Back in the day, Ruger was all about “traditional” firearms and designs. Talk to the Ruger of 1995 and suggest that they make an AR-15 platform rifle and you’d look at you like you have lobsters coming out of your ears. And then give you the bum’s rush. Things have changed in the intervening years, to the point where Ruger is right there with the other major manufacturers, turning out modern scary-looking products that are banned in California. Adding to that comprehensive line, Ruger appears to be launching their own line of silencers . . .
Leaked on their publicly accessible Beta site (like what happened with the Ruger American Pistol) their Silent-SR is a 6.3 ounce rimfire can capable of handling .22LR full auto, .17HMR, and .22WMR all from a handgun-length barrel. The baffle stack pops out for easy cleaning, and the baffle design seems like a bit of a departure from the standard K baffle. Yours for only $449 MSRP. Plus ATF tax stamp and delay, of course.
Ruger’s going up against some stiff competition in the suppressor arena. Everyone from AAC to Surefire sell a dedicated rimfire can. We’ll have to wait and see at SHOT what makes the Silent-SR different from all the rest besides the Ruger roll mark.
Good for them! More products means more choices and hopefully more competitive pricing. As a note on Ruger, I have been impressed with their products in the last 2-3 years. The big tell for me was their triggers. 80’s & 90’s triggers were atrocious and kept me away from everything except the 10/22. Now even their subcompacts have sweet triggers. This translates for me anyways into a more accurate and pleasant shooting experience. They musta had some turnover in the Law department….
Ruger is probably mainly aiming at the “new to NFA items” customers. That is a rapidly growing crowd. Likely, these are “gun people” and are already familiar with, and have confidence in Ruger brand firearms. It is the same thing with the market for the Ruger AR-556 (and the M&P15 Sport series)(people new to AR’s). While Ruger is new to suppressors, and relatively new to AR’s, they have a long established reputation for quality firearm products at a reasonable price.
Everybody loves their 10/22’s, Mark series pistols, and SA&DA revolvers. Why not buy a Ruger brand suppressor over one from a company they have never heard of?
And this is why Ruger and other gun manufacturers will create and expand on their own suppressor line: name recognition. The casual gun person will buy their SR22 and if the Hearing Protection Act passes will see Ruger suppressors and they’ll have a small orgasm because they’ll finally get to pretend to be James Bond in Goldeneye.
“For England James?”
“No, for my hearing protection.”
“No, for my hearing protection.”
*chuckle*
+1 million
Man, if/when this is available, it is SO going on my PMR-30! Though… 1/2 the fun of the PMR-30 is the loud bang & flash at the range.
Kel-tec does not warrant the use of a suppressor on the PMR-30.
“USE OF A SUPPRESSOR WITH THE PMR-30 PISTOL IS NOT RECOMMENDED. Due to the unique locking action of the PMR-30 pistol and the lightweight slide and barrel, the use of a suppressor is not recommended as it will cause an increase in gas volume and pressure and the slide will likely unlock early. This will cause an increase in gases and residue that is ejected back towards the shooters face and could also cause a case rupture to occur. Any damage or injuries caused by the use of a suppressor or other heavy weight muzzle device attached to the PMR-30 pistol will not be covered by any Warranty.”
what are the baffles made of? titanium? aluminum? steel? anyone know?
Since I live in CA, i know that they are made of Unobtainium, just like the SR-22 aslo in the picture… And my crocodile tears are real, unlike the prezs.
You are the one choosing to live in a state that passes dozens of more ridiculous laws every year restricting the rights of their honest hardworking residents !
Someone should silence their apparent leak.
reading the website info, baffles are stainless steel, outer tube is Ti. Sounds like a high quality can. If street price is under $400 (I’m sure it will be), it will prob be very competitive with other high end 22 cans out there.
Interesting to see how it will perform against similar designs, like the Silencerco Spectre, Dead Air Mask, and Axiom. The Ruger doesn’t support 5.7 FN like the others though, which might give an indication of it’s durability.
“Ruger is right there with the other major manufacturer ^S^ , turning ”
fixed it for you!
Why would I pick this over say a Liberty Kodiak TL for example? The Kodiak TL has a $400 street price… Does this ruger can really offer any advantages over an exceptional can like that?
You may find the Ruger has a lower street price. 😉
Maybe it turns out to be a great can, maybe not. It is interesting that Ruger has decided to get in the game with a competitively priced product because as a large company (by industry standards) the profit potential probably isn’t there just yet. Let’s face it:; only a fraction of a percent of firearms owners actually own suppressors due to the onerous restrictions and regulations involved with legally taking possession of them. It makes me wonder if Ruger is anticipating a time when regulations will be relaxed or lifted completely which would allow more consumers to enter the market. If that happens, Ruger would be in a unique position to take advantage of their manufacturing capabilities and economy of scale to flood the market with suppressors that could end up costing less that the actual firearms that they produce, especially in rimfire calibers. I think this is a smart move for them.
So the cost to suppress a .22LR approaches $700. More if you include a threaded barrel.
Seems about as useful as an air conditioner on an igloo. Subsonic .22LR out of a rifle makes about as much noise as a good spit. Maybe a little louder out of a pistol, but still…
I can think of better ways to spend that kind of coin. But people will buy these. What a country!
