• 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 Form 1, building a precision rifle suppressor

DRichardson

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 26, 2017
192
57
Acworth, GA
I'm interested in building a suppressor on a form 1. Anyone have any experience building a suppressor for a precision rifle? Seems most info is for rimfire, pistol, or ar15 setups where accuracy isn't too high up the list of importance. Is it reasonable to think that a accurate can could be assembled from some of the solvent trap vendors?

I'm looking at using a area 419 mounting end cap and full titanium for can and baffles (not set on any particular vendor or brand). Any known good parts or suggestions form anyone who has been down this road before?
 
I think what I have read titanium is hard to machine. To do a good job your going to need a lot of equipment, time, and skills. I think others will agree that no, you cannot do a good job with a solvent trap. Once you handle a well made can its clear why.
 
Titanium is in fact very hard to machine(I have machined some). Machining the tube would be the hardest part if tubing or piping isn't available. I have 25 years experience as a machinist and have built a 22 can but find that it was not cost effective when considering the time involved with the different setups, purchasing small amounts of material etc. If you want to build one because you WANT to, that's different. Are there vendors out there that sell parts that will allow form 1 owners to build one themselves?
 
I think what I have read titanium is hard to machine. To do a good job your going to need a lot of equipment, time, and skills. I think others will agree that no, you cannot do a good job with a solvent trap. Once you handle a well made can its clear why.

That's what I was thinking but not totally sure.

Titanium is in fact very hard to machine(I have machined some). Machining the tube would be the hardest part if tubing or piping isn't available. I have 25 years experience as a machinist and have built a 22 can but find that it was not cost effective when considering the time involved with the different setups, purchasing small amounts of material etc. If you want to build one because you WANT to, that's different. Are there vendors out there that sell parts that will allow form 1 owners to build one themselves?

I would kind of like to build it but don't want to put in a ton of money to have a crap outcome. I do like doing as much stuff as possible for myself. There are companies that have pre threaded tubing and baffle kits that aren't drilled yet. They sell them as solvent trap parts, and it completely legal to own as long as none of the parts have holes for a bullet to pass through drilled untill your form 1 clears. Atleast this is my understanding, with the research I've done so far.
 
My experience was rocky but ended in a great can.

F1 got approved, I bought the parts from diversified machine, 9.5” titanium tube and end caps, griffin mount, stainless innards from somewhere else. Started with my drill press and realized the runout I was seeing was tremendous, and that my equipment was not up to par with what I wanted for a precision rifle. After repeated looking down the can and filing and such to try to make sure I didn’t have a strike I shot it once, it was mediocre, and I sent it to Ecco Machine and Nick rebuilt it with a fully welded 11 baffle stack and now it’s utterly incredible.

In the end I think I have like 700$ in the can plus the stamp. It is 17.4 ounces which isn’t awful for a 10” 11 baffle can that he will warranty up to a 30-378 weatherby, but at times I wish I would have just bought a tbac and been done with it. Granted at the time a form 1 took 12 months.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DRichardson
That's what I was thinking but not totally sure.



I would kind of like to build it but don't want to put in a ton of money to have a crap outcome. I do like doing as much stuff as possible for myself. There are companies that have pre threaded tubing and baffle kits that aren't drilled yet. They sell them as solvent trap parts, and it completely legal to own as long as none of the parts have holes for a bullet to pass through drilled untill your form 1 clears. Atleast this is my understanding, with the research I've done so far.

That's interesting. I own a few other cans(22lr, 9mm) but have an interest in something similar to a Thunderbeast Ultra 5(short and light). I do realize I'm giving up a little suppression. I really love the modularity of the Obsidian 9 I own. A modular 308 can would be awesome. I'm sure it exsists but I haven't researched..... at all.
 
My experience was rocky but ended in a great can.

