Tag Archives: Maxim suppressor

Maxim Goes 22, Quietly

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Folks have been turning the Ruger .22LR pistol into a suppressed specialty piece for generations. Heck, back when I got my first Form 4 approved over 20 years ago, it was for a dinky TAC65 can that I put on a circa 1950s Ruger Standard courtesy of a screw-on threaded coupler.

Going far past screw jobs, integrally suppressed Ruger 22 pistols are wicked quiet, like sub-BB gun sounding with standard velo ammunition and “Hollywood quiet” with subsonics. Mark Serbu, the Tampa Bay Wonka of gun craft, started his business making such guns even before he gained fame with the Serbu Super Shorty.

Dubbed the Serbu Sirius, it was a Ruger Mark II that had been completely rebuilt and I got to play with one back when I toured Serbu’s shop back in 2019.

Now, continuing the tradition it would seem, Maxim Defense is bringing in a whole line of suppressors and as part of that push has debuted its first .22LR pistol, and in traditional Maxim fashion, it isn’t ordinary.

The new Maxim MKIV-SD is based on the Ruger MKIV platform, which the company terms the “finest modern .22LR pistol in the world,” and adds an integrated suppressor it bills as the “quietest purpose-built suppressor in category with the easiest maintainability.”

More in my column at Guns.com.

I Recently Ran Across a Beautiful Beast of a Machine Gun Suppressor

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One of the most interesting but least talked about aspects of Maxim Defense is its suppressor wing, and I talked to them about their almost spooky quiet GPMG can.

While on a visit to Maxim’s St. Cloud, Minnesota headquarters, spoke with CJ Dugan (late of certain Tier 1 groups) and the gang about the company’s suppressor team. Acquired after the great schism in the suppressor industry in 2017, Maxim’s quiet-time R&D crew includes such legends in the industry as Dr. Phil Dater.

By 2019, the company arrived at SHOT Show with a few prototypes of their integrated suppressed AR uppers as well as a very interesting can for the FN MAG 58/M240 series of 7.62 NATO general-purpose machine guns. Incorporating a series of patent-pending technology, it is treading harsh terrain that has broken other cans.

Besides holding up despite glowing red-hot– it has outlasted the machine guns it has been tested on– it is shown to drop the sound report to 135dB, which is quiet enough to talk in the vicinity of without ear pro.

Now, it is being tested by the Army, with good initial feedback. Not bad for a company that didn’t exist a decade ago.

More in my column at Guns.com.

A close up on the Great War-era Maxim suppressor

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The U.S. Army in the early 20th Century did some research and field trials on several early silencers for use on the M1903 Springfield. Suppressing a .30-06 is no easy task even today but two companies were ready to tackle it.

Between 1908 and 1910, the Army’s Ordnance Bureau purchased 100 Maxim models in .30 caliber as well as another 100 from a chap named Mr. Robert A. Moore. Both of these were by default the M1910 Silencer in the Army’s parlance.

The Moore (top) compared to the Maxim on a U.S. M1903. (Photo: Springfield Armory NHS)

Tests of the Maxim at the School of Musketry found the Silencer gave the following advantages:

(1) The lesser recoil of the rifle with Silencer operated in two ways: It greatly facilitated instruction of recruits in rifle firing. It materially lessened the fatigue of the soldier in prolonged firing, such as would occur in modern battle, which is a distinct military advantage.
(2) The muffling of the sound of discharge and the great reduction in the total volume of sound which permits the voice to be heard at the firing point about the sound of a number of rifles in action, greatly facilitate the control of the firing line, and extends the influence of officers and non-commisoned officers. It was found where the tactical conditions required a quick opening of fire, a sudden cessation of the fire and several quick changes of objective – all of which are difficult with several rifles firing – that verbal commands could easily be heard, and that it was possible to give perfectly audible instructions when the Silencer was used.

While a few were acquired, most were disposed of through the Director of Civilian Marksmanship by 1925, (yup, today’s CMP!) with a few of both kind kept at Springfield Armory for reference.

One is also at the Cody Museum in Wyoming, and in a rare treat, here it is close up from The Armorer’s Bench:  (stay tuned for confirmation in the video that at least some made it “Over There” in WWI)

The Maxim 1910 Silencer, in 30.06

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The Cody Firearms Museum has an extensive collection of historic arms and they recently got a special look at one of their original “Silencers.”

The pre-NFA vintage firearm suppressor brand named by its inventor, Hiram Percy Maxim, was x-rayed by the Cody Police Department while the agency was on hand at the Wyoming-based museum this month to verify that some ordnance at the center was inert.

The M1910 Maxim Silencer is attached to the threaded barrel of a Springfield 1903 in the Cody’s collection. Thus:

More about the M1910, which was used in small numbers by the Great War-era U.S. Army, in my column at Guns.com

Hanging out at SHOT Show

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Whelp, back from the annual gathering of the gun tribes in Las Vegas. Saw some interesting things. Did some interesting things. I think the biggest stories, besides the new SIG M17, is was the Hudson H9 and the SilencerCo Maxim 9.

