MODERN-DAY DE LISLE CARBINE

The Curtis Tactical CT700P Integral 9mm

- Dave Merrill

It started on a whim while in a rural town in Ohio looking for a local gun shop to peruse for a little bit of business and mostly grins. The Google map highlighted “Curtis Tactical Suppressors,” and the journey began. While driving down a dusty country road, the realization hit that this may either be an incorrect address or a small backyard shop, but plenty of damned good work takes place in garages and sheds across the great American nation. There was no hesitation.

Mowing the lawn in front of his house, the location of his former backyard shop, was Joe Jones. Jones is the founder and owner of Curtis Tactical, and by mere happenstance, he happened to take a day off to perform yard work on his large property. Introductions were made, and soon we were firing machine guns behind his house and learning details of his wares.

It was totally random and awesome. We blame a glitch in the Matrix. Or Elon Musk. Same/same.

Though Jones has been designing and building silencers for nearly a decade, it wasn’t until mid-2019 Curtis Tactical was officially formed. Curtis Tactical made a name for themselves by re-coring and otherwise upgrading silencers of all types (if you have a now-defunct Huntertown Arms silencer, give them a ring). Jones pulled nearly endless examples of upgraded suppressors from his safe from names both big and small. Like us, the more purpose-driven the suppressor, the more he liked them. And nothing is more purpose-driven than an integrally suppressed weapon (see RECOIL Issue 44 for a full breakdown on integrals). He had modernized interpretations of older guns: Integral 9mm MPXs replaced the vaunted MP5SD. Nazi-killing OSS High Standard HDMs were present but with 2020 baffle designs. And what really caught our eye? A rifle that got weirder and more astonishing the more we learned about it: the CT700P.