For six years running, Capitol Armory in Austin, Texas has put on a totally free, open-to-the-public, suppressed-only shooting event that they call Quiet in the Capitol. It’s awesome! If you didn’t make it last weekend on March 2nd and 3rd, get it on your calendar for next year as it’s one of the few opportunities anywhere in the country to test drive all the top silencers from all the top brands. And did I mention it’s free?
Over on Shooting News Weekly’s Youtube channel — go subscribe…Lots more is coming — we did a quick overview to show y’all what Quiet in the Capitol looked like on Sunday morning before people showed up. The approximate total for the weekend was around a thousand attendees.
Lots of couples, lots of families, lots of prospective suppressor purchasers wanting to test out all the models from all the brands before making a large purchasing decision. There were also many resources available between Capitol Armory, the American Suppressor Association, and all of the silencer manufacturers to have questions answered about the entire suppressor purchasing process and all of the laws. It’s as much an educational event as it is a testing and purchasing event, which is awesome.
I was there all weekend and enjoyed the heck out of talking to people, answering questions, eating BBQ and burgers and street tacos, and getting some trigger time with all sorts of suppressed firearms. I met people from Missouri, Indiana, Florida, other states I’m forgetting, and all over Texas, of course.
Make sure to add Quiet in the Capitol to your list! It’s a fantastic way to start out on your suppressor-owning journey, which absolutely IS a journey y’all should be on.
7 Responses
Looks like a fun event and informative.
Oh, how I miss the Texas International Firearms Festival (2014-16).
It was an event like this (albeit there was a $40 entrance fee) where the gun manufacturers / dealers were set up in different bays, rifle range stations, and skeet/trap stations, and you could try out all their wares . . . and then buy and take them home if you wanted (NFA stuff excluded, of course).
Getting to shoot dozens of different handguns on the same day, on an outdoor range, allowed my wife to finally find the one that suited her best (Walther PPQ). And being able to shoot a Blaser .338 Lapua, with S&B glass, already zeroed in at 1000 yards with a spotter calling the wind for you, and then see that thousand yard plate swing and hear the “ping” several seconds later . . . what’s not to like? I’d probably put at least 500 rounds downrange each day — heck of a deal for $40.
The very last one (before Austin political correctness got it cancelled, and similar crap then doom the venue [Best of the West Shooting Center]) even had a special pre-event for an additional fee: “Full Auto Friday,” where there was all manner of giggle-switch fun, including a Ma Deuce and a minigun.
Good times, good times.
A question on the silencer shown with about 30 baffles, was that something that the silencer manufacturer did as a one-off, custom kind of thing?
Yo Geoff!
It’s a chunk of the silencer from the Garand Thumb video here: https://youtu.be/Yc5Uesjy4bU?si=zt1FJtSW9IaZVCLg
That chart has a suppressed 22lr louder than a suppressed “average rifle”. That can’t be right.
Good catch there. I’m 99.9% certain that was supposed to say “22LR UNsuppressed,” as 16-inch rifles chambered in 22 LR tend to be 140 to 143-ish dB with a bare muzzle and standard ammo.
Yup. Suppressed .22 should be in the “nail gun” range.