Suppressors Advice: cleaning and living with these cans

[carbonbased]

So, I’ve decided on a centerfire can: Banish 30, but not sure about a rimfire. Maybe I’ll just use the shortened version of the Banish 30 (goes from 9” to 7”). But maybe I’ll buy two. Everybody says I should.

The rimfire contenders:
- Amtac Fire Ant (sleeved monocore, heard it was super easy to clean)
- Dead Air Mask
- Q El Camino
- Thunderbeast Takedown 22

They are all pretty quiet. So here’s my priorities:
- cleaning, cleaning, cleaning
- “living with it” grab bag: does the tube unscrew from it’s mount, proprietary tools needed? (sucks), finish durability etc. Includes the intangibles, like sound.
- repeatable POI shift
- first round pop

Have at it.

 

[VanJoe]

So, I’ve decided on a centerfire can: Banish 30, but not sure about a rimfire. Maybe I’ll just use the shortened version of the Banish 30 (goes from 9” to 7”). But maybe I’ll buy two. Everybody says I should.

The rimfire contenders:
- Amtac Fire Ant (sleeved monocore, heard it was super easy to clean)
- Dead Air Mask
- Q El Camino
- Thunderbeast Takedown 22

They are all pretty quiet. So here’s my priorities:
- cleaning, cleaning, cleaning
- “living with it” grab bag: does the tube unscrew from it’s mount, proprietary tools needed? (sucks), finish durability etc. Includes the intangibles, like sound.
- repeatable POI shift
- first round pop

Have at it.

Also should consider the Liberty Regulator. Its a nice monocore can. Waiting on the Q El Camino stamp to come back.

 

[carbonbased]

The Regulator has come up quite a bit during my search. How is it to clean, take off the gun, etc?

 

[NWnewguy]

I would agree with your Dead Air and Thunderbeast choices. I would add the Rugged Oculus as well. It's one of, if not my favorite. Its very repeatable and has minimal POI shift and it's also very quiet and feels more rugged than a lot of other choices. If weight isn't an important factor the Griffin Optimus Micro is something you can look into. It's approved for use up to 22-250, and I use it on a 223 bolt rifle all the time. It's surprisingly quiet in that application.

 

[carbonbased]

@NWnewguy How are the Oculus and Optimus Micro to clean, remove from the barrel (does the tube accidentally come unscrewed from the suppressor?), first round pop, etc?

Do you own the Mask or TBAC 22? If you do, I have the same q’s. According to a Recoilweb review, they say FRP is minimal and unfortunately, the tube and muzzle-thread piece do come apart accidentally when unscrewing it from the suppressor.

RECOIL Rated: 10 Rimfire Cans

Read: RECOIL Rated: 10 Rimfire Cans from Rob Curtis on May 25, 2017 for Recoil.

www.recoilweb.com

The things that are intriguing about the Fire Ant are a) looks like it can’t accidentally come apart when unscrewing it, and b) the monocore is so open and accessible, one might not even have to do any of the dipping, the vinegar, the tumbling in steel pins, etc. See this review: https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11545613&postcount=16

Problem is, that’s the only review of the darn thing I could find. There’s a show n’ tell vid on YouTube with the Late Boy Scout, and a funny vid of Amtac blowing a Fire Ant up by shooting it with a 223.

On the other hand, some of the best rimfire advice I’ve found is from just one post, buried on rimfirecentral. I’ve asked this question there in their NFA section, but no one is biting…

 

[carbonbased]

Update: just found a “semi” review on the fire ant here: https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/10/13/tfb-field-review-amtac-fire-ant-suppressor/

Not a lot of review meat.

Comments on the story indicate the sleeve design was a way to get around a Silencer Shop Sparrow patent. No idea if that’s correct.

 

[NWnewguy]

@NWnewguy How are the Oculus and Optimus Micro to clean, remove from the barrel (does the tube accidentally come unscrewed from the suppressor?), first round pop, etc?

Do you own the Mask or TBAC 22? If you do, I have the same q’s. According to a Recoilweb review, they say FRP is minimal and unfortunately, the tube and muzzle-thread piece do come apart accidentally when unscrewing it from the suppressor.

