Re: AWC? Any love out there?
Good questions and concerns..
What I know.
BJ, Back in 1983 the barrel technology for bleed off left .22 looking like well machine swiss cheese. They worked but were "tuned" to particular rounds. By the early 90's AWC's amphibians used very few (<span style="font-style: italic">less than 4</span>) precisely machined ports and will bleed to subsonic. The gas is pulled in a particular<span style="font-weight: bold"> early</span> location and will handle a very broad spectrum of velocities. If your thinking there are lots of holes, or lots of ports going down the barrel, there are not. Use <span style="font-weight: bold">maximum</span> power, use hollow points. Subsonics are not needed, are filthy, are expensive and are not "issue" anywhere. Use 30 or 36 grain hollow point, plated are the very best. 40 grains are what the shop uses, <span style="font-weight: bold">high velocity 40 grains</span> hit hard in a .22. QUIET, they are QUIET. Get this....standard velocity will be louder. Its all about frequency shift and tuning.
<span style="text-decoration: underline">Suppressor age from AWC</span>.
VERY EASY to tell them apart right on the dealer shelf.
IF it starts with a letter "A, K, L" etc. it is pre '90s.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Every serial number after that starts with the year of manufacturing. 2009 cans start with....09. This year 10.</span>
Yes, AWC constantly improves their products and will upgrade any Client's can to current spec. Many do, I do. Hell, I've taken Sionic suppressors and returned it to them to have the internals upgraded. AWC does not make 1/2 dozen .223 cans, 1/2 dozen .30 cans.. each one different...same round.
Okent, that really does sound terrible. I'll explain the coils but the "bur" and the "free thread protector" well that is a head scratcher.
The micro coils. The initial blast chamber on the earliest archangels is a series of complex captures. In short, then AWC would do a final operation to square (90) the leading face of the thread assembly and some of those fine crispies would get caught in there. One round..one rounds and the unit purges and emits <span style="font-weight: bold">all </span>of those curls. I myself found those very same curls in my earlier rigs, sometimes suspended in medium, one round....gone. Send your unit in and get it upgraded as the archangel is still one of the quietest units out there.
The issue with your threading? No idea. Every single threaded barrel that has ever left their shop has had a thread protector on it since 1982. Every one, they call it T&P (thread and protect). No idea why yours didn't leave that way. As to a bur big enough to keep a .22 from hitting a target at 25 yards. Wow, that is really bad as a hacksaw cut-off at an angle on a .22 barrel will still hit the target at 25 yards. You must have been pissed and I would have been too.
Military contracts, ad guys....
Well hang on here. AWC has never, not once bid on a military contract. Every contract they have gotten has been the services coming with orders. Since 1993 (the year you bought) they have been straight out. Since 9/11? Read the site, before, after, then, now. Busy.
"Post 9/11 the U.S. Army Special Operations people were purchasing our Raider 5.56mm cans by the hundreds and our 9mm Titanium Abraxas units with G26 & G19 barrels and Nexus II .45 suppressors with G30 barrels. These units went to Detachment DELTA and similar Spec War units. The Air Force did the same except they opted for the stainless steel version of the Abraxas with M9 barrels and Raider M16 suppressors for the Air Force Special Operations Command. The Marine Corps bought Raiders and the Navy it seems already had full shelves of what they needed, a majority already made by AWC and ready to provide years more service. Some contracts we let go, those were what we called “good enough” contracts where what was asked for had to be dirt cheap and just “good enough” to help keep the noise levels down. Margins were thin on those contracts, products looked liked tack welded car mufflers, sound levels were poor, acceptance by operatives poorer. That was no business for us, smartest thing we ever did was politely saying “no”. Having said that, to this day, when any of our clientele really get down to the selecting the quietest, most trouble free, highest quality, most accurate suppressor, they always come calling and get warmly received. They still marvel at our newest products and we still are unabashedly proud and deeply respectful of the service men and women who choose to put their life on the line with our products. "
Civilian sales? Always been a big part of their business.
Ad guy? New ad guys? AWC has had ad guys for more years than all your other brands ad guys service combined. Nothing new. I've seen the branding others have done and I doubt Lynn would have much time for it.
RAIDERS, no way the newer TI units are too heavy or not among the quietest unit out there. I just heard them all and, honestly, they are still to my mind superb. Full auto, beat it to death? Raider.