The folks over at BLACKHAWK! have been manufacturing holsters, tactical clothing and gear for quite some time now. Good stuff, too. Their SERPA holsters — love ’em or hate ’em — are ubiquitous. Plastic and cloth have been the tools of their trade, but the latest items in BLACKHAWK!’s catalogue are made from something significantly more durable. Rolling out for 2016 is a full line of silencers including both pistol and rifle rated cans from .22LR up through .338 Lapua Magnum. My only question: Why? . . .
Cans would seem to be quite a reach for a brand extension. Here’s what BLACKHAWK! is offering:
- “Pulse” rimfire .22LR
- “Smoke Stack” 45ACP
- “Mini Boss” 9mm
- “Gas Can” 7.62mm
- “Barrage” 5.56mm
- “Carnivore” .300 Win Mag
- “Wrath” .338 Lapua Magnum
That’s a pretty deep bench for a company that’s never made a silencer before.
The overall design is appealing. Every can is threaded for a modular mounting system, giving the end user the option to either thread in a Neilsen device for pistol use or a direct thread mount for rifles. The external tube has a cool pattern that will definitely be visually striking. On the inside the silencer looks pretty much like every other can in the world, a standard “K” baffle stack welded to an internal tube.
Still lingering is the question everyone wants answered: will they last? We’ll have to see for ourselves whether this radical departure from BLACKHAWK!’s usual line is a success.
Every company has a contingent of folks that thinks they’re good enough to move up the food chain.
Seems like a strange time to bet on silencers with the fingerprint rules coming in July.
Removal of CLEO sign off seems like a pretty good reason. I still don’t get why the fingerprints are being seen as such “the sky is falling!” Thing for silencer ownership. One of the only reasons for a trust/Corp was to allow people who live in unfriendly cities/counties to bypass political activist CLEOs, simplified ownership and marginally faster processing times were added benefits but not the primary one.
The president’s EO made it slightly more tedious to get a silencer for some people but opened the door to thousands if not hundreds of thousands of new silencer owners.
I’m rural and even shoot with my CLEO. However, even he agrees the trust route was the way to go to keep your picture and fingerprints out of the public files. No one needs to know what I own or why. That’s why I went the trust route. I’ve got 8 items in process and won’t be getting a single new NFA item until 41P is changed again.
+1 on that comment. 41F hosed trust owners like us. Until the rule changes I will not be buying any more NFA items.
Prehaps they are betting on the HPA passing next congress?
That’s what I’m thinking/ hoping too. Somebody has the inside line on the HPA passing if all these businesses are suddenly starting up silencer companies/ product lines.
They also make bipods.
They’re pretty decent.
Why??
$$$$$
Another problem competitor could only help the market if the product(s) are of decent quality and at a good price point. Then, when suppressor taken of the list and can be purchased over the counter without the stamp or paperwork, commodity items, almost. That would be a great day, but just don’t ever see it happening here in Cali. Looks like another request for product eval and review. I do wonder if Magpul is going to go down that road at some point soon given the departure from past product lineage.
“That would be a great day, but just don’t ever see it happening here in Cali.”
It most certainly could.
California was a pioneer in noise regulation – airports, weed-whackers and yard blowers, pretty much everything 2-stroke (before Cali killed off 2-strokes nearly single-handley), car stereos…
Just sell suppressors as basic politeness, as they are in Europe.
Blackhawk…excuse me, BLACKHAWK!…still has customers? I thought they had all died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds after their first draw from a SERPA.
At least that’s what it seems like happened after reading the internets…
Not even the draw, they pull the teiggers all by themselves. I’ve got one for each pistol I own, it’s like living in a minefield….
Doubtful that bLaHaWk! designed and manufactured them. I’d be willing to bet they’re just a badge-engineered model from some other company, with a snazzy outer tube.
For some reason, TTAG is a-okay with Magpul making a fashion line, but for Blackhawk to start making silencers is CRAZY! At least it’s a firearm accessories company sticking to making firearms accessories.
Magpul also hasn’t built up a reputation of churning out garbage.
If hearing protection act becomes law, I’ll suppress most of my rifles over time. It’s just not worth it to me to pay the extra, do the paperwork, and wait. Maybe one day Amerika will be as free in this matter as Europe or New Zealand.
Unfortunately the HPA will become law just around the time unicorn licensing does.
I’m not so sure of that.
Hillary’s narrow-minded maniacal lust for power just may plant ‘The Donald’ and his out-sized ego in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
*Her* negative numbers are at least as high as *his*…
“The folks over at BLACKHAWK! have been manufacturing holsters, tactical clothing and gear for quite some time now.”
They haven’t. The Chinese laborers they use have.
SHOTS FIRED (Negligently on the draw from one of their Serpa holseters, most likely)
Be vewy qwiet. I’m hunting wabbits with my Bwackhawk.
These are clearly revised, rebranded, and/or licensed variants of Silencerco silencers. The baffle structure in the cut away is the same as a Silencerco Hybrid using stamped frusto cones, right down the the two piece welded together blast baffle used in the Omega 9K and Omega 30. And if you look closely you can see the exterior design similarities. The rear caps on the Smoke Stack and cut away are the same as Silencerco rear caps. The QD looks like an externally revised ASR system. It’s a copy paste with new front caps, hexagon design tubes, and a new name.
Your real question should be “Why not?” Leghorn. Competition in the market is good for everyone.
Bandwagon hoppers. With all due respect to Blackhawk, they’re way out of their element and league here.