Silencer Shop and Capitol Armory have pretty detailed “how to’s.” What happens when you buy a can from an online dealer that isn’t one of those? I assume its similar to buying a gun that would go to an FFL but instead, it gets sent to a local NFA/CL 3/SOT/whateveritscalled after a Form 3 is completed? And then from there, the local dealer does the Form 4 and all of that mess?
Assuming all of that is correct, what if the local dealer is part of the SS network? Will everything then be run through them like if you’d bought from SS directly?
I have bought a can from a third party (e.g., Mile High Shooters Supply in Colorado), had Form 3 xfer done to my local FFL, then did the process through Silencer Shop at my local dealer.
Bought my stamp through the Silencer Shop account, dealer handled the rest.
Actually don’t know how things work with Silencer Shop, but yeah, you need a FFL with a SOT. Assuming they don’t have what you are looking for in stock, your purchase with Form 3 to them and then they will Form 4 it to you. Ask FIRST what they charge to do a Form 4, usually it’s quite a bit more than what most charge for a 4473 transfer.
I knew a few guys who charged $200 to do a Form 4 and most people assumed that $200 was the NFA tax, then they discovered it was $200 for the Form 4 transfer AND $200 to the ATF for the NFA tax.
I recently purchased two cans through two separate local shops which were both part of the Silencer Shop network. The cans and the stamps were both purchased through Silencer Shop, the dealers handled the Form 3’s and facilitated the transfers.
One of the local shops used to charge $125 for NFA transfers but now charge the same $25 for everything. I don’t know if they encountered pushback or why they made the change.
my experience if I remember correctly is it takes more time of any already effing long time, and cost more. Its a PITA. I only buy cans from places I can walk in and see the cans, not everyone has that opportunity.
So given the markup on suppressors (usually about $50 and I’m not kidding) most SOTs make their money on the Form 4s.
NFA stuff isn’t a short term money maker, obviously the money is in transferable machine guns but you have to hold them for awhile to make any real money, there isn’t such a thing as a dealer price. What I pay for a transferable is what everyone else pays.
SBRs can stand a little markup, but not a lot. People already cry about the $200 NFA tax, if you even attempt to sell at or near MSRP people will just opt for a Title I firearm which never sell for MSRP unless it’s during a full on panic buy.
Anyone who has ever tried to sell their used suppressor knows how limited that market is, factor in TWO Form 4 transfers and you can’t even give them away.
That second paragraph is how my last purchase worked, the LGS loaded it into their SS inventory somehow and ever after that was the standard SS process. At leas that’s the impression I got.
Thanks for all the responses so far, I had no idea about the increased cost. The alternative is that I just wait for SS/CA to get the cans I want in stock so may be shorter in the long run.
On that note, what does have to happen for an individual to sell a can? I love my KAC QDC but don’t like the idea of multiple mounting systems and the non avail of QDCs plus the insane demand for them is making me consider dumping my one QDC and switching every AR to another mount for moar quiet pews.
I’m avoiding Silencer Shop, their system/customer base is overwhelmed and takes longer to process. My preferred local dealer uses NFA Tools and the average processing time from purchase to submitting a Form 4 is about 48 hours. Incoming transfers are only $45.
If you sell in the same state, you can Form 4 directly to the buyer and they will have to pay the $200 NFA tax on top of your ask price. But if you put sell it to an out of state buyer because you listed it in the EE, it would have to go through a FFL / SOT which means TWO Form 4 transfers so now $400 on top of your ask price. Since real world markups on new suppressors are typically less than $100 people aren’t going to give you anything close to that price for a used one.
If you paid $1000 for a decent AR, you can probably get $900 for it used in really good condition, but if you paid $1000 for a decent suppressor, you’d probably have trouble getting $500 for it used in really good condition. And unlike rifles which become classic collectibles, suppressors simply become obsolete technology.
I’ve transferred four suppressors through my local dealer that has a Silencer Shop kiosk. Never once have I used or been asked to use the Silence Shop system.