Educate me regarding sealed suppressors

[Bret]

In another thread, rushca01 mentioned his SWR Trident 9 that had been "jailbroken" by ECO machine. I only have two suppressors, a AAC TiRant 9 and a Bowers Bitty, so I really don't know much about suppressors. It seems to me that you'd want to clean a suppressor every once in a while because they get dirty. Why would a manufacturer design a suppressor that can't be cleaned? Does it have to do with performance, manufacturing ease or something else? If you want a suppressor that can be cleaned, why buy one that would have to be modified by someone else in order to allow you to clean it? Is it a didn't realize it couldn't be cleaned kind of thing, is the suppressor just that good, or is it something else? I do know that my TiRant 9 was a major pain in the rear to clean. I literally had to pound it apart using a wooden dowel. I've never cleaned the Bitty because the instruction included with it recommended against it.

[rushca01]

Hopefully I can help answer a couple questions.

ECO machine is FB, he has a huge back log, message him and it will put you in the que.
Back in the day two schools of thoughts regarding pistol suppressors especially were A) they didn’t need to be cleaned B) Didn’t want people to have the ability to open them up to keep their trade secrets. The suppressor game has CHANGED a ton in the last decade. Most legacy sealed cans can be opened up to allow the end use to clean the lead and gunk off the baffles. In addition to pistol suppressors rifle suppressors can be modified now to except the industry standard 1.375 x 24 mount. I had my AAC 7.62 SD modified, ECo cut the old 51T mount out, made a sleeve and then tig welded that into the can to except the “universal” 1.375 x 24 mounts. This allows me to use Silencerco mounts, Griffin Mounts, Dead Air keymo/Xeno mounts, and Q mounts.

Check out his FB page for more info.

[lonestardiver]

Most centerfire suppressors don’t require much cleaning other than soot. Those cartridges burn hot enough most everything else is burnt up. Now suppressors for rimfire cartridges are different. There is lots of exposed lead and rimfire rounds are just plain dirty. For those you need the ability to take apart and clean.

For those reasons I won’t shoot rimfire in any sealed centerfire can. Now any can that can be disassembled, you should do so on a regular basis and use clp or some lube on threads or parts to keep them from seizing due to carbon and lead deposits.

[rushca01]

Most centerfire suppressors don’t require much cleaning other than soot. Those cartridges burn hot enough most everything else is burnt up. Now suppressors for rimfire cartridges are different. There is lots of exposed lead and rimfire rounds are just plain dirty. For those you need the ability to take apart and clean.

For those reasons I won’t shoot rimfire in any sealed centerfire can. Now any can that can be disassembled, you should do so on a regular basis and use clp or some lube on threads or parts to keep them from seizing due to carbon and lead deposits.

Right, 90% of rifle cans are all still sealed. My AAC is still sealed, ECO just changed the mount out from the crappy 51T. My SWR Trident 9 is a 9mm pistol can that came from SWR sealed...he unsealed it and I can easily push the stack out to clean now.

[paco ramirez]

Most centerfire suppressors don’t require much cleaning other than soot. Those cartridges burn hot enough most everything else is burnt up. Now suppressors for rimfire cartridges are different. There is lots of exposed lead and rimfire rounds are just plain dirty. For those you need the ability to take apart and clean.

For those reasons I won’t shoot rimfire in any sealed centerfire can. Now any can that can be disassembled, you should do so on a regular basis and use clp or some lube on threads or parts to keep them from seizing due to carbon and lead deposits.

The part bolded is a silencer myth and is completely untrue. Rifle silencers get fouled up just like any other silencer with copper, carbon, and lead. It takes as little as 1000rds to add 1oz of fouling to a rifle silencer. Best practice is to weigh the silencer before use with a precision kitchen scale, then record the base weight in a log book. Every 1000-3000rds after that record the weight again, and once it's gain 1-2oz it's time to clean it.

Here's what I wrote before:

There is more than enough actual physical evidence from a multitude of manufacturers that actually know what they're talking about that proves the rifle silencers being "self cleaning" claim to be complete BS. Rifle silencers are sealed specifically because they're lighter, stronger, straighter, and often times have more consistent accuracy. But just because something is sealed doesn't mean it can't be cleaned.

