In paintball, the element of surprise can make the difference between victory and defeat. While we can’t help you with the sounds of labored breathing and shuffling feet as you waddle across the field, we did find this guide on how to make a silencer for your paintball gun.
To build this you will need two lengths of PVC pipe, one slightly larger in diameter than the barrel of the gun, the other about 1″ beyond that. You will also need PVC reducers that fit the pipes, cotton balls, and various cutting and finishing tools. Cut the stopper tab from the smaller pipe and put into a reducer, hammering the reducer into place. Cut the pipe about 1″ away from the reducer, being careful to make the cut as even (perpendicular to the length of the pipe) as possible. Now drill six straight lines of ten holes along the pipe with the smallest drill bit possible. Sand down the inside of the pipe by wrapping sandpaper around a cylindrical stick and move the stick in and out of the pipe. Cut the larger pipe so that it is slightly shorter than the smaller pipe. Fit the two pipes together and fill the area between the two with about 20 cotton balls. After that, fit the second reducer to the other end. At this point the silencer is functional, but guide author [MrAngryPants] suggests painting it black.
As the paintball and CO2 are expelled from the gun, the cotton baffles dampen the resulting sound wave.
It should be noted that these are most likely illegal to build. This thread explains it quite well. http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/forum_posts.asp?TID=176358
This is illegal in the USA without proper registration, paperwork, and a $200 tax.
This is illegal in the US with one recently clarified exception. Silencers are legal on paintball guns and other non-lethal air guns provided that the silencer is permanently mounted to the body of the gun and cannot be removed or transferred.
Just chiming in to third the other two. Silencers, even for non-lethal, non-regulated play guns need to be registered.
Hell, a toilet paper core roll with tissue inside of it over a paintball gun is considered a silencer according to the ATF.
They are correct, about ATF requirements. Was not worth the cost legalizing it in my opinion.
Paintball marker silencers are legal so long as;
a) The marker has a fixed barrel
b) The silencer cannot be removed without rendering the silencer inoperable.
c) Local laws don’t have something about them (unlikely)
I’m sure something clever turning and gluing could be done to make a silencer that snaps apart on attempt to remove it.
If you think about it, under the current law, they could charge pretty much anyone they wanted to with possession of a silencer. Most people will have something in their houses that meets that definition, as there’s no standard for what constitutes “readily convertible”. Got a metal soda bottle? that’s probably only 20minutes or so away from technically being a silencer, hell, got a lathe and a 2x2x12″ block of steel stock? maybe 5 hours of tooling constitutes ready conversion? I could go on, but you probably get the point.
I’m sure some of you are thinking that generic laws like this are ok, since their enforced somewhat organically, but you have to remember, most people are STUPID, let me repeat that, MOST—-PEOPLE—-ARE—-STUPID!!!
Seriously, I’m fighting charges right now for “possession of a dangerous weapon on school property” because the item, which I didn’t even bring to school intentionally, met the criteria for a weapon. The criteria states any device that propels a projectile by any means at any velocity is a weapon.
So far, I’ve got it down to a municipal complaint, which is like a parking ticket, but I’ll have to go to court, and otherwise keep fighting for months, or it will still appear on some background checks for the rest of my life…
You don’t know how many times I’ve explained to someone that the device I had wasn’t designed as a weapon, used as a weapon, or even usable as a weapon, only to get the reply “well, it meets the criteria” **facepalm**
Go to a hardware store a Pick up a water filter cartridge. The type made of acylic wool spun around a plastic perforated tube. You have to cut out a stopper. But the tube runs a 10″ length, diameter fits most barrels. Best of all paint can be washed out becouse its a water filter.
It also works, making clap sound too far away, for anyone to care about.
I have fired at people and seen them look nowhere near me. It adds some fun to the game.
This type.
http://www.sedifilt.com/sedifilt_technology/
http://www.ro-waterfilter.com/productdetail/83196/spunppfiltercartridge.htm
If making a silencer for your paintball gun is illegal in the US, the ATF should start busting all the lawn mower stores and Home Depots out there for selling lawn mover mufflers. A tube muffler for a lawn mower can make a dandy silencer.
Thanks phil for the one stop alternative. You guys know as to whether or not the ATF monitors big paintball events like Invasion of Normandy (this weekend :D). I have a ton of good shootin’ paintball guns that would benefit very much from a silencer…
Im not americain, but i would think the atf has better things to do then fill out paper work for a guy with a paint ball toy.
don’t worry about it, just make one and try it out.
Great design, couple that with a short barrel for the silencer to completely cover and you got one hell of an ambushing marker(gun).
You can make the silencer in the US, however you cannot attach it to anything or use it w/o proper paperwork or permanently attaching it to the barrel of an of air powered rifle, assuming the barrel cannot be reused on other non-air powered guns.
Interesting.
Sounds like what I was thinking when I was trying to get a “Weed Eater” brand mower to start. (With a 6.5 HP B&S)
Thanks for posting.
Go to a hardware store a Pick up a water filter cartridge. The type made of acylic wool spun around a plastic perforated tube. You have to cut out a stopper. But the tube runs a 10″ length, diameter fits most barrels. Best of all paint can be washed out becouse its a water filter.
It also works, making clap sound too far away, for anyone to care about.
I have fired at people and seen them look nowhere near me. It adds some fun to the game.
This type.
http://www.sedifilt.com/sedifilt_technology/
http://www.ro-waterfilter.com/productdetail/83196/spunppfiltercartridge.htm
Upon loading the URL to sedifilt.com, I was presented with a large image of one of their filters. It has text labels describing various aspects of their filter product. At the far RIGHT and BENEATH the filter, it describes, “High Porosity, Low Pressure Drop”. This material is UNSUITABLE for the purposes of being any contributing element in a suppressor (silencer). While you will get a dampening effect on the sound of firing, your unit has far greater potential than what you would be achieving at that point in time. The material you seek will have a HIGH pressure drop, as it is this drop in pressure that makes a suppressor (silencer) do what it does.
lanselotus afigenius