What do you mean by "trouble free"?
The suppressor will still "work" after high round counts, the internals will just look like crap.
It also depends on how much full auto shooting you do and how hot you get it.
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"Trouble-Free" = no maintenance needed nor has the can been back to AAC. Rifle continues to sound great suppressed and exhibit greater accuracy and more consistent velocities while suppressed.
I shot absolutely zero full auto with this upper. If I wanted a full auto I'd buy a subgun.
It was cheaper for me than buying a new barrel. I already owned the LMT barrel, and the Colt I got for under $200 new. Labor to cut/thread the Colt was free from one of my 3gun sponsors so it was a no brainer IMHO.
The Colt I did leave the gas port stock and I use a BCM bolt, LMT enhanced carrier and a H3 buffer. It'll run on 5.56mm NATO ammo unsuppressed but won't lock the bolt open. Suppressed is runs 100% and shoots VERY softly.
Customers asked for them.
We simply don't have any issues with the 10.5" running with the correct buffer. Colt was about the only game in town for SBR barrels, plus a few other companies that probably just copied the Colt 11.5" barrel. Now that we have extractor O-rings and heavy buffers the short barrels run just fine.
As for silencer wear it depends on how hard you run the gun and how long you want it to look new inside. Shorter barrels are harder on silencers.
Talking with my class 3 dealer yesterday, he mentioned that some manufacturers won't warranty their 5.56 suppressor if it's used on a barrel less than 10.5". Anything to this? I was thinking about using a DD 10.3" barrel.