Re: Does Anyone Their Suppressor on... Always?....
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: biffj</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sirhitalot</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I always take mine off after shooting, because it will contain humidity with among others ammonia. This will create a corrosive environment on the end of your barrel, and we can all understand thats not good. Maybe you wont have rust at once, or maybe you shoot your suppressor so hot that most of the humidity will evaporate, but i guarantee you that it is better for your barrel to take it off. I have 7 supressors out of which ive made two myself. None of them creates a POI change when taken off and put on. If i shoot without the silencer, the POI change is about an inch. All are threaded, threads used are 1/2"x20 UNF, M14x1,5, M14x1 and M18x1,5. </div></div>
This is really good advice! Don't leave the can on when you're done shooting and don't clean the barrel with the can on. There are a number of reasons for this. To start-Rifle cal suppressors don't like to have loose crap in them so all those flakes of carbon knocked off when the cleaning rod hit a baffle or the bits of wire from the brush or god forbid a patch could cause some serious damage if a bullet hits one and deflects. I've repaired some suppressors that had unexplained baffle strikes and in more than one case debris was found in the can that could have caused it.
Next is what I quoted from SirHitalot above-condensation and moisture trapping. Smokeless powder leaves a pretty large quantity of water vapor in its passing. If it condenses on a cold can it can cause corrosion. Reacting with the nitrogen by-products of combustion it will create ammonia (as he noted) and even if you heat the can up enough to remove all liquid water you will still have vapor. When the gun and can cool it will condense on the surfaces that cool first.....likely the barrel will be one of these. I've seen some serious pitting on the last few inches of bore in a couple guns where owners left the can on and put them in a case to take home. I always recommend an oily patch through the bore after removing the can prior to casing the rifle. Stainless barrels are nice for dedicated suppressed rifles as well.
In all the research we've done with poi changes it appears that as long as you get the suppressor torqued to about the same everytime you won't have any changes on any one particular rifle. Swapping from one to the other will change things of course. Also using a mark to line up when reinstalling is a bad idea. Over time your thread lockup may change and the mating surfaces wear. This will allow the can to come loose if you just tighten it to a certain point. Tighten to a torque even if its just you saying, "thats about as tight as last time". The cans change on the poi will change if its in a different position but not usually by a lot so make sure its tight and check it occasionally. Some threads let things loosen and others seem to stay tight but check anyway. A loose can will be trouble for your groups and also can create baffle and endcap strikes.
Hope that helps
Frank</div></div>
So what do the guys that run integrally suppressed systems do? Can't take off when they are done shooting right? Also what kind of cleaning procedure do they have?