RECOIL Rated: 10 Rimfire Cans

Read: RECOIL Rated: 10 Rimfire Cans from Rob Curtis on May 25, 2017 for Recoil.

www.recoilweb.com

The things that are intriguing about the Fire Ant are a) looks like it can’t accidentally come apart when unscrewing it, and b) the monocore is so open and accessible, one might not even have to do any of the dipping, the vinegar, the tumbling in steel pins, etc. See this review: https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11545613&postcount=16

Problem is, that’s the only review of the darn thing I could find. There’s a show n’ tell vid on YouTube with the Late Boy Scout, and a funny vid of Amtac blowing a Fire Ant up by shooting it with a 223.

On the other hand, some of the best rimfire advice I’ve found is from just one post, buried on rimfirecentral. I’ve asked this question there in their NFA section, but no one is biting…

I do own a Mask and I have a buddy that I shoot with regularly that owns the TBAC and a SiCo Sparrow. I haven't had a problem with any of them coming unscrewed from the barrel, or the tube coming undone from the mount. I use the horse jazz high temp anti-seize and it seems to work well, allowing joints to come apart when you want them to and keeping them together when you don't. I also haven't had any problems getting any of them to come apart for cleaning. I only run about 500 rounds through them before cleaning though so that may help with that. I just use an ultra sonic cleaner from HF and some cleaner from the dollar store that seems to work pretty well. I do have to scrape some of the chunks off with an orange wood stick, but if I was more patient, and allowed the cleaner more time to work, I may not need to do that.

As far as coming apart and going back together, I think they are all pretty simple, with maybe a slight disadvantage going to the Optimus Micro. It is also a little heavier than the others. I do feel that those small disadvantages are made up for by the fact that I can use it on my 223 or 22BR. That is very handy, and it suppresses very well on bolt actions in both of those calibers. I was kind of surprised by this. I expected it to be somewhat louder than larger 1.5" diameter cans, but there really isn't much difference and it's definitely hearing safe on a bolt rifle. I did a short write up with some pics of the Micro on here somewhere. You can probably find it quickly with a search.

As far as first round pop, I don't notice much at all with the k baffle cans, but I can definitely tell when it's a mono core design; like the Sparrow, and I would assume the Fire Ant would be. I personally like that I can make the Oculus shorter for using on a Ruger Mk pistol and with the 4" barrel, so that even the cheap bulk box ammo stays subsonic, it's still very quiet. I know it's not all that helpful, but I think you can't go wrong with the TBAC, DA, Rugged, SiCo Spectre II or Switchback, Energetic Armament NYX or a handful of others. I would personally avoid anything made out of aluminum components, but that's just me. Anyway, hope this helps a little and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Strykervet]

The Regulator has come up quite a bit during my search. How is it to clean, take off the gun, etc?

I can help a bit with that. I have 3 Liberty .22 cans, IMO/E Liberty makes great .22 stuff. Not a fan of monocore or Liberty for centerfire (they make fine hunting cans I guess) but the .22 stuff is just amazing. My first was an Essence, all Ti. It cost twice as much as the Regulator, it is lighter but not by much.

They said the Regulator was an accident, found by mistake just trying things out. Whatever, it works. It's quieter than the Essence, which was also one of the quietest cans when it came out. It has almost no FRP, even better than Essence. It's only like three pieces too and uses no tools to takedown, so it gets no simpler either. Monocore is also good for cleaning and it always lines back up, never gets off center, can't. With 1cc water, Regulator makes almost zero noise. In fact, it was SO quiet that I took it off an SBR'd 10/22 and use it only on a PPK/S because the host makes more noise than the shot.

The only thing I have quieter is a Pinnacle 2 10/22 integral barrel, it's a Liberty item too. It's peerless, just simply nothing but action noise which ain't that much on an all-Kidd rifle, an air rifle is louder.

All the monocore cans are easy to clean, the Essence they recommended to clean after 200rds. but the Regulator they say can go more like 400-600. Being a monocore, you have lots of options from ultrasonic to soaking to just using a brush, which is what I've gravitated to. No point in getting it perfectly clean, I just brush out the worst of it and put it back together and every so often "GI" it and get it spotless with some Kroil and a US cleaner. End cap comes off and core just pushes out, that's it. Threads on and off, easy peasy, and again, being monocore it always lines up because the baffle stack literally threads onto the barrel.

Hope that helps. Regulator is my favorite thread on .22 can.