Educate me regarding sealed suppressors

[Aries144]

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.

This. It's all about weight and durability for rifle cans.

The only good way to clean a sealed suppressor that I know of is using "The Dip." It will dissolve the lead and help break apart the gunk caked inside the suppressor. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. It creates TOXIC VAPORS and LEAD ACETATE which is READILY ABSORBED THROUGH THE SKIN. It MUST be done with PPE, OUTDOORS, away from anyone or any thing that can't understand the danger, and the liquid is thereafter highly toxic and must either A. be disposed of at a hazardous waste facility or B. have the lead 'crashed out' by someone who knows what they're doing.

I wouldn't mess with it unless you're confident with chemistry and PPE use or your DGAF meter has reached the "I could spare a couple dozen IQ points, am tired of thinking about concepts more complex than basic impulses, and don't mind constant headaches for the rest of my life" line.

[SteyrAUG]

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.

It doesn't necessarily have to be heavy, they make a lot of titanium cans now.

But a 5.56 or 7.62 on burst puts out a very powerful pressure bubble that will easily strip threads and launch suppressor end caps a hundred yards. I've seen a lot of old school STEEL cans blow their welds if you burp a gun fast enough and often enough with rifle caliber pressures.

Basically anything that can be secured by hand can be blown out by sustained rifle pressures. This is why it is mostly .22 and handgun caliber cans that can be broken down but those 9mm and 45 cans typically aren't rated for full auto.

That is what it really comes down to. And if the mount isn't solid, it will fail at the mount and I've seen a couple suppressors launched down range because they weren't mounted properly or the mount was junk and then finally if the host weapon really isn't meant for full auto putting a suppressor on it will pretty much guarantee that it will beat itself to death.

A lot of otherwise perfectly fine 1911s had their lives dramatically shorted by a suppressor. That additional back pressure will absolutely slam them to death. This is why the Mark 23 concept wasn't built around a 1911 design.

So with a suppressor you are basically containing pressure and it is going to travel the path of least resistance. If the can is a joke it's going to blow up like a balloon or grenade. If the mount is a joke, it's going to lauch the can like those old water pressure rockets we used to play with and if the host firearm is a joke it's gonna run the bolt or slide at mach III and bottom out on whatever end of travel features the firearm incorporates.

Only a few designs such as the Ultimax or Knights belt feds never have this problem.

[paco ramirez]

Sorry for the delay dudes, I wasn't getting notifications.

For cleaning sealed rifle silencers it'll depend on the exact model and whatever the manufacturer tells you to do, assuming they can be brought to understand that they do need cleaning so they'll divulge a recommendation to you. Some common methods are dunking them with something like CLR, aircraft precision simple green (aluminum safe), Boretech C4, etc and you'll have to check what materials each one is safe for. Like you wouldn't want to use CLR on stainless steel but you would on titanium. The most common method is ultrasonic cleaning though. And again, depending on the method some chemicals or methods may strip off the silencers finish depending on what it's coated with. Always follow a manufacturers cleaning indstructions.

[1168]

If I had a .223 all 17-4 can that has now eclipsed the weight of its .308 sibling, and the manufacturer has nothing useful to say, what solvent would you recommend? I can re-ceracote it, so thats not a problem.

[paco ramirez]

If I had a .223 all 17-4 can that has now eclipsed the weight of its .308 sibling, and the manufacturer has nothing useful to say, what solvent would you recommend? I can re-ceracote it, so thats not a problem.

Ultrasonic would be ideal, but probably Boretech C4 and their copper remover.

[1168]

Ultrasonic would be ideal, but probably Boretech C4 and their copper remover.

Cool. Thanks.

[.45fmjoe]

Ultrasonic would be ideal, but probably Boretech C4 and their copper remover.

Last year I was talking to someone in their CS who confirmed without confirming they were working on a suppressor cleaner that was Cerakote and aluminum safe. Will be interesting if/when that comes to the market.

[BWT]

The silencer industry is just funny to me.

I’ve been following it for years and you find more weird personalities than anything else I’ve ever seen by far.

Something about that metering equipment I guess...

I’m glad to see you’re in it Paco - we used to cross paths on silencer talk many years ago now.

God Bless,

Brandon

[okie]

Having now built several form 1 cans, I no longer see any advantage to welding, other than to perhaps lower costs and keep trade secrets. Regarding the trade secrets, though, I don't see much of that going on. The physics are pretty well understood, so there's not much happening in the suppressor market that could be described as revolutionary.

One thing to consider is that 24 tpi is a very strong connection, and it's more or less foolproof. Whereas welding is only as good as the machine and person doing it, and even then can have mixed results. The only logic I see in a welded can is if it's 3d printed by necessity, because the design won't allow it to be made any other way. Unfortunately, if you open up 3d printed cans there's nothing revolutionary going on inside of them. At this point, it seems like an answer to a question no one asked.

Another big advantage of threaded cans is that you can have a variety of materials. Blast baffle can be inconel, subsequent blast baffles stainless, followed by titanium, all within a titanium tube. Or to lower costs you can simply have all titanium baffles and just replace the blast baffle occasionally. The modularity is worth whatever very slight weight difference there might be, which seems to me to be pretty much nonexistent.

Another reason I really like modular cans is because I can use my 22 conversion then go straight to centerfire without having to switch cans. In other words, one silencer can live permanently on my AR as a fixed muzzle device, and only has to be removed occasionally to clean out the 22 schmoo. Which is rare, because a few rounds of 223 does a pretty good job of cleaning out most of the schmoo all on its own.

[paco ramirez]

I’m glad to see you’re in it Paco - we used to cross paths on silencer talk many years ago now.

God Bless,

Brandon

I definitely remember your name from there.

Having now built several form 1 cans, I no longer see any advantage to welding, other than to perhaps lower costs and keep trade secrets. Regarding the trade secrets, though, I don't see much of that going on. The physics are pretty well understood, so there's not much happening in the suppressor market that could be described as revolutionary.

One thing to consider is that 24 tpi is a very strong connection, and it's more or less foolproof. Whereas welding is only as good as the machine and person doing it, and even then can have mixed results. The only logic I see in a welded can is if it's 3d printed by necessity, because the design won't allow it to be made any other way. Unfortunately, if you open up 3d printed cans there's nothing revolutionary going on inside of them. At this point, it seems like an answer to a question no one asked.

Another big advantage of threaded cans is that you can have a variety of materials. Blast baffle can be inconel, subsequent blast baffles stainless, followed by titanium, all within a titanium tube. Or to lower costs you can simply have all titanium baffles and just replace the blast baffle occasionally. The modularity is worth whatever very slight weight difference there might be, which seems to me to be pretty much nonexistent.

Another reason I really like modular cans is because I can use my 22 conversion then go straight to centerfire without having to switch cans. In other words, one silencer can live permanently on my AR as a fixed muzzle device, and only has to be removed occasionally to clean out the 22 schmoo. Which is rare, because a few rounds of 223 does a pretty good job of cleaning out most of the schmoo all on its own.

You sure about that?