Automobile oil filter for suppressor?

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FoghornLeghorn

New member
Youtube has recommended videos (for me) of guys (Hickock45 for one) showing how engine oil filters work as suppressors on firearms.

Owning a gun and owning an oil filter are legal. But what about combining the two? If it were illegal, the guys on youtube wouldn't be doing it, right?

If the ATF is reading this, I've never tried it.
 
It is legal to make your own suppressor. You need to file an application (form 1) and pay a tax.

People have been using oil filters for years. There used to be “adaptors” avail that converted the thread pitch of your barrel to allow the filter to attach.

All perfectly legal IF you followed the rules about making your own.
 
You are behind the times; the current gimmick is a fuel filter. It has the L:D proportions of a commercial silencer and can be had with typical muzzle threads.
Same deal, you can use it as a silencer with prior government agency approval.
 
You are behind the times;
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True, but the necessary approval via the necessary alphabet agency is not the same thing as buying a dedicated firearm suppressor from my local class three dealer? Is it still a $200 tax and lengthy wait for approval?

Also, in compliance with the above, if my state law allows hunting with a suppressor, my home made suppressor would be legal to take afield?
 
FoghornLeghorn said:
True, but the necessary approval via the necessary alphabet agency is not the same thing as buying a dedicated firearm suppressor from my local class three dealer? Is it still a $200 tax and lengthy wait for approval?

Also, in compliance with the above, if my state law allows hunting with a suppressor, my home made suppressor would be legal to take afield?
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IMHO I think you are working on semantics here. The PURPOSE and intent of your oil filter and adapter setup would seriously come into question legally should something go sideways or into judicial scrutiny. Your statement "Is it still a $200 tax and lengthy wait for approval" implies an intent to circumvent laws. This also would be "used against you in a court of law"

It would be my recommendation to contact your local ordinance over your local hunting laws and pose the question to them. Hence, should you be taken notice of, you are not spending your lengthy wait for approval in a very small cell with big metal bars. ;D

I too get asked questions like this frequently, locally. I am in a ultra rural location. Our states also does not allow ANY Class3 NFA items to be in possession by civilians according to our local alphabet agency [ i like that] :)

Best of 2021 to all!
 
FoghornLeghorn said:
True, but the necessary approval via the necessary alphabet agency is not the same thing as buying a dedicated firearm suppressor from my local class three dealer? Is it still a $200 tax and lengthy wait for approval?
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The approval is exactly the same. There are some people on the Internet who tell us that it is only the muzzle adapter that is regulated (taxed) as the NFA device and you can then just buy oil filters at the local auto parts emporium. My understanding (and I think I remember Hickock45 discussing this in that video, but it's been awhile since I watched it) is that it's the entire assembly that the BATFE considers to be the suppressor. The initial order comes with the adapter and a filter, and the filter has the same serial number stamped into it that the adapter carries. Technically (I believe) you are supposed to ship the whole enchilada back to the manufacturer when it's time to replace the filter.

Also, in compliance with the above, if my state law allows hunting with a suppressor, my home made suppressor would be legal to take afield?
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If you are doing this in strict accordance with the law, you won't have a "home made" suppressor. You will have a suppressor that came from a manufacturer, with two parts that both carry a serial number. So, since that assembly is blessed by the BATFE as "a" suppressor, it should be legal in your state.

Disclaimer: IANAL.


Owning a gun and owning an oil filter are legal. But what about combining the two? If it were illegal, the guys on youtube wouldn't be doing it, right?
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I assume that was a rhetorical question, intended as satire.

Right? :cool:
 
A form 1 (to make your own) is usually faster in the approval process then a form 4 (to transfer a commercial manufactured one). Ive heard of form 1’s getting approved in under 90 days. Form 4’s are taking around a year these days

Once its legally in your possession it doesn't matter if its homemade or commercial. All the rules are the same.
 
FoghornLeghorn...Owning a gun and owning an oil filter are legal. But what about combining the two?
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If you attach or combine any device to a firearm that meets this definition you need an approved Form 1 as the "maker" of an NFA firearm:
Muffler or silencer. Any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for the use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.


If it were illegal, the guys on youtube wouldn't be doing it, right?
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Not necessarily. There are plenty of idiots with a cellphone.
 
FoghornLeghorn ... but the necessary approval via the necessary alphabet agency is not the same thing as buying a dedicated firearm suppressor from my local class three dealer?
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Building your own requires an approved Form 1 before you begin to make your homemade silencer.
Purchasing from your local dealer requires an approved Form 4 for the transfer of an NFA firearm.



Is it still a $200 tax and lengthy wait for approval?
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Paper Form 1's take around five months.
eForm 1's take less than five weeks.



Also, in compliance with the above, if my state law allows hunting with a suppressor, my home made suppressor would be legal to take afield?
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I can't see why not.
 
