For 2015 and beyond, AAC will be focusing more efforts on tapping into the growing market of hunters who use or would like to use suppressors. And it may get some help from Big Green.

“We need to have a face at AAC for the hunters,” says Carlos Martinez, product manager for AAC. “That’s a huge market, and one we really haven’t worked on developing because so much of our focus has been tactical. But that’s going to change.”

AAC’s always been associated with the tactical side, and for good reasons, including the fact that many military and law enforcement special operations units use and swear by AAC suppressors. But, Martinez notes, suppressors are legal for hunting in at least 33 states, with lawmakers in more states currently considering regulation changes that would allow hunters to go afield suppressed.

Martinez plans to approach this market with traditional media coverage of AAC suppressors — magazines, hunting websites and television — as well as a strong social media campaign that shows everyday hunters using suppressed firearms.

Part of any campaign to capture more of the hunting market, Martinez adds, will have to incorporate some “suppressor 101” education. Unfortunately, survey after survey has shown that a majority of people — and even the majority of gun owners and hunters — don’t know that suppressors are in fact legal to own and use in the majority of states.

Martinez is also pondering working with other Remington Outdoor Company entities, including Remington and DPMS, to tailor some rifles for suppressors.

“I think it would be a big help if we could work with our sister companies to do things like thread the muzzles on certain hunting rifle lines [or] at least offer it as an option,” he explains. “That way you remove a big hurdle — the hunter has a suppressor-ready rifle, so he or she doesn’t have to pay another $125 to the local gunsmith to get it threaded.”