Silencer Saturday #371: PSA Gets Into Silencer Sales

PSA Gets Into Silencer Sales (With Direct-to-door Shipping)

Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new Victra-12 shotgun suppressor. This week we have some exciting news about a new power player in the silencer retail space. Palmetto State Armory has teamed up with Capitol Armory to sell suppressors and ship them directly to your door once the paperwork clears.

Silencer Saturday @ TFB:

• Silencer Saturday #370: Silencer Mounting Overview
• Silencer Saturday #369: ATF Silencer Industry Data
• Silencer Saturday #368: Breaking Down Nielsen Devices
• Silencer Saturday #367: What Is Haynes 282 & Why Is Everyone Using It?
• Silencer Saturday #366: SHOT Show Suppressor Roundup

Disclosure: I have a relationship with PSA, having done several reviews for them and also participating in their affiliate link program. All images from PSA.

PSA Enters The Space

Palmetto State Armory is by no means a new name in the gun industry. From their start as a budget AR manufacturer they have grown into a major player, making everything from inexpensive ARs to AKs to retro ARs and 5.7x28 pistols. The PSA booth is also a huge focus of SHOT Show with all kinds of new projects on display each year.

Despite the wide range of products they sell, silencers have not been on offer previously. This is surprising in part because PSA’s holding company also owns suppressor manufacturer AAC, which was acquired when Remington Outdoor Corporation went bankrupt. But suppressors are a highly regulated item in the United States, so there are some barriers to entry. For that reason, it makes sense why PSA would team up with an established vendor like Capitol Armory to facilitate the sales.

The available product lineup is very comprehensive; most of the major players in the American silencer market are represented on the PSA site. There are also some package deals with PSA uppers and the appropriate silencers. However, not every suppressor on the Capitol Armory site is available from PSA. Some, like the legendary Allen Engineering silencers, are not sold by PSA.

Shortly after the PSA suppressor site went live, there were some memes about pricing stemming from certain cans costing quite a bit more through PSA than on the Capitol Armory site. After comparing the prices on many models, many are priced the same on both sites. Some are more on one site, others are less expensive on one than the other. Definitely compare prices before pulling the trigger on a new suppressor.

Direct To Your Door?

American silencer purchasers have to deal with a regulatory scheme that has remained mostly unchanged since 1934. The buying process is, sadly, not as simple as entering payment and shipping info. Back in the day, buying a suppressor online meant shipping it to a local dealer to handle the paperwork. The receiving shop often charged a substantial fee for handling the forms and storing the silencer for a year or more.

This is not the case now. Purchasers from PSA can have their silencer sent directly to their front door in the mail. Other dealers like Silencer Central also offer direct to home shipping on silencers, but I was curious how that works. Typically, buyers must work with a dealer in their state to take possession of a new silencer. So how is a national company sending these to people’s homes?

Dealers like Capitol Armory solved this by setting up business entities in every state where silencers are legal. The ATF publishes information about all Federal Firearm Licensees on their website. I checked the databse and sure enough, there was a Capitol Armory entity here in Utah.

The actual buying process is spelled out very clearly on PSA’s website. The first step is buying the new silencer (this is also the most fun step other than taking actual possession of it), followed by setting up a Capitol Armory account. You will need to decide whether you are purchasing the silencer individually or through a trust, and if you are choosing the trust, that will need to be set up fully. Capitol Armory’s trust can be purchased in the same transaction for $79. You will also need to pay $200 for the tax stamp, but that can be added into the transaction as well.

The next step is fingerprinting, either the old-fashioned way with ink on a paper card or through a digital scanner of the appropriate type (don’t use the scanner on your home printer, it needs to be in a specific file format). Those fingerprints accompany the Form 4 application that you fill out electronically and submit to the ATF. Then the waiting begins. Fortunately, approval times are much shorter than they used to be and most approvals come back within a month or so.

Once the approval is back from ATF you need to fill out a 4473 (the standard gun purchase background check form, proving that you are a person that can legally possess the item). Capitol Armory sends a notification to the chief law enforcement officer where you live (yes, this is still an absurd step, but it is far better than the old system where the head of the local police agency had to sign off on your purchase of an NFA item), then ships the suppressor to you.

This may sound like a lot, but having that process be something online that you can fill out while you watch The Office is pretty convenient, as is having the silencer delivered to your home instead of needing to drive to your local NFA dealer during business hours to pick it up. This system is also very tested and has the kinks worked out so you can trust that it already works well. PSA’s entry into silencer sales is noteworthy because of the massive volumes of products they sell as a company. Hopefully having a big name like PSA that is not exclusively a silencer dealer offering this kind of service makes it easier for more people to get into suppressed shooting.

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DEALERS: If you want your link to buy YHM suppressors included in future Silencer Saturday posts, email:   silencers@thefirearmblog.com