CedarGrove357 ....I too get asked questions like this frequently, locally. I am in a ultra rural location. Our states also does not allow ANY Class3 NFA items to be in possession by civilians according to our local alphabet agency [ i like that]
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I don't. The Second Amendment has meaning, you should read it sometime.
 
Aguila Blanca....The approval is exactly the same.
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Not necessarily, those making an NFA firearm have the option to file electronically, basically doing the data entry for ATF. This results in much faster approval times. Paper approvals take months, EForms takes weeks.


There are some people on the Internet who tell us that it is only the muzzle adapter that is regulated (taxed) as the NFA device and you can then just buy oil filters at the local auto parts emporium.
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They are wholly and completely idiots and should be shunned by society.:D
Anyone making that argument hasn't read the definition:
Muffler or silencer. Any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for the use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.
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So, swapping out the oil filter? Can only be done by a licensee. Is it legal to own or possess additional oil filters? Sure! because of that last sentence....oil filters have uses other than serving as a crappy silencer, that being an oil filter.



My understanding (and I think I remember Hickock45 discussing this in that video, but it's been awhile since I watched it) is that it's the entire assembly that the BATFE considers to be the suppressor.
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True. But that doesn't prevent someone from owning spare oil filters...just that the user cannot swap them out himself.


The initial order comes with the adapter and a filter, and the filter has the same serial number stamped into it that the adapter carries. Technically (I believe) you are supposed to ship the whole enchilada back to the manufacturer when it's time to replace the filter.
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ANY licensed dealer can do it as gunsmithing. Same as with silencers that use replaceable "wipes".

Quote:
Also, in compliance with the above, if my state law allows hunting with a suppressor, my home made suppressor would be legal to take afield?
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If you are doing this in strict accordance with the law, you won't have a "home made" suppressor. You will have a suppressor that came from a manufacturer...
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Nope, but a frequent misconception.;)
"Manufacturers" are licensed as such. Those who are not licensed as a manufacturer are "makers". A homemade silencer has a "maker". After you complete your homemade NFA firearm you are required to engrave the makers name and location on the firearm.
 
dogtown tom - I can't say for sure, but I read his "I like that" to mean he likes the term "alphabet agency" not the restrictions those agencies impose.
 
Sharkbite A form 1 (to make your own) is usually faster in the approval process then a form 4 (to transfer a commercial manufactured one). Ive heard of form 1’s getting approved in under 90 days. Form 4’s are taking around a year these days
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Not. Even. Close.
Yesterday I received three stamps for Form 4's submitted in August 2020. One positive thing about COVID is that ATF's NFA Examiners are working from home and approvals in 2020 have averaged 4-6 months. That's faster than anytime in the last ten years!



Once its legally in your possession it doesn't matter if its homemade or commercial. All the rules are the same.
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Yup
 
So, swapping out the oil filter? Can only be done by a licensee. Is it legal to own or possess additional oil filters? Sure! because of that last sentence....oil filters have uses other than serving as a crappy silencer, that being an oil filter.
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The problem comes when you have multiple oil filters with a little hole shot through them and only 1 tax stamp.
 
Why would you WANT to use an automotive oil filter?
It will obscure any sights or optics installed on the gun.
Pretty stupid idea. A great way to either break the law, or waste $200.
 
Form 4’s are taking around a year these days
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Mine took a bit more than 4 months- Middle of June to mid October. I wasn't even ready to mount it when the stamp came in and the dealer called and asked me to come get it ....
 
dogtown tom said:
Aguila Blanca said:
If you are doing this in strict accordance with the law, you won't have a "home made" suppressor. You will have a suppressor that came from a manufacturer...
Click to expand...
Nope, but a frequent misconception.
"Manufacturers" are licensed as such. Those who are not licensed as a manufacturer are "makers". A homemade silencer has a "maker". After you complete your homemade NFA firearm you are required to engrave the makers name and location on the firearm.
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My bad. You are correct, but in the opening post Mr. Leghorn mention Hicock45's YooToob video, and my recollection is that in that video (unless Hicock45 has done more than one on oil can suppressors) the assembly was a commercial unit, not one that Hicock45 made in his basement workshop.

So it didn't occur to me that Mr. Leghorn was considering firing up the milling machine to build his own adapter.
 
Double Naught Spy
Quote:
So, swapping out the oil filter? Can only be done by a licensee. Is it legal to own or possess additional oil filters? Sure! because of that last sentence....oil filters have uses other than serving as a crappy silencer, that being an oil filter.
Click to expand...
The problem comes when you have multiple oil filters with a little hole shot through them and only 1 tax stamp.
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Well of course. Thats why I quoted ATF definition above. Parts is parts, unless its parts to a silencer.
 
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