And don’t forget that the shorter the barrel, the quieter it suppresses. Its quite counter-intuitive, since a shorter barrel is so much louder, but the higher the unsuppressed muzzle blast is, the better the can works.
Don’t hate cuz you can’t have them illinois boy
So, in other words, Ruger was a gun culture 1.0 company – like Colt. Today Ruger has embraced gun culture 2.0 and has updated its offerings and expanded into areas it typically didn’t bother with. Today, Ruger is thriving and Colt went bankrupt. It’s good to see Ruger taking a lead in expanding its line. I use a Ruger American rifle for hunting, and it’s an awesome gun that doesn’t break the bank.
Ruger was run by a smart guy with good ideas, but Bill Ruger didn’t care to give the people what they wanted. He had to start up a company with new ideas and designs whereas Colt has been living on the name and military contracts since the 60’s. Once Bill Ruger was out of the picture, that allowed the development of new ideas and it’s that new blood that rejuvenated Ruger. Colt doesn’t want to do anything new.
I remember watching a Colt representative from SHOT show last year and when he was talking about the company products all he could talk about was how great a Colt was and how “authentic” a 1911 from Colt is.
I felt if I was there and straight up asked him why I should buy a Colt at $1500 over an Armscor/Rock Island for $650 he would respond by saying, “Because… it’s a Colt.”
Because… it’s a Colt is not good enough to sway me to buying anything Colt.
That price! Just can’t understand why these things cost so much! For the number of parts, the like machined parts, and lack of anything mechanical or moving, the cost must be not much more than a third or less of retail.
Think of how many complete firearms Ruger offers for about the same money.
“…cost must be not much more than a third or less of retail…”
Which is probably true of almost any manufactured item. Retail price is always much, much higher compared to the physical production cost of the product. Especially in product categories, like firearms, that have a higher regulatory burden.
Suppressors are also more expensive because they’re a relatively low-volume, niche product. There’s not enough demand out there for someone to really build a monster, state-of-the-art suppressor factory and churn them out inexpensively as the commodity product they should be.
Cost is high because of taxes. If a retailer wants to sell suppressors they have to pay the SOT tax every year. Thats $1000.00 off the top. If its s low demand area and you sell one a month that right there adds $80+ overhead. Then you have to figure the extra paperwork to sell it, storage while the ATF drags its feet, inspections, record keeping, etc. The same taxes hit the manufacturer. For the privilege of selling a product the shop has to pay the feds before they even buy inventory and make the first sale. That limits the number of places selling which in turn limits competition and the prices go up.
Other countries were silencers are cheaper the silencers they sell are very low quality and often don’t last more then a few years. US made silencers are quieter, last a lifetime and very high quality.
There is a reason why these countries that make cheap silencers have their militaries and police buy US made silencers.
SOT tax is $500 a year, not $1000. I know because I have a SOR.
Excellent, I bought an SR22 with the threaded barrel JUST to be able to eventually suppress it. The only reason I haven’t so far is buying a can and then waiting around for the stamp just sucks.
“I’m putting off buying it because I don’t want to wait.”
ERROR. DOES NOT COMPUTE. 🙂
” The only reason I haven’t so far is buying a can and then waiting around for the stamp just sucks.”
Consider buying from a dealer with an attached gunrange.
Then you can visit ‘Your Precious’ while waiting for the paperwork to clear…
I’ve got one for a small pistol thats almost exactly like that design. (Baffle design is different). Once its got a couple hundred rounds thru it the disassembly and cleaning process becomes a challenge. These baffles look much more succeptable to fouling!!
John h.
As a loyal Ruger consumer. I made a few product suggestions to “Tell the CEO” about 18 months ago. Ruger branded Suppressors was one of them. I’m happy to see this. I’m still waiting on affordable pump and auto shotguns from them.
So can anyone explain why the ATF takes months to approve a NFA suppressor purchase?. It should be as easy as a firearm purchase. What, the ATF doesn’t have a computer system to check on purchasers. What could possibly take so long for approval. Has anyone investigated this? Just asking why?
Because they can. The NFA branch is, I suspect, intentionally understaffed to create unnecessary delays in paperwork processing, to discourage people from owning NFA devices.
This is awesome. If the legal barriers can be brought down – then the price might come down from the ludicrous prices that they charge now for a tube of metal and some baffles.
Hopefully the 100-200 silencer is only a year or so away.
You have to wonder, with the surge in suppressor manufacturers in the U.S., now including large companies like SIG and Ruger, if they have some inside information that removal of suppressors from NFA might be a very real possibility in the not too distant future. On the other hand, maybe they expect to drive prices down. If quality suppressors start running $250-$300, that $200 tax stamp doesn’t seem quite so bad.
The Ruger design looks almost identical to the Huntertown Arms Guardian 22. I bought the Guardian 22 with steel baffles and a titanium tube for $199.00 and have it on my S&W 22 compact and it is sooooo much fun!
It can be a pain to clean every 500 rounds or so but I just soak the steel baffles in “dip” which is equal parts household strength hydrogen peroxide and vinegar and they clean up good as new. (warning: never use dip on aluminum baffles)
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