Browsing the Chinese shopping app Temu for shiny objects to scare hawks away from my yard, I was surprised to successfully find “fuel filters.” I thought this stuff went the way of the dodo after our friends at the ATF visited the homes of hundreds of Americans who had ordered similar items via Wish, Ali Express, and other Chinese crap apps.

Okay maybe this pistol booster assembly would be legal. I mean, most mounts aren’t considered silencer parts and are therefore readily available, with ATF’s blessing, a la carte on the interwebs anyway. But just in case, DON’T BUY ONE FROM CHINA.

First, I wouldn’t trust anything Temu is selling to be manufactured well enough to use with my suppressor. Given the moving parts inside a pistol booster and how easy it is to get baffle strikes should tolerances not be up to snuff and things aren’t square and concentric, etc., I wouldn’t risk an expensive silencer just to score a really inexpensive booster from across the Pacific.

Second, one of the issues with all the “fuel filters” and such on the Chinese apps isn’t just that they are easily converted into silencers (or ARE silencers in some cases), but that they were imported into the U.S.. It’s legal to manufacture your own suppressor and it’s legal to start with components that are close to final form, but ATF had a big problem with these things coming from overseas. Some suppressor companies like to advertise “Made In America” on their products, but that’s very much legally mandatory in the case of silencers.

As you can see in the photo above, that totally modular “car fuel filter” complete with QD mount and silencer industry-standard HUB 1.375×24 thread pitch has “baffles” that do not have a bore hole drilled. That’s, uh, “good,” I guess, in that it isn’t a functional silencer when it shows up to your door so you’re not, like, obviously committing a blatant felony. I guess.

You’d have to file a Form 1, pay your $200 tax and receive approval before you could drill out those baffles and serialize the thing to have a functional silencer. But, again, it still wouldn’t be legal and it would get confiscated if ATF figures out you ordered the components via Temu. They got lists of purchasers from Wish, so you have to assume it will happen.

That’s quite a novel silencer design. Errrr, uhh, I mean “monocore solvent trap filter.” I love how these “fuel filters” are marketed in the app to “reduce the noise created by cars.” Yeah, .22LR and 9mm and 300 Blackout “cars” threaded 1/2-28 and 5/8-24 that require a pistol booster.

Ha! Now that’s funny. A muzzle device that appears to be designed to slip over the non-threaded muzzle of a Ruger 10/22 with a front sight, with set screws to hold it to the barrel. Then the other end is threaded with your standard 2-liter bottle thread pitch.

I guess that makes a suppressor? Maybe, on a .22LR, if you fill the bottle with steel wool or something. The one time I did this was in a dream and it totally didn’t happen in real life, but I was 18 years old and had recently purchased a Yugoslavian SKS. My friend and I realized that the grenade launcher muzzle device fit perfectly and snugly inside the mouth of a 2-liter bottle. We pressed one on and fired a shot…and it was twice as loud as a normal gunshot, because the exploding bottle sounded like a freakin’ bomb going off.

Okay that’s a silencer. Like, all the baffles and the front cap have a “9mm hole” bored through them and the direct thread mount is in your standard thread sizes for 9mm and 300 Blackout. If you’re actually dumb enough to order this from a Chinese shopping app…just…seriously, don’t do that.

This one has some actual, legal value as this is a common design in the firearm industry for an actual solvent trap. A plastic bottle at the end of your barrel will catch barrel cleaning solvents and dirty patches pushed through the bore. For instance, HERE’s one on Brownells and HERE’s one that even uses plastic bottles.

There’s a crazy-long screenshot of “fuel filter” parts sold by just one supplier on Temu. Tons and tons of options, as you can see. I could have kept going. but figured that long screenshot would already cause issues displaying correctly (click it, perhaps a couple of times, to see it in full size).

The bottom line, really, is don’t order any of this stuff. Just don’t do it. You’ll eventually get a visit from the ATF and if you’ll be very lucky if they only confiscate it and give you a stern talking to. You don’t want a felony charge and prison time over a $50 illegal silencer. It just isn’t worth the risk. Now, if you want to fire up the ol’ VPN and order some cool camouflage shoes for under $20 with a virtual credit card like I did…I mean, they’re actually super comfortable shoes and I did, indeed, get all the shiny things to keep the hawks away from my chickens.

EDIT: About 24 hours after publishing the piece above I received the following email from a U.S.-based Temu representative, as they apparently caught wind of the article:

Hi Jeremy, 

 

My name is Natalie and I’m a PR rep for Temu. I’ve worked closely with their team since they launched in Boston last year. 

