Wartime, home made silencer

[Flying10uk]

A recent new thread on a silenced Sten made me recall a home made silencer which a chap showed to me years ago, late 1970s/early 1980s. The chap made it because he wasn't able to purchase a ready made example during the war and although I never thought to ask him exactly why he needed it, he was a gun enthusiast all his life and did serve in the Home Guard. As I recall it, the outer body of the silencer was made to attache to the muzzle of the gun and the other end of the silencer had a removable end plate. The chap showed me the baffles which he had turned on his lathe and baffle packing pieces. These baffles and baffle packing pieces were really just like steel washers; the baffle packing pieces had larger holes than the baffles. The other item which the chap had made was a baffle alignment rod which, as the name suggest, was a steel rod.

The chap explained that when he wished to fit the silencer to gun he would first attache the outer body tube, empty without any baffles or packing pieces, to the muzzle. He would then insert the alignment rod into the bore of the gun which extended out of the silencer body. Then he would fit one baffle followed by one packing piece onto the alignment rod and into the silencer body. When he had fitted all the baffles and packing pieces the silencer end cap was screwed on to "clamp" the baffles into alignment with the bore. Finally the alignment rod was removed.

I have no personal experience of silencers and so don't know if the manner in which the chap designed his own version is similar to how commercial versions are designed. Do the baffles and packing pieces always have to be fitted after the silencer body has been fitted to the weapon? I don't recall what calibre the silencer was designed for.

I have wondered, in recent years, if the chap concerned may have also been a member of the Auxiliary Units as well as the Home Guard but have not seen any proof of it.

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