From the Gamkeeper Podcast Studio – Episode 399 Shotgun Suppressors with Brandon Maddox – Joined by Brandon Maddox, the CEO of Silencer Central to fully explain shotgun suppressors and discuss what will this mean for turkey hunters and kids learning to shoot. Subscribe on YouTube or Apple
Not long ago, buying a suppressor meant tracking down a local dealer, filling out paperwork by hand, and waiting up to a year with little visibility into where your application actually stood. Brandon Maddox, founder and CEO of Silencer Central, built an entire business around changing that experience, and today the process looks almost nothing like it did even a decade ago.
From Gun Shows To A Fully Digital Process
Maddox started his suppressor business by working gun shows, sportsman shows, and farm shows in person, one state at a time, gradually building licensing across the country until Silencer Central was operating in all 42 states where suppressors are legal. For years, that in person, event based model was the primary way the company reached customers.
That changed abruptly when the world shifted during COVID. With events canceled and no way to set up a table at a show, Maddox had to rethink the entire business model. Fortunately, by that point Silencer Central was already licensed everywhere it needed to be, which meant the company could pivot toward a message that felt almost unbelievable to a lot of Gamekeepers at the time, that a suppressor could be mailed directly to their front door without ever needing to visit a store.
Working With Regulators To Make Digital Purchasing Possible
None of this would have worked without cooperation from federal regulators. Maddox and his team worked directly with the agency overseeing suppressor transfers to figure out how existing law, originally written decades before the internet existed, could accommodate a digital purchasing process. The laws governing suppressors date back to the 1930s, with additional regulation added in 1968, long before anyone imagined submitting this kind of paperwork electronically.
Through that collaboration, Silencer Central was able to build a system where background checks, application submission, and approval could all happen digitally rather than through mailed paper forms. This shift did more than just add convenience. It fundamentally changed how quickly applications could move through the system, since a digital submission allows an instant background check to run immediately rather than sitting in a mail queue waiting to be manually processed.
What The Digital Process Actually Looks Like For A Buyer
For a Gamekeeper going through this process today, the experience starts online rather than at a counter. After selecting a suppressor and choosing between individual or trust ownership, the buyer submits their information digitally. From there, a background check runs through the same federal system used for standard firearm purchases. If nothing flags during that check, approval can come back the same day in many cases.
Once approved, the suppressor itself ships directly to the buyer’s address, similar to how any other online purchase would arrive. Maddox mentioned that on particularly busy days, the company ships between five and ten thousand suppressors nationwide, running two full shifts to keep up with that volume, which gives a sense of just how mainstream this fully remote purchasing model has become.
How Instant Background Checks Changed Everything
A large part of what makes today’s digital process so fast comes down to how background checks are now handled compared to the old system. In the past, every application sat in a queue and was reviewed manually regardless of how straightforward the buyer’s history was. Today, a digital submission triggers an immediate background check through the same federal system used for standard firearm purchases at a retail counter.
The system works by comparing the applicant against existing records instantly. If there is no history of arrests and no similar name or date of birth match tied to a felony conviction in that state, the application typically clears right away and moves straight to approval. Roughly 70 percent of applicants fall into this category and experience a nearly instant turnaround. The remaining group, whose information happens to overlap with someone flagged in the system, gets set aside for manual review rather than holding up the entire queue behind them. This approach, similar to routing an unusual order at a drive through into a separate lane rather than stopping the line for everyone else, is a major reason why average processing times have dropped so dramatically compared to just a few years ago.
Getting A Barrel Threaded Without Leaving Home Either
One obstacle that used to stop a lot of first time buyers in their tracks was barrel threading. Older rifles or hand me down guns often were not manufactured with threaded barrels, which meant finding a trustworthy local gunsmith willing to do the modification correctly. Maddox explained that this used to be a real point of hesitation for Gamekeepers at gun shows, since many were unsure which local shop to trust with the job.
Silencer Central solved this by offering a mail in threading service as part of the same digital process. A buyer simply removes their scope, bipod, or any other accessories, packages the bare rifle in a provided case, and ships it in using a prepaid FedEx ground label. On the company’s end, turnaround time typically runs about four to five business days before the rifle is threaded and shipped back to the owner. This means a Gamekeeper with an older rifle can go from an untreaded barrel to a fully threaded, suppressor ready firearm without ever driving to a local shop.
Making The Cost Easier To Manage With Flexible Payments
Beyond the paperwork and shipping logistics, Silencer Central also addressed a very practical concern many buyers face, the upfront cost of paying the full price of a suppressor plus the federal tax all at once. Maddox created an installment payment option specifically to solve this problem, allowing buyers to put down a smaller initial amount and continue paying over time while their application is being processed.
There is no interest or additional fee attached to this payment plan, and buyers can continue paying at their own pace even after approval comes through, with the suppressor shipping only once it has been paid off in full. According to Maddox, roughly 60 percent of customers end up using this payment option, which suggests that cost timing, not just the cost itself, was a real barrier for a lot of potential buyers before this option existed.
Scaling Customer Support To Match Demand
Growing this quickly did not come without real growing pains. Maddox was candid about the challenges of scaling a support team fast enough to keep up with demand, particularly during the height of COVID when call volume spiked into the thousands per day. At times the company found itself understaffed relative to actual need, working to get enough trained representatives on the phones to answer questions about trusts, background checks, and shipping timelines without leaving customers waiting on hold.
That growth has since stabilized into a large, dedicated sales and support team that buyers can call directly with questions before ever committing to a purchase, with no obligation attached. This kind of accessible support has become a key part of making the online buying experience feel less intimidating for first time buyers who might otherwise hesitate to complete a purchase involving federal paperwork entirely on their own.
Promotions Make The Online Model Even More Appealing
The convenience of ordering online has also opened the door to promotions that would have been harder to manage through a purely in person, event based model. Silencer Central has run buy one, get one free promotions where purchasing a suppressor also includes a free rimfire suppressor at the same time, with both items typically in stock and ready to ship without any extended wait. Structuring a promotion like this only really works at scale, when a company already has enough licensed inventory and digital infrastructure in place to fulfill a sudden wave of orders quickly, which is exactly the kind of capability this shift toward online purchasing has enabled.
Why This Approach Took Off During A Specific Moment
It is worth understanding why this fully digital model succeeded when it did. Before COVID forced the shift, Maddox had spent years explaining this concept to skeptical customers at in person events, many of whom simply could not believe that a regulated item like a suppressor could legally be mailed directly to a private residence. That scale of hesitation was a real obstacle to growth.
Once in person events disappeared entirely and Gamekeepers were left with no other option to explore the idea, the message finally broke through. People who might have otherwise stuck with a traditional local dealer visit were suddenly forced to consider ordering online, and once they went through the process and saw how straightforward it actually was, most had no reason to go back to the old way of doing things.
Conclusion
For anyone who has put off buying a suppressor because the process seemed intimidating or overly complicated, the reality today looks very different from the stories that may have circulated years ago about lengthy waits and confusing paperwork. A buyer can research options, submit an application, pass a background check, arrange barrel threading, and receive a suppressor in the mail, all without a single in person visit to a gun store or dealer.
This shift has made suppressor ownership dramatically more accessible to Gamekeepers in rural areas who may not have a specialized dealer nearby, as well as to anyone who simply prefers to make purchases on their own schedule rather than during limited store hours. The entire process, from application to a suppressor actually arriving at the front door, can now realistically happen within a matter of weeks rather than the better part of a year, making this one of the more significant shifts in how Gamekeepers access hunting equipment in recent memory.