 

Thank you for flagging the issue of the sale of silencer parts on Temu in your recent article. The sale of weapons & firearms are prohibited on Temu and clearly listed on Temu’s list of prohibited products. Temu has investigated the product listings from your article and removed them all for violating Temu’s guidelines. In the future, if you see any violations, please report it to [email protected] so Temu’s team can take immediate action. 

 

Could you please update your article to reflect that the product listings have been immediately removed? Thanks in advance for your time and please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. 

 

Best, 
Natalie

 

Needless to say I don’t think these should be considered weapons or firearms! But, you know, given the various laws we have in the U.S. of A. at this time it’s still quite illegal. So…what can ya do?

 

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63 COMMENTS

  2. Buy it with bitcoin, ship it to your neighbors house. Pay a little boy in cookies to go pick it up for you.

    Lol

  3. Even their slings are junk. Pop Metal Hardware that breaks way too easily, and elastic that degrades in a very short period of time.
    F**k Temu

  5. Sorry kids. ordering crap Chinese “Fuel Filters” or “Solvent Traps” is a nice and easy way of getting noticed by folks you likely would rather not meet.
    I’ve looked at the web site simply because it came up while I was looking for non firearm related stuff. Didn’t see anything worth ordering. Either questionable quality or close but not what I wanted.
    Just do yourself a favor and get the stuff from a local or at least US vender and save yourself future issues. Either with the BATFE or with crap materials failing when you need them.

  7. But, what if I designed an actual car muffler using 180 or so of these things, built it, and installed it on a car? (never mind the fact that I could buy 20 genuine mufflers for that price, lol) Better yet, a new can for the motorcycle!

    It would be fun making a video of the ATF when they showed up, and tore apart my muffler to count all the little baffles.

    • Golly free advertising for Temu huh Jeremy?!? Good thing silencers are verboten in ILLannoy! I’d be tempted to get one🙄🤓

  10. Rubber ‘washer’s that are appropriately sized to replace -spent- ‘wipes’ in existing suppressors that use that technology can get you in big trouble with the ‘folks with NO sense of humor’ due to a BATFE restriction deemed ‘constructive possession’.
    Be -VERY,VERY- careful what you get yourself involved in, it is an ugly kick in the shins if this stuff can be traced to you. And denying your culpability equals a crime in itself.

    • “Rubber ‘washer’s that are appropriately sized to replace -spent- ‘wipes’ in existing suppressors that use that technology can get you in big trouble with the ‘folks with NO sense of humor’ due to a BATFE restriction deemed ‘constructive possession’.”

      A 2-inch knockout punch and a length of scrap conveyor belt and no one’s the wiser.

      (You are right, it’s foolish to tempt the ATF like that)

      I’ll re-ask a question I asked here a few times with no answer –

      Had Matt Hoover simply sold a decal and not the piece of metal itself, would he have been immune to prosecution? He was selling the plate of metal that went in the gun, so I see how *that* could be constructive possession, but with the decal, there would be *nothing* in the gun, including the decal itself.

      Thoughts?

      • Hoover’s card material was chosen by the graphic designer. It’s the wrong thickness to function as a lightning link, even if you cut it out, like BATFE did. It didn’t function as a machine gun, but they were charged anyway. BATFE’d probably call a decal a template and charge anyway.

      • The ATF seems to make up their on rules as they go along.

        A decal would show “intent” in their view. Even if there’s not a rule against it, they’ll reinterpret one to create a crime, just as they did with typos on 4473s.

        • “A decal would show “intent” in their view.”

          3-D printer files are perfectly legal, as are books like the bullshit ‘Anarchist’s Guide’ and Luty’s SMG plans at gun shows.

          So are any number of books on growing pot or cooking meth. Those folks don’t get arrested, what’s the legal difference?

        • “So are any number of books on growing pot or cooking meth. Those folks don’t get arrested, what’s the legal difference?”

          Because those idiots aren’t a threat to the .gov.

          We are a little bit behind England in suppressing rights. The government will work to destroy individual freedoms at every chance they get.

  11. I am uninterested in anything from China, and NFA items top the list of “do not ever buy”
    What worries me is how can supposedly educated people think they can buy this crap and it’s 1.) Legal, 2.) Safe, 3.) Works as advertised. Freaking idiots.

    • The reason why they can free ship items to you is because China abuses its “developing nation” status to get heavily subsidized transport costs.

