My Experience With Silencer Central and Banish 22 Review

At the range in January, my kids saw a guy shoot a suppressed .22 with a Q Erector that he had assembled to about 12" long.

Obviously, it was a hoot. Everyone standing in the pistol shack stopped what they were doing because the gun was totally silent- only hearing the action and the bullet hit the steels downrange.

My kids went nuts over it, I didn't realize how cool a suppressed .22 could be, so I went home and ordered a can. We already had a 22/45 Lite, so we didn't need to buy a gun.

Despite all the Internet/Reddit hate on Silencer Central, I went with them for a few reasons....

1. I do believe that there is some truth in marketing- if Silencer Central says their Banish .22 is "as close to movie quiet as possible" I don't think a major US manufacturer and retailer would outright lie.

2. There are over 400 "verified" reviews on their website- could they all be made up? I was fascinated that you could see all these glowing reviews on the website, yet do a Google search and somehow Brandon Maddox is the crappiest silencer peddler on Earth.

3. I don't know how to work with NFA items, SC claimed to make it all easy and I don't have to leave my house or office, and it comes right to me. I'm a very busy business owner/dad/husband who lives in a rural area- sounds good to me. SC also claims that if the Form 4 is screwed up, they will pay for another tax stamp.

4. Even a Banish .22 is close to $800 at the end of the movie (with tax stamp) SC doesn't make you pay for it fully until the ATF approves it. I didn't like the idea of giving someone nearly a grand and maybe getting my toy months and months later.

4 days shy of 2 Months my silencer arrived at our door.

I have about 100 rounds through it so far. Here is my experience....

Silencer Central customer service is pretty damn good. I called/texted/messaged a few times throughout the process and always got an immediate response.

They absolutely hold your hand in setting up the trust and filling out the Form 4. They set up a webex with you and go over all the docs before its efiled with the ATF to avoid any mistakes.

I can't imagine any other .22 can being much better. The Banish .22 is all titanium. It's not much bigger than a roll of quarters. It doesn't seem to affect the handling of the gun. And it's quiet.

At the shooter's ear, you can hear a little report. The action cycling is just as pronounced however. Stand 15-20' away and it sounds like someone barely farting (scientific observation by a bystander) My wife says it's scary because you don't think it's a real gun anymore. I tend to agree.

SC's claim of being movie quiet is totally accurate. We even (safely) shot it in my office into a potted plant and it's quiet as the movies indoors as well.

What are the negatives?

Time.

To do it the SC way, you have to have a little patience. I am ADD AF, so I thought I was going to go mad a few times. Now that I know, I hope to help others understand what to expect.

With the snow in January, it delayed me getting my fingerprint card in by a week (how's ordering on January 16th for luck?).

Once SC gets your fingerprints in, it takes a few days to set up the webex to go over the trust and the Form 4. We did this on February 5th.

18 days later, the eForm 4 was approved for my trust and then SC has to do a mandatory CLEO waiting period because I don't get to pick it up from the local FFL. SC has local FFLs set up in each state to ship to you.

I don't know the law, but my CLEO notification was listed as received on the same day the Form 4 was approved, and 6 days later the can was on the way to Louisiana. February 22 to 27th. Some internet experts claim SC snail mails this- it certainly was not the case for Louisiana.

Once the can ships from South Dakota to your state, a USPS label is created for you local FFL and you can start to hopefully track it- this is where I was about nuts waiting.

It took 7 days for the can to arrive in Louisiana- cool, I'm about to get my toy. But, nooooooo- the local FFL has 3 business days after they receive it to mail it to you. Guy in Shreveport gets my can on Wednesday, and waits until Monday to ship it. I had it DTB by the following Wednesday.

Bottom line- SC was good to deal with, quality and performance is excellent. Had it not been for the weather and whatever reason the local FFL took 5 days (I know that's including a weekend) I would have had the can in a little over a month.

Now that SC has my fingerprints on file, I suspect I can have a can from them in less than a month with a reasonable waiting time- Trusts are about double the wait than Individual.

Very positive experience with SC. 10/10 on them. 7/10 on the local yokel in Keithville who did operate within SC's parameters, but could have been a lot faster- I suspect it's "some dude" tho, so I get it. They might have been at Disney with their kids or something.