# Can someone help me find actual plans to build a silencer for a .22 caliber handgun?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 19, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880 "2001-05-19T03:20:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/1 "2001-05-19T03:20:31Z")
All I can find are homemade plans, with household materials…I’m looking for actual plans to make one out of metal, using a lathe and any other necessary machinery.
Thanks. 😃
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### Author:  [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/2 "2001-05-19T03:23:39Z")
isn’t that illegal?
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### Author:  [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/3 "2001-05-19T03:26:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Whammo \*
> \*\*isn’t that illegal? \*\*
Yes.
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### Author:  [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/4 "2001-05-19T03:30:44Z")
I didn’t say it’d be USED, just built!
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/5 "2001-05-19T03:32:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dark Lord Davidson \*
> \*\*All I can find are homemade plans, with household materials…I’m looking for actual plans to make one out of metal, using a lathe and any other necessary machinery.
>
> Thanks. 😃 \*\*
Dude, I can’t explain enough how illegal this is. If you post that you still want to go through with it, I would ask why you want to know. Granted, this is an idle question with a smilie at the end, but it seems pretty suspicious.
Sorry to darken yer day, but you ain’t got any explainable motives, and even **I** ain’t that crazy . . .
Tripler
But I can tell ya how to do it. . . ::eep::
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### Author:  [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/6 "2001-05-19T03:43:35Z")
My dad is a machinist.
He works with CNC lathes and those types of machines.
Currently, the company he works for is experiencing a slow period. Right now, my dad has nothing to do.
He is a gun advocate, and owns quite a few.
He’s always wanted a silencer, and knows he can build one.
He has no evil intentions, has never been in trouble with the law, and is an upstanding citizen of the U.S.A. with no criminal record of any kind.
He just wants one. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/7 "2001-05-19T03:54:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dark Lord Davidson \*
> \*\*My dad is a machinist.
>
> He works with CNC lathes and those types of machines.
> Currently, the company he works for is experiencing a slow period. Right now, my dad has nothing to do.
> He is a gun advocate, and owns quite a few.
> He’s always wanted a silencer, and knows he can build one.
> He has no evil intentions, has never been in trouble with the law, and is an upstanding citizen of the U.S.A. with no criminal record of any kind.
> He just wants one. 🙂 \*\*
I can fully agree with the “He just wants one.”. Hell, I bought an AR-15 because “I wanted one!”, but there’s a distinct difference:
**my AR-15 is legal**.
If your Pop is a machinist, he should be able to make one up on his own without our help. Anyone can find instructions anywhere. Dude, asking me (or even us on the SDMB) for help is tantamount to criminal. Providing such info is _ **very** _ criminal. . .
Tripler
Yeah, I am a jackass. So what?
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### Author:  [@Mersavets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mersavets)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/8 "2001-05-19T03:54:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> and is an upstanding citizen of the U.S.A.
Well that’s good enough for me. It’s not like he’s Canadian or anything. Just give him the goddamn information. When’s the last time an American misused a firearm?
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### Author:  [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/9 "2001-05-19T04:00:01Z")
Ok, I’m not getting anywhere with this, and it was a bit foolhardy to ask such a question.
If I overstepped my bounds or offended anyone, I’m sorry.
Mods, please close this thread.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/10 "2001-05-19T04:03:15Z")
Why go to all of the trouble of building one yourself? Just pick up a copy of _Shotgun News_ and buy the parts. You’ll need to get the internal parts from one dealer and the tube from another. Why? Because it doesn’t matter if you _use_ it; it’s a **federal crime** to possess the parts to make one.
I’ve heard that books like _The Anarchist’s Cookebook_ and _The Poor Man’s James Bond_ have that sort of information, but **don’t do it**. Do not even buy the parts. Hell, a 2-litre soft-drink bottle can land you in a federal prison if the BATF thinks you intended to use it as a silencer.
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/11 "2001-05-19T04:04:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dark Lord Davidson \*
> \*\*Ok, I’m not getting anywhere with this, and it was a bit foolhardy to ask such a question.
>
> If I overstepped my bounds or offended anyone, I’m sorry.
> \*\*
I’m not offended, but I seriously question the intent. _Just because I want one._ doesn’t exactly stand up in court. . .
Tripler
You want info? I have no official comment.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-find-actual-plans-to-build-a-silencer-for-a-22-caliber-handgun/65880/12 "2001-05-19T04:47:53Z")
Well, the problem is that it is illegal, without the proper license, and without being in the proper State, and jurisdiction, etc, etc to possess a silencer. Whether or not it is ever used. Whether or not it is ever installed on a firearm. And, get this, whether or not it even works! Yes, a judge can rule that a completely non-working silencer is an NFA device (National Firearms Act), and thus eligible to send you to 10 years or so to a nice happy place called prison.
So essentially…people are trying to tell you that if your Pop wants to make one without being licensed to do so, he’s on a slow-boat to the Official World O’ Hurt if he gets caught.