Prefaced by a quiet build up over the past few weeks via social media, the H9 melds a full-sized 9mm semi-auto to a striker-fired pistol with a crisp 1911 trigger that has a .115-inch travel. But the innovative handgun with its cyberpunk panache didn’t just hatch fully formed from an egg last month.

More here.

Then there is the Maxim. The pistol, a 9mm that accepts double-stack Glock 17 magazines, can be arranged in either a short or a long configuration– both of which are suppressed. The difference in length between the two options is about an inch, with the full-size configuration measuring 10.75-inches overall and the abbreviated one taping out at 9.54-inches, which is about an inch longer than a standard 1911. Weight varies between 37-39 ounces.

More in the video below and in this piece in my column over at Guns.com.

So SilencerCo will be making their Maxim 9 all in house, and all from scratch

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The suppressor maker is stepping into firearm production, displaying the improved version of their 9mm Maxim integrally suppressed handgun at SHOT Show 2016.

Originally introduced last September and named as a tribute to Hiram Percy Maxim, inventor of the original Silencer, the prototype which sports a large rectangular suppression chamber that extends from the chamber forward and hangs down to the trigger guard was at the time based on a Smith & Wesson M&P 9.

The original versions of the Maxim were based on the Smith M&P, which has been left behind. SilencerCo tells Guns.com the Maxim project has been two years in the making. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The original versions of the Maxim were based on the Smith M&P, which has been left behind. SilencerCo tells Guns.com the Maxim project has been two years in the making. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

Moving well past that concept, SilencerCo is in the 20th stage of their design process with the Maxim 9, which will consist of a polymer-framed handgun made completely in-house with the emphasis being a gun made around a suppressor rather than a suppressor made to fit the gun.

The new gun, is all new. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

The new gun, is all new. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)

More in my column at Guns.com

Integrally suppressed pistols: The New Maxim 9 and how we got there

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This week the good folks over at Silencerco dropped a number of new suppressor designs to include an integrally suppressed 9mm handgun design dubbed the Maxim 9 after the inventor of the Silencer—Hiram Maxim. The thing is, the concept, while super sweet in its latest form by Silencerco, really isn’t that new.

Somewhere in occupied Europe…

In the darkest days of World War II, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and American OSS ran a myriad of operations behind the lines in both Nazi-occupied Europe and Japanese occupied Asia. They set up resistance groups of local insurgents and supplied them with weapons, training, and equipment to help set the Axis rear aflame.

The SOE went to new places and made friends like this mustached Brit operative seen in the center of this group of French resistance

The SOE went to new places and made friends like this mustached Brit operative seen in the center of this group of French resistance

One of the weapons they supplied was meant especially for assassination. This mysterious suppressed pistol was known as the Welrod. The Welrod was not a traditional pistol fitted to a detachable silencer, it was a pistol built *around* an integral silencer.

british welrod sa
To keep gas from escaping due to a cylinder like on a revolver, or a cycling action like on a semi-automatic, the Welrod was bolt action. The simple and effective bolt action could be worked rapidly for a follow-up shot if needed, and doubled as a safety device. The integral suppressor built around the barrel was made up of 12 thin metal washer baffles separated in groups by three leather wipes.

welrod2
The baffles would start to deteriorate with use and typically was no longer suppressed after about 15-20 rounds. The nose cap of the suppressor was hollowed out to allow it to be pressed into an intended target without undue back blast. The magazine itself, encased in a rubber sleeve like a bicycle grip, formed the pistol grip. With few moving parts, it could be broken down and stored in pieces that did not resemble a firearm. In fact when disassembled it rather looks like a bicycle pump.

Chambered in either the British and German army’s standard submachine gun round, 9x19mm Parabellum; or 32ACP (7.65x17mm), the same caliber as many popular Italian, German, and Japanese pistols, they were heavy at 52-ounces besides being large with an overall length of 14.22-inches. Nevertheless, they were quiet and word is although just over 16,000 were produced, at least some have remained in service with the British military for those special moments even though they are now some 70+ years of age.

Custom integrally suppressed pistols

Over the past couple of decades, a number of companies here in the U.S. have been in the business of taking otherwise factory-stock rimfire semi-autos and making them integrally suppressed. These companies include SRT who take a Browning Buckmark or Challenger; or Ruger MkIII, MkII, or MkI and add a 7-inch tube directly to the gun designed for the US military specifically for use with 40 gr CCI MiniMags.

SRTs Rugers

SRTs Rugers

The cost $725 and up.

Others who do similar are Dark Horse, Norrell, AWC and Coastal but you can be sure with something like 3,026 National Firearms Act Special Occupational Taxpayers (SOTs= gunshops cleared to make suppressors) there are likely far more.