      Not many “developing nations” I know have nuclear weapons, a blue water navy, and a space program.

    • “I am uninterested in anything from China, and NFA items top the list of “do not ever buy””

      I kinda like the idea of a .22lr pistol range in the garage or basement…

      • Just remember to work out some ventilation for that indoor range. You’re gonna need a whole lot of air exchange. Sadly, the closest range to me
        doesn’t have a great ventilation system…
        I hate to see smoke lingering in the air well after a grouping.
        Stay Short & Long Term Safe out there!

    • “I dont by anything online…anything.”

      Your loss, I kinda like having cheap ammo show up on the front porch…

  13. Yeah, but bipods built in China are superior to anything built in the United States of America.

  14. Not only do they sell illegal gun parts, they also require access to your contacts, your photos, your camera, and your search history so they can spy on you.

    • That’s Tiktok’s job.

      The Chinese are banning Tesla cars from being near “sensitive locations”. It should make you wonder what capabilities are secretly installed into Chinese EVs.

  15. Chinesium garbage gonna Chinese.

    Isn’t it time for patriots to stop funding the enemy with business patronage? Buy American and not Chinesium and Yurp crap.

    • Do you see in the sold section how many people have purchased? Although that number could be bogus, if true there are a lot of freaking morons out there. Personally I would happily pay more for made in the USA while I watched China die a slow miserable death but it will never happen as long as Bribem is in office.

  16. Think about what the Chinese are doing. They knew it wouldn’t be long until someone figured out what these filters really are. They know the anti gunners will use it as “evidence” we need more control over not just firearms, but anything associated with them. What a way to distract us from the real issues.

    What is the US gov gonna do? Write a strongly worded letter to Xi? Tell him to knock it off and respect out laws? Too many in our government are going over to present themselves to Xi tiny ji for him to care what we think.

    Between tiny Xi ji and Putin poofter they are playing the American people, and most of the Western world, effortlessly. They will not need to invade, we will destroy ourselves for them. Most of see this for what it is, and we know who the collaborators are. Some here, many in government and the unwitting ones who are following to cool crowd to ruin.

    Our national divorce will solve nothing, China and Russia will have succeeded in a decades long plan.

    Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right, who knows? I know I am always prepared for the worst, whether natural or manmade and always hoping for the best.

    • …the airsoft crowd, maybe. Some of them are really into the ‘looks realistic’ thing, and when airsoft stuff breaks it’s not usually catastrophically dangerous. The smarter ones should be leery of anything with a thread pitch that could be mounted on a real firearm, though.

  18. You don’t have to go to a Chinese communist front company to get these parts. They are available from American producers. And no I won’t provide a link to the site.

    This is a psy op. The chinese communist hate gun ownership. So yes, they will gladly sell parts to americans, and allow the american justice system to arrest you.

    And the people who believe in “fair trade” fell for it.
    And there has never been fair trade.
    The powers that be, government or private corporations, always have been manipulating it.

      • It amazes me how the people who demanded we trade with Communist China, condemn the United States for having trade partners with some third world dictator, that the libertarians liberals and the left hate.

        But they love trading with communist Cuba and communist China???

  19. “You’d have to file a Form 1, pay your $200 tax and receive approval before you could drill out those baffles and serialize the thing to have a functional silencer.”

    If you had that form 1 stamp, what are they complaining about?

    You were approved. You can prove when you ordered it.

    Someone needs to file a lawsuit to stop the that bullshit… 🙁

    • Some of these you can’t Form 1 because BAFTE considers them to already be silencers, so you can’t make something that’s already made, despite not being able to fire a bullet through it. OTOH, if.you buy one and get arrested, you can push a Bruen defense to overturn the NFA, and they can’t dismiss it for lack if standing. I’m sure many people would kick in to your crowd funding, and your name would be immortalized if the case makes it to the Supreme Court. On the downside, you face 10 years and $200k if you lose somewhere and your appeal.isn’t picked up.

  20. A soda bottle???
    With one of these adapter muzle devices for your Ruger 1022 installed. You don’t have to pay for someone to thread the barrel of your rifle. So now you just slap on this muzzle adapter and go rent yourself a gun muffler. Or buy one out right. After you have to wait 14 months.

    And the best part about is you’re not breaking any laws

    And there are other muzzler adapters for other popular 22 caliber rifles.

    • “With one of these adapter muzle devices for your Ruger 1022 installed. You don’t have to pay for someone to thread the barrel of your rifle.”

