Thursday, December 05, 2013

From Forgotten Weapons:“I Found This Old Maxim Silencer…”

Forgotten Weapons does a good job of showing how insane the Federal law on gun mufflers/silencers/suppressors is.  This law is a good example of insanity in legislation.

Since I posted my brief article on the original Maxim silencers, I’ve had more than a few people contact me saying that they have found one among the possessions of a deceased parent or grandparent. These folks are curious what the value of a Maxim silencer is, and are looking to sell it or learn more about the history behind them. Well, from the number of contacts I’ve had along these lines, it is clearly something that needs to be better addressed. I expect many of my regular readers are going to know what I’m about to explain, but I want to put this out there so that people searching on Google and other engines will find it.

So – the first thing that you need to know about Maxim silencers is that, like all other silencers (aka suppressors) today they are required to be registered with the BATF. The law requiring this took effect way back in 1934, and possession of an unregistered silencer is a federal felony. In addition, it is not legal to register an existing unregistered silencer – they must be registered when originally manufactured (or during the one registration amnesty that was granted in 1968).

The Maxim silencers were patented in 1909, before this law (the National Firearms Act) existed, and at that time they were cheap and unregulated. They were purchased via mail order, and cost a few dollars (exact cost depended on which model you wanted; they made them for .22s as well as centerfire rifles). They were stamped “Maxim Silencer”, but were not serial numbered – there was no reason to go to the expense of putting a serial number on such an item.

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