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Suppressors Suppressor Cleaning with Stainless Steel Media: possible?

zenbiker

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 15, 2009
633
1
63
Charlottesville, Virginia
Been reading about as well as dealing cleaning suppressors. A couple of members have been dealing with heavily carbon/lead fouled suppressors and difficulty in cleaning them. Question: If there was a way to seal both ends of the can well, could stainless steel case cleaning media be used with water or, if appropriate, a carbon removal compound like Slip2000 Carbon Killer be sealed in the can and placed on a mechanical roller and let the stainless media/carbon removing compound in the rotating can be used to remove heavy fouling? It would be a matter of:

1) weighing the suppressor before and after cleaning and comparing it to factory spec to ascertain how much fouling was removed and how much may still remain.

2) weighing the amount of stainless steel media being placed in the can, both before cleaning and then again after to verify that it had all been removed from the can.

I don't know if any device exists to use to roll the media filled suppressor to activate the cleaning media, but I have a 3D printer and could "rapid" prototype something if this idea sounds feasible. The considerations in my mind are mainly: would the stainless steel cleaning media possibly damage the suppressor and/or the internals ( I don't see this working well with aluminum cans and baffles ); would you be able to easily and completely remove all of the stainless cleaning media, and, oh, hell, I don't know what else, which is why I'm posing the question to the collective wisdom of this forum. What do you guys and gals think?

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farmerted: thanks for the link, covers a lot of ground.

All kidding aside, I'm really surprised. Maybe I'm chasing a problem that doesn't exist, but to me, there is a disconnect here. A lot of time and thought goes into designing suppressors; some of the design goals I've read are to maximize interior volume, maximize heat transfer of the muzzle gases thru contact with the outside of the can, maximize turbulence of the gases thru baffle design, all of which are degraded to some degree by carbon and lead buildup. Why are rimfire suppressors and many pistol suppressors able to be disassembled for cleaning, yet most centerfire cans welded shut, with no uniform methodto clean them? Just curious; also, what is the recipe for this "dip" I read so much about?

I'm not criticizing anyone; like most people here, I have a significant amount of time and money invested in my suppressors, and I'm surprised at the lack of instruction for cleaning my closed suppressors. UNODIR ( UNless Otherwise DIRected )* I'll clean my suppressors like I clean my rifles - frequently, using a chemical rinse/foam that is compatible with the materials and construction of my can, using an ultrasonic cleaner if possible. I think tomorrow I will contact the manufacturers of my suppressors and ask them for their cleaning recommendations if not already listed in the unit's literature. Again, not being contrarian, but was just tossing out an idea for helping owners of severely fouled cans.

Peace Out
Zen

* anyone who can come up with the origin of the acronym "UNODIR" wins a set of bifocal shooting glasses and a free month's supply of genuine U.S. Army Surplus "Sniper Diapers", from the era of when men were men and smelled like it ?


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