      My 10/22 ‘Tactical’ comes threaded 1/2 for a standard AR-pattern flash hider… 🙂

  21. Ennywone wanna bet our “friends” in DeeCee have partnered with the chinkies and have some very fn little bots prowling about on these websites, recording who buys what when and to what address? OR that there are significant kickbacks to these vendors when “our friends” actually score another victim?

  22. Would have been nice if TTAG covered the fact that the ATF killed the form1 industry by shuttering or threatening to shutter all the suppliers. Quiet bore is one of the few left, they require a form1 to order and the price is not cheap enough to justify the work required to complete a mediocre suppressor when you could purchase a real one for not much more.

  23. Everything you need for a you-know-what can already be gotten from other sources of things in industry here in the U.S. that are not fire arms related and are COTS parts and can be ordered on line or picked up in some brick-n-mortar places that cater to certain areas of industry that are not firearms related. For example…

    A certain common ‘replacement’ titanium tube more then suitable for up to a 7.62 you-know-what is used in industry and costs ~$33.00.

    A certain, I’ll call it ‘grading filter’ used for a machine in industry used to sort sizes of, i’ll call them ‘beads’, is in the exact size and shape and material of the (i’ll call them) ‘filters’ used in a certain commercially available you-know-what and all you need to do is drill out the existing hole to size for your purpose of ‘filtering bead sizes’, they cost ~$8.00 each — and they fit perfectly for you-know-what use in that certain common ‘replacement’ titanium tube.

    A certain adapter used in industry just happens to be available for about ~$15.00 and comes in various thread sizes that includes those sizes that are common on threaded barrels — and it just so happens to press fit nicely (actually you can tap it in with a mallet but its tight which is good) into that certain common ‘replacement’ titanium tube and you can drill a couple of holes to make sure its secured with a couple of screws or weld it if you want and can

    etc….

    so basically with just the above with these ‘certain’ things you can reproduce a certain commercially available you-know-what in size, and (pretty close to) weight, and function and capability that cost around $800.00 with no machining and with basic hand tools and a drill in about an hour or so … may need a way to cut the tube if you want to shorten its length … plus if you drill a couple of extra holes at certain spots in two of the ‘grading filters’ and add a .5 inch spacer (which can be had by cutting it from a ‘grading filter’ that you don’t mind discarding) between the last ‘grading filter’ and the certain adapter end inside the certain common ‘replacement’ titanium tube you can increase your you-know-what capability by 5dB over the ‘comparable’ commercially available you-know-what.

    • isn’t it a shame if we say the words ‘suppressor’ or ‘silencer’ and mention what a certain something is for, in exact relation to ordering and using a ‘thing’ to build something even if not for what they allege the U.S. Government can investigate and (probably) prosecute you.

  24. Rhetorical question: If the AFT has a paddy wagon following the UPS truck, ready to pick up guys who order these Chinese solvent traps, why do they not also pick up the guys who order Chinese Glock switches? Asking for a friend, whose local high school football game last week was interrupted by a fight. Four “students” who attend neither of the represented schools were arrested, and three of them were carrying “modified” Glocks. Haven’t heard of any solvent traps, modified or otherwise, being found on arrested “students.”

    • They do. The link in the very first paragraph is to a TTAG article about ATF picking up guys who order Chinese Glock switches.

      • You would think that they would perp walk these yutes but you never see it.
        Nope it’s some FFL in bumfuc Kentucky that goes down hard.

      • It was a rhetorical question, and muckraker got the point. Today, it’s the poor “Kentuckian” who gets the cuffs, not the gangsters with lengthy rap sheets.

        “The link in the very first paragraph is to a TTAG article about ATF picking up guys who order Chinese Glock switches.”

        The link in the very first paragraph is to a four year old TTAG article about ATF picking up guys who order Chinese Glock switches. That was Trump’s ATF, to the extent that he controlled it. Today, Biden’s feds and their state buddies are giving gangsters a pass.

        FIFY

  25. Gotta’ keep buyin’ Chinese so the ChiComs have the cash flow to fund the life style Hunter and Slo Joe’s Biden Crime Syndicate Family have become accustomed to.

  26. A couple of years ago an ad showed up on my FB page advertising a fuel filter. I knew immediately it wasn’t a fuel filter but a suppressor. For 49 bucks I thought what the hell, and ordered it. I ordered it threaded for my Beretta M9. A couple of weeks later it arrived and I put it on my Beretta. It did lower the noise level considerably and I was impressed. Sadly it prevents the slide from cycling about half the time. But it did reduce the sound. It’s in a junk box now.

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