Rifle silencer do not “self clean”. They get fouled with copper, carbon, lead, etc just like every other silencer. Not having to clean rifle silencers is an internet myth that gets repeated over and over even though there is plenty of actual evidence of cutaway rifle silencers from multiple manufacturers that proves rifle silencers need to be cleaned and don’t “self clean”. It takes as little as 1000rds to add 1oz of fouling weight to a rifle silencer and the more it’s allowed to build up the harder it’ll be to clean down the road.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Armory/P...501796/?page=1

The pictures aren't showing anymore though.

Here's an uncoated Hyperion after 12,800rds of 260 Remington on an 18" semiauto host: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0b0DBVgDqB/

And the Wedgetail after over 12,000rds of 308: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0e7HiPAppD/ and https://www.instagram.com/p/B0e78IRA1lR/

Pro Tip: Simple math on 12,000rds should tell people that 10% of that fouling took only 1,200rds, and that should tell people that the silencer should’ve been cleaned out around the 1000rd mark, or once the silencer gained ~1oz of weight. 1000rds isn’t a lot for anyone except those that very rarely shoot.

https://www.snipershide.com/shooting...-5-cm.6960879/

It doesn't take many rounds past what you'd clean your handgun silencers to achieve notable build up in a rifle silencer, and there are ways to clean sealed silencers. It's not just me that's right, it's also Ase Utra, Thunderbeast, Wedgetail Industries, and I'm sure there are plenty more that test their stuff like that.

http://www.aseutra.fi/assets/images/...500_rounds.jpg

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...formation-post

https://forum.snipershide.com/thread...-5-cm.6960879/

It used to be that people said you didn't need to clean rimfire silencers and that was wrong. Now people make disassemblable serviceable rimfire silencers. It used to be that people said you didn't need to clean handgun silencers and that was wrong too. Now people are also making disassemblable serviceable handgun silencers. Usually it takes 1-3000 or so rounds to see moderate build up by weight in a rifle silencer, it just takes a bit longer than a rimfire or handgun in some instances. We and many other manufacturers have done tests of not cleaning rifle silencers and putting thousands of rounds through them and then cutting them in half to see the build up and distribution of particulates. There's plenty of pictures online of it too. It's always best to do what the manufacturer says, but even if the manufacturer tells you it doesn't need to be cleaned and your silencer is getting gradually heavier from build up, they're wrong. However, some 300 Blackout subs will burn pretty cleanly depending on what you're shooting. That's why it's best practice to check on build up yourself by weighing the silencer. It will vary depending on barrel length, cartridge, and ammo.

[SteyrAUG]

Closed cans are usually about pressure rating on full auto and such. But you can still clean most of them with immersion methods. Only can I'd want to be able to pull apart would be like a .22 can.

[hotrodder636]

Thanks for the info Josh. Cleaning of the user serviceable cans is pretty straightforward, what is the recommended method for cleaning sealed rifle/center fire cans?

The part bolded is a silencer myth and is completely untrue. Rifle silencers get fouled up just like any other silencer with copper, carbon, and lead. It takes as little as 1000rds to add 1oz of fouling to a rifle silencer. Best practice is to weigh the silencer before use with a precision kitchen scale, then record the base weight in a log book. Every 1000-3000rds after that record the weight again, and once it's gain 1-2oz it's time to clean it.

Here's what I wrote before:

[VIP3R 237]

What method do you recommend for cleaning sealed cans?

The part bolded is a silencer myth and is completely untrue. Rifle silencers get fouled up just like any other silencer with copper, carbon, and lead. It takes as little as 1000rds to add 1oz of fouling to a rifle silencer. Best practice is to weigh the silencer before use with a precision kitchen scale, then record the base weight in a log book. Every 1000-3000rds after that record the weight again, and once it's gain 1-2oz it's time to clean it.

Here's what I wrote before:

[Ranger86]

What method do you recommend for cleaning sealed cans?

Posting so I can see the answer. This thread makes me want to drop my AAC M4-2000 and SIG SRD762Ti into my Ultrasonic bath.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[utahjeepr]

Closed cans are usually about pressure rating on full auto and such. But you can still clean most of them with immersion methods. Only can I'd want to be able to pull apart would be like a .22 can.

The pressure thing is my understanding. I've been told a serviceable rifle can would need to be constructed more robustly to hold up, making it heavy.

In for education.