F1 got approved, I bought the parts from diversified machine, 9.5” titanium tube and end caps, griffin mount, stainless innards from somewhere else. Started with my drill press and realized the runout I was seeing was tremendous, and that my equipment was not up to par with what I wanted for a precision rifle. After repeated looking down the can and filing and such to try to make sure I didn’t have a strike I shot it once, it was mediocre, and I sent it to Ecco Machine and Nick rebuilt it with a fully welded 11 baffle stack and now it’s utterly incredible.

In the end I think I have like 700$ in the can plus the stamp. It is 17.4 ounces which isn’t awful for a 10” 11 baffle can that he will warranty up to a 30-378 weatherby, but at times I wish I would have just bought a tbac and been done with it. Granted at the time a form 1 took 12 months.

Glad it turned out for you. Manufacturers(good ones) have their parts perfected and take pride in how each part looks/fits. It's hard for average machinist to duplicate that.... much less, the average non machinist. :)
 
It seems the cores would be where an issue would be from a precision standpoint. I can see where a stack of baffles with spacers that are all heating and therefore expanding at different rates is less than ideal. If I did the initial build and am not happy with the way it functions I can have SOT recore it after the initial build is done.


After repeated looking down the can and filing and such to try to make sure I didn’t have a strike I shot it once, it was mediocre, and I sent it to Ecco Machine and Nick rebuilt it with a fully welded 11 baffle stack and now it’s utterly incredible.

By mediocre, do you mean not as quiet as you would like or did it hurt the accuracy, or some other issue? What did the recore run? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post it.
 

There is a thread on here that @padom started on a rimfire suppressor from the above company. I am considering one of their pistol caliber kits. Their centerfire kits look like a good option for an AR can to thrash on. Not sure how accurate they would be.
 
It seems the cores would be where an issue would be from a precision standpoint. I can see where a stack of baffles with spacers that are all heating and therefore expanding at different rates is less than ideal. If I did the initial build and am not happy with the way it functions I can have SOT recore it after the initial build is done.




By mediocre, do you mean not as quiet as you would like or did it hurt the accuracy, or some other issue? What did the recore run? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post it.

It wasn’t terribly quiet because I hogged it or so much I guess, and it just made me feel super uncomfortable. I didn’t shoot it enough to tell if it was terribly accurate or not, but considering I wanted to use it for longer range hunting, I felt I wasn’t confident that it would be repeatable.

Like 450-500 for a complete recore and a paint job I think.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DRichardson
These are all good vendors for Form 1 components:

I have a Maverick tube that I really like. They will laser engraved it also. On the muzzle end you can use ASR mounts, Griffin mounts, Dead Air Key Mo, etc.
Also have a DM kit, but need to finish it.



 
I just finished a couple cans on form1. A 6” with 3 baffles and a 12” with 8 baffles. They are all ti and we’re made from solvent trap parts. Ti isn’t hard to drill. If you’re making your baffles from scratch, then a good lathe with coolant and carbide tooling are needed. All you need is lots of coolant, low speeds and high feed rates. It’s not rocket science.

My 6” is really close on weight to my 6.5 ultra 7 from tbac. I could probably shave a little weight off the end cap still too. It’s decently quiet; not as quiet as my ultra 7 but it’s also an inch shorter. Also both of them are built as 358 caliber cans. If I had a tighter bore, it would be quieter also.

My 12” is surprisingly quiet. I’m extremely happy with its sound reduction, it’s really long though. I built it with 2 expansion chambers and 8 baffles, but once again it had a bore capable of handling a 358 bullet.

For accuracy, I haven’t shot them for groups yet but did take them out on a steel shoot. I didn’t have a problem hitting small targets. Going from the 6 to the 12” on my 6 creed was about a 1 moa shift, which is to be expected given the weight difference. On my brx, I only shot the 12” and it still hit what I was pointing at, including plenty of hits on the 6” diamond at 900ish yards.

I’ll be doing at least one other for my wife with a serial number specific for her.