Suppressors Baffle Erosion, Silencerco Omega

loudandproud

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Jan 19, 2014
    298
    57
    Carlisle, PA
    The below can has the following round counts;

    11.5" 5.56 Semi Auto: 2500 rounds
    18" 308 Bolt action: 1100 Round
    23" 260 Bolt Action: 950 Round
    10" 300 BLK: 300 Subsonics
    28" 300 Win Mag: 300 Rounds
    ?
    Thats little over 5000 rounds. Is this kind of baffle erosion typical?


    17798919_10155524267768888_2479883524886981611_n.jpg
     
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    Not sure if it's typical, because it's all dependant on how hot it's been. But the good thing is that Silencerco will fix it. I have that many rounds through long barrel bolt actions only on my TBAC Ultra 9 with no erosion. Bit it's never been that hot. SBRs are tough on cans
     
    You can certainly get erosion in the expansion/blast chamber over time, worse with SBR semis. Using the break attachment vs direct thread will help to reduce it some, as the break acts as a "sacrificial baffle". My old AAC M4-2000 ran on a 9.5" M4 and after a year or so of teaching carbine classes, SWAT work, etc you could fire a 7.62 round through the break and not touch the sides. I replaced breaks every so often and prolonged the life of the can.

    That being said, some of what I see in the pic looks like flaking of thick accumulated carbon buildup off the baffle rather than erosion. The visible metallic surface appears very smooth and even, and the erosion I get in my cans and breaks is very uneven.

    I just popped my Omega off the SBR to check against yours. It has probably 3k rounds of 5.56 10" barrel, frequent rapid fire and speed drills, 500 of 300BO supers from an 8", and maybe 2-300 from an 18" SPR. It has heavy carbon buildup on the baffles like yours, but no visible shiny metal. The layer of buildup appears a little more even on the first baffle, but that may be lighting, etc. My break, however, is pitted, uneven, and worn. My personal feeling is that most of that is thick, uneven carbon build up, however, I can't prove it of course.

    I would probably roll on and not worry too much about it, especially given the ratings for the Omega and some of the torture tests it's been through.

    As always, YMMV

    Doc
     
    Using the break attachment vs direct thread will help to reduce it some, as the break acts as a "sacrificial baffle".

    If I were to put my money on it I would say that he is using the flash hider attachment. In his pic on the inner portion of the baffle you can see two clear areas with part of a third on the milled gap. The clear spots are evenly dispersed radially and would seem to match the ends.

    If it really is true then thats a good reason to go muzzle break over flash hider IMO provided you never have to shoot it can off with no ear protection.
    [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","height":"440","width":"440","src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0157\/8968\/products\/flash-hider-2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1487279711"}[/IMG2]


     
    If I were to put my money on it I would say that he is using the flash hider attachment. In his pic on the inner portion of the baffle you can see two clear areas with part of a third on the milled gap. The clear spots are evenly dispersed radially and would seem to match the ends.
    Now that you point that out, I definitely see it, and bet that you're right. I run brake mounts on everything for this very reason... plus the recoil reduction for when I'm not shooting suppressed. It's a win/win for me (though not for my neighbors on the line...).
     
    well their manual states it will handle an even shorter barrel than you have so there goes the thought of it being too short of a barrel:

    The Omega is rated down to 10" barrels for .223 Remington/5.56 NATO, 16" barrels for .308 Winchester/7.62 NATO, and 20” barrels for .300 Win Mag.

    let us know what they say
     
    I agreed in that I dont think that their minimum barrel constraints apply to this erosion situation but are more for pressures that would cause the can to rupture or fail due to excessive pressure. I do see how shorter barrels will cause accelerated wear in relation to a longer barrel like we are seeing here. Look at the fire ball that comes out of a short barrel in relation to a long barrel. I can definitely see how a brake could act as a sacrificial baffle in that the brake will take the abuse and retard some of that away from the can itself, a first line of defense situation.

    I would like to see someone that has an equivalent number of rounds on a short barrel with the brake installed and see how it relates (or with a flash hider to see if it mimics this one can). My shortest is a 16" 223 bolt with a brake attach and only a couple thousand rounds maybe and the can doesnt look anything close to this one but thats not really a fair comparison.
     
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    I would call silencer co to see what they say. I specifically sent this exact question to silencer co regarding erosion based on a claim Jessie James made about his extremely overpriced product. Jessie's claim was that his suppressors lasted 6 times longer than the competitions so I asked silencer co about erosion. They said their suppressor are made to last for life and if you do have any issue, they will replace it, no questions asked. In the pic it is hard to tell which is uneven carbon build up and which is erosion. Without thoroughly cleaning the suppressor, how can you really tell the difference?
     
    SBR's are really hard on cans. A lot of heat/pressure will wear them out in a hurry. I had a surefire muzzle brake that had at least that much erosion on it.
     
    You guys are correct. I do run a flashhider on my sbr. The other rifles have brakes. The carbon around the bottom of the baffle doesn't concern me...mainly just the erosion.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

     
    I use an AAC 762-SDN6 on my 10.5" 5.56 SBR. I run the muzzle brake and you can clearly see where the erosion is taking place on the first baffle of the brake. The can baffles are flawless; swap to a brake, especially for the SBR.
     
    I have way more rounds than that on my Saker 7.62. I have had it on multiple SBR's as short as yours. The blast baffle looks brand new. My brother has 2 Sakers also with even more rounds on them. The blast baffles on those cans look perfect too. I would be interested to know what caused yours to be so drastic on such a low round count.