• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Suppressors baffle strikes???????

coyote sniper

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 13, 2012
68
0
45
ND
I bought a carbon volquartsen barrel for my magnum research lite 22lr. I put it on put my spectre II on it and didn't even have close to enough adjustment it was shooting 24ish inches to the right and also 12-18 inches high. I took the can off and it shot great. I took the can apart and couldn't find any lead smears or damage to the baffles. I put the can on my 77/22 and it shots great there. I talked to volquartsen and they said to send it in that the threads are probly not lined up correctly with the barrel. Anybody ever have anything like this happen??
 
Was this using volquatsen's adapter? I ask because when bought thier adapter for my carbon tension barell and Spectre II, it would only screw on 1/2 turn. I sent theres back and had Mark McWillis at Trosusa make me one that was perfect.
 
It was the end that they assembled the on the end of the barrel. mine was also snug threading on about 1/2 way down but would screw on. hopefully they get it correct this time when I send it back to them.
 
Incredibly there are numerous examples of bullets following the baffles on misaligned suppressors without baffle strike. I experienced this for the first time last week. Put suppressor on new host, didn't check the alignment, and started shooting. Impacts were several feet off, so I disassembled the firearm for inspection. You could not see but maybe half a circle when looking down the barrel toward the suppressor! No strikes. Scary stuff. Lesson for me is to ALWAYS check the alignment on a new host.
 
Incredibly there are numerous examples of bullets following the baffles on misaligned suppressors without baffle strike. I experienced this for the first time last week. Put suppressor on new host, didn't check the alignment, and started shooting. Impacts were several feet off, so I disassembled the firearm for inspection. You could not see but maybe half a circle when looking down the barrel toward the suppressor! No strikes. Scary stuff. Lesson for me is to ALWAYS check the alignment on a new host.

I'm new to suppressors: how do you check the alignment?
 
One way is to take the bolt out and look through the gun. You can often times see it.
 
Another thing to check is length of the threads. If they are longer .400" you are likely getting contact between the muzzle and o-ring causing the suppressor to cant.
 
Last edited:
A quality one piece steel cleaning rod works for bore alignment , just wrap a few rounds of Teflon pipe tape around it to make it a snug fit.
 
I made 2 alignment rods out of drill rod I bought at ACE hardware. Got a piece of 1/4" and a piece of 5/16", went through all they had to find the straightest piece. I cut them down to about 16" length and went to a machinist buddy and got him to turn down about 3" of each rod. He shaved the 1/4" down to .224 and the 5/16" down to .308.

After that, I took the rods home and chucked each in my drill press and used emery cloth to polish the diameters down some more until they were a slip fit into the bore of my 223 and 308. I now have straight alignment rods that are long enough to enter the barrel a few inches and stick out of my suppressor. I screw the suppressor on the host barrel and stick the lubricated rod in the bore through the suppressor. If the rod will not enter the bore or the rod is not centered in the endcap of the suppressor, then the threads/suppressor are out of alignment.

I had a 20" ar bbl threaded once and the threads were not straight with the bore, but the face of the cut-down barrel was properly perpindicular with the bore. When I screwed my QD adapter onto the barrel and torqued it down against the barrel face, the face of the adapter and the face of the barrel met up at a slight angle. When the torque was applied, the two faces corrected their alignment, but in the process the crooked threaded portion of the barrel was pulled over straight. This pulled the actual bore out of alignment for the last 1/2" inch of the barrel.

POI shifted to 7 o'clock about 31 inches from point of aim at 100 yds. It still grouped well, and when I removed the QD adapter the barrel sprung right back to proper zero. If I had just went ahead and installed the suppressor without checking with my alignment rod, I would have probably initiated an "undesirable event", likely destroying my expensive suppressor and pissing me off to no end.

Later I had to get the bad threads cut off and the barrel re-threaded, winding up with a 19" bbl rather than 20". This time I sent the barrel to YHM, the maker of my suppressor, to get it threaded. That way if it wasn't right then YHM would still cover any suppressor damage.

TJones75 has the right idea as well, and that would be much easier for a one-time alignment check.