AWC's awesome Ruger-based Amphibian

AWC’s awesome Ruger-based Amphibian

However, these are all rimfire designs. Sure, you can get a screw-on can for the heavier .45/9mm stuff, but where is the fun in that?

The BT Vet gun

Several years ago the Swiss company of B+T AG (formerly known as Brugger & Thomet) came up with the spooky quiet VP-9 “veterinary pistol.”

Can you say, "polymer welrod?"

Can you say, “polymer welrod?”

This modern take on the WWII Welrod made with polymers and modern metallurgy is a single-action (cock it each time) 6-shot 9mm that tips the scales at just 30-ounces and is (only) 11.3-inches long which is something of an improvement size-wise over the 1940s tech its based on. However this rare bird is meant to put down sick and injured wildlife, not make hits on random SS sentries guarding der fuhrer.

Although it could be used for that purpose if you really wanted and had a time machine.

Nevertheless, you can’t walk into your average gun shop and place an order for a VP-9 here in the states.

Which brings us to the…

Maxim 9

No, thats not a holster on the end of that SW M&P

No, that’s not a holster on the end of that SW M&P

Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk

Evolutionary dead-end, the Army’s Moore and Maxim Silencers

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Today the U.S. military issues suppressors from SureFire, Gemtech, AAC and others almost routinely as they help with accuracy, flash reduction (very important in combat–especally at night) and, oh yeah, sound suppression. In fact the new Army Modular Handgun contract tender calls for a “suppressor kit” to include higher than normal sights and a threaded barrel as standard.

Well this isn’t really a brand new idea for the Army at least. You see the suppressor was invented in the U.S. with the Hiram Maxim’s design selling popularly over the counter.

Between 1908 and 1910, the Ordnance Bureau purchased 100 Maxim models in .30 caliber as well as another 100 from a chap named Mr. Robert A. Moore. Both of these were by default the M1910 Silencer.

The Moore (top) compared to the Maxim on a U.S. M1903

The Moore (top) compared to the Maxim on a U.S. M1903

Tests of the Moore Silencer at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii indicated the following:

“There is a marked difference in the recoil; the recoil with the silencer being very little. The sound is lessened greatly with the Moore silencer but not as much with the Maxim silencer. There is a large reduction in the blast. In firing shots at 500 and 1000 yards range groups of 10 shots were fired which showed that there is no difference in the accuracy with or without the silencer and with or without the bayonet; with the bayonet attached to the silencer however the rifle is thrown out of balance making it harder to hold on the target. Also, the bayonet had to be put on again after each shot because the recoil threw the ring of the bayonet off the silencer, this on account of the fact that the muzzle of the silencer is too rounded.”

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Tests of the Maxim at the School of Musketry found the Silencer gave the following advantages:

Firing the 03 Springfield with the Maxim silencer, 1910. From left to right Hiram Maxim, Lieut. Col. Richard J. Goodman, and Capt. Earl D Church

Firing the 03 Springfield with the Maxim silencer, 1910. From left to right Hiram Maxim, Lieut. Col. Richard J. Goodman, and Capt. Earl D Church

maxim suppressor

(1) The lesser recoil of the rifle with Silencer operated in two ways: It greatly facilitated instruction of recruits in rifle firing. It materially lessened the fatigue of the soldier in prolonged firing, such as would occur in modern battle, which is a distinct military advantage. (2) The muffling of the sound of discharge and the great reduction in the total volume of sound which permits the voice to be heard at the firing point about the sound of a number of rifles in action, greatly facilitate the control of the firing line, and extends the influence of officers and non-coIt was found where the tactical conditions required a quick opening of fire, a sudden cessation of the fire and several quick changes of objective – all of which are difficult with several rifles firing – that verbal commands could easily be heard, and that it was possible to give perfectly audible instructions when the Silencer was used.

WW1 WWI 1903 SPRINGFIELD RIFLE MAXIM MODEL 15 SILENCER CUTT AWAY

Cutway of the Maxim 15 on a 1903 mockup

Overall, the Army found the Moore was more accurate but the Maxim more durable. While the Ordnance Bureau advised two sharpshooters per company should be equipped with suppressed 1903’s, the money just wasn’t there.

However in 1917-1918, the Army did apparently move forward with a plan to acquire and issue some 9,300 star-gauged (tested accurate) Model 1903 Springfields fitted with the Model 1913 Telescopic Musket Sight and improved Model 15 Maxim Silencer.

Warner and Swazey M1913 Musket sight scope and Maxim M15 on star-gauge M1903

1913 Warner & Swasey Musket Sight (telescopic sight) and Maxim M15 on star-gauge M1903. Note the carrying case for the sight and suppressor. These combinations were serial numbered together

While a few were acquired, most were disposed of through the Director of Civilian Marksmanship by 1925, with a few of both kind kept at Springfield Armory for reference, where most of these imaged are from.