it down today for a good cleaning/lubing.

 

Yesterday I picked up another new (to me) toy, a CZ Scorpion Evo 3 S1 carbine. Already swapped the safety levers and the pistol grip. CZ used a weird angle on theirs, didn't feel good to me. I have a bullpup conversion kit for it, I'm going to shoot it as-is first to see how I like it. I stripped it down as far as I could, apparently the previous owner didn't clean it as there was a bunch of gunk built up everywhere, as well as some grit that almost seemed like sand.

 

Gents - not sure if any of you are familiar with the Kel-Tec Sub2000, but I bought one last year for ***** and giggles when they had the $100 rebate going. Fun plinking carbine for $279 after rebate.

Anyway, I just got my rebate and was thinking of spending the $100 on upgrading the gun.

M-carbo seems to be the go-to for most sub2000 fans.

So, if you had $100 to upgrade a Gen 2 Sub2000, what would you get? No optics

 

Ammo.

 

Latest eForm 4 submission was approved in 2 1/2 business days. Single filer, no trust.

 

Stick it in the safe and wait for them to be going for $500 and sell it. It will never feel like anything more than a toy and you'll regret every penny you spend on it. In the meantime, pre-spend the $500 you'll get in a year or two from selling it on building a nice 9mm upper for your AR15... can't go wrong with Ballistic Advantage barrels and any upper/bcg from any company will work fine... handguard needs to be long enough for whatever look you're going for based on the suppressor you'll run. You already have an SBR lower, so since the whole upper will only cost you $300 even if you go nuts on the handguard, the tax stamp for the new suppressor you're gonna buy is paid for too. And since you're going to run a standard AR15 lower, you'll want a 6pk of Endomags... trust me on all of this.

What did you buy and how absurd was the markup? I predict that in two years, average suppressor cost will drop by 60-70%... no reason for that a decent steel/inconel 5.56 can should cost more than about $200.

 

Integrally suppressed upper for a Ruger Mark II pistol. Made by a guy down in Irmo, SC. No obscene markups considering you're getting the upper receiver with it, which on the Mark pistols is the serialized component of the firearm, so you're buying a suppressor and a gun in tandem.

I have yet to pay a markup on any of my cans since they started moving the eForms along, but I have waited until they were on sale and then acted quickly before they sold out within a few hours. This is especially true if you find a can you like that isn't one of the bougie ones. I've bought a handful of Aero and Otter Creek cans all at sale pricing/"normal" market rate.

I do hope the demand volume begins driving manufacturing and ultimately purchase price down on at least bargain-tier cans.

 

Thanks for the input and yea, I mostly took Roda’s advice and spent the money on ammo and not on upgrading the Keltec.

In other pew-pew news I walked into a LGS a couple months back and randomly bought myself a present, they had been sold-out in most places…





Was absolutely an impulse buy but I’m happy with it. Probably would have been smarter to buy a $500 Canik and spend the other $500 as Sam suggests but I was feeling bougie that day I guess

 

Neat pistol, I just couldn't justify buying one over my polymer Rival with the brass backstrap which has been nothing short of spectacular in terms of reliability and accuracy. It seems to be more reliable than the Rival S from what reports I've seen, which is a big plus.

 

I've heard good things about the Caniks, let us know how it shoots.

On the subject of "cheap" guns: as a long time 1911 shooter, I was interested in trying the whole 2011 thing, but didn't want to drop the $$$$ for a Staccato. I almost jumped in when the Springfield Prodigy came out, but some early reports of issues held me back. Recently, I picked up a couple of Tisas 1911s, and was very impressed with the quality. Since they're now making a 2011 that's compatible with "standard" 2011 stuff, I thought I'd try one. I bought a 9DS Carry, and I gotta say I'm impressed yet again with the quality Tisas is able to deliver at a very reasonable cost. The first range trip showed promise, but the factory trigger was too short, and the grip did not have enough texture, both problems exacerbated by the large grip size. I added a Red Dirt trigger, and had a local guy stipple the front and back of the grip frame. I also swapped out the mainspring for a 19lb, and took 2lbs off the recoil spring (pretty standard 1911 stuff). Now we're talking... I still think it could use some trigger work, but for out of the box parts it's pretty good. Has run perfectly for the ~300 rounds I've put through it. Not bad, considering even with the work I did (except the red dot), it's still 1/3 the price of a Staccato. I have decided the 2011 thing isn't really for me... I'll stick to my 1911s, and I've got an M&P if I need a hi-cap 9 for serious business. The grip is just too big for me to be as fast and accurate as I am with other guns. This one will make a nice range toy.



And speaking of other Tisas and value for $$$, PSA still has some of the Enhanced Duty .45s at $449... I don't think you can get more for your money in a 1911 right now.

 

LE trade-in Glock 17 Gen 4's are available from Palmetto State right now for $320 ea. Word is they're coming in with immaculate internals and little to no exterior wear.

 

Yup... G17 and G22 in "good to very good" condition for $319... this is an unheard of price. You'll be at $400 after tax, ship, and FFL... but still way under Blue Label price and at least $100 than regular dude prices.