My friend Ethan Lessard once told me that “shooting without a suppressor is uncivilized.”
I’m pretty sure he’s right.
I don’t own a suppressor – you can call it a silencer, I don’t care either way – but I know that I want one…or two.
If you’re with me on this then RECOIL magazine’s CANCON is an event I highly recommend you attend. Where else can you get access to testfire about 400 or so suppressed firearms, with nearly a third of them full-auto?
RECOIL held its first CANCON last November at the 17 South Rod and Gun Club in Savannah, Georgia, and will be returning there later this November, So, mark your calendars.
This past weekend, though, the second CANCON took place here in Arizona at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility. Something like 65-plus companies were represented at the two-day main event, and Friday’s VIP event and night shoot.
This list included most of the major names in suppressors, such as Silencer Central, Silencer Co., Dead Air and Maxim Defense, among others. And you could shoot suppressors for .22LR up to .50Cal.
There was literally something for everyone interested in a quieter shooting experience.
And, of course, there were “show specials.” Several vendors were selling on-site, or partnered with a local dealer to handle their sales out on the range.
Local companies were among those at the Arizona event. Dillon Precision was on the shooting line, not just with guns to shoot but with reloaders working non-stop to keep those guns running.
Across from the firing line was a small custom knife maker that drove up from Tucson. Crane TEC is a small company with just two employees working out of a garage, but quickly outgrowing their start-up digs.
Another local company was KOR Cases, out of Scottsdale, with their hard case inserts that replace the usual foam with what is essentially a bag of beads that take on the shape of your firearm and compress to a rigid form when you remove the air from the insert. The KOR insert is universal and can be easily ‘reformatted’ to accommodate a different firearm, or a few firearms, making it pretty versatile for those who don’t always travel with the exact same firearm.
The real reason the approximately 4,000 to 4,500 attendees came out in the 95 degree desert heat was to shoot guns…suppressed guns.
The $50 entry fee was actually a steal. If you spent the entire day on the range, from 9am to 4pm, shooting most or all of the firearms, then you saved yourself a ton of range fees you’d incur at a commercial range. And it’s doubtful your local range has anything close to as many suppressors as they have at CANCON.
There were multiple handguns, tons of rifles and shotguns available to shoot. Attendees did now want for time on the firing line, and it was clear that people were getting their money’s worth.
Attending CANCON reminded me a lot of the time Sig held their Freedom Days event at Ben Avery. The focus at both events was on the end user and giving them that opportunity to get their hands on various guns they might not otherwise have the chance to shoot.
The only difference is CANCON is a much quieter event to attend.
If you are on the fence about buying a suppressor, then CANCON is for you. It is very, very difficult to spend the day shooting suppressed and not come away wanting to take the tax stamp plunge.
And you’re likely to have more opportunities to experience CANCON. Iain Harrison, Editor In Chief for the RECOIL Group, confirmed that CANCON was looking to expand the schedule with additional events and locations.
One last suggestion. If you do attend a future CANCON event, and the VIP pass is available, give it serious consideration. The Arizona event sold out of their 50 VIP passes and even though the cost was pretty steep at $700 a ticket, the swag pack each VIP received included a lot of perks, including two – yes, two – cans. Total MSPR value of the swag pack was estimated to be over $2,800.
Not a bad return on investment, if you ask me.
– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network