TBAC Suppressor Cleaning

[Darkside-Six]

I weighed my oldest TBAC Ultra 7, it weighed damn near 14 oz's...I have been giving it frequent CLR baths all week long. I noticed it doesn't take the CLR very long to work at all, I just think I have so much shit in there it kind of turns it into a sludge like material that is difficult to get out.

Anyone trying using an air compressor with a discharge nozzle to knock all the sludge loose? I am making pretty slow headway, about .05 oz a day...

Same thing that mine did. Had to completely soak in on CLR for about 24 hours to finally get it knocked loose. If you have an ultra sonic cleaner, run it through a few cycles of that with Simple green in it after the CLR soak. I’m not sure what kind of nozzle you’re talking about but did blow it out with my compressor and it helped a little with the last little bit of loose stuff.

 

[Laughing_Jackal]

After a 24 hour cycle of CLR, I typically have pretty good luck with running extremely hot water through it as well. It seems like the hot water really helps break up the carbon that's already been loosened up by the CLR. Tapping the suppressor against the bottom of the sink while the hot water is running helps break it up as well. I also smack the suppressor pretty hard on the basement floor, which is concrete with thin carpet. You'll obviously want to have a towel, as a lot of wet carbon\sludge will break loose and go everywhere.

 

[grapo]

Good info here appreciate it.

 

[beenjammin]

Has anyone noticed and impact shifts or loss of accuracy after? Mine is due this, but Im scare because it shoot so good.

 

[shields shtr]

After weighing my Ultra 7 at 13 3/4 oz, and 7-9 days (I lost track) of 24-36 hour CLR soaks followed by hot water rinse I am down to 10 5/8 ounces. I think I am going to try and locate a sonic cleaner and see if I can get the final 3/4 ounce out that way after I soak. The can looks spic and span on the inside, but it must have some stuff hidden in the baffles somewhere. I think if I can get it to 10 ounces or less I am going to consider it a victory. Definitely will work a more routine cleaning cycle into my regimen from now on.

 

[samb300]

Has anyone noticed and impact shifts or loss of accuracy after? Mine is due this, but Im scare because it shoot so good.

Not personally, no. But if you have the opportunity to confirm zero after cleaning I would do it just as a sanity check.

Just think, did it shoot awesome out of the box with no rounds (i.e. carbon build up) through it? I’m guessing it did. So if you get it 95% cleaned out with CLR it should be the same as it was when new.

 

[PlinkIt]

I can't imagine a change of poi, but maybe if the weight was different enough it could be like having a barrel tuner?...

 

[Solid7]

After weighing my Ultra 7 at 13 3/4 oz, and 7-9 days (I lost track) of 24-36 hour CLR soaks followed by hot water rinse I am down to 10 5/8 ounces. I think I am going to try and locate a sonic cleaner and see if I can get the final 3/4 ounce out that way after I soak. The can looks spic and span on the inside, but it must have some stuff hidden in the baffles somewhere. I think if I can get it to 10 ounces or less I am going to consider it a victory. Definitely will work a more routine cleaning cycle into my regimen from now on.

Out of curiosity - how long did it take you to build up that much residue? What is your shooting style? (specifically, do you shoot semi-auto or bolt)

 

[shields shtr]

Out of curiosity - how long did it take you to build up that much residue? What is your shooting style? (specifically, do you shoot semi-auto or bolt)

If I had to take a guess, I would say about 2 years and well over 3000 rounds fired from both a semi-automatic and bolt gun. I have 3 suppressors now, but the one I cleaned was my first. It lived on my bolt guns for competitions, bolt guns for hunting, and my gassers for schwacking hogs and general plinking and practice. Wide variety of both handloads for my bolt guns and pretty much everything under the sun for my semi-automatic guns. I am just going to get into a routing of cleaning them every 3-4 months whether they need it or not.

 

[Solid7]

If I had to take a guess, I would say about 2 years and well over 3000 rounds fired from both a semi-automatic and bolt gun. I have 3 suppressors now, but the one I cleaned was my first. It lived on my bolt guns for competitions, bolt guns for hunting, and my gassers for schwacking hogs and general plinking and practice. Wide variety of both handloads for my bolt guns and pretty much everything under the sun for my semi-automatic guns. I am just going to get into a routing of cleaning them every 3-4 months whether they need it or not.

I haven't had mine for all that long, so was just kinda trying to form (or temper) my expectations. The dealer that I bought it from literally told me that I'd never need to clean it, I just knew that wasn't right.

As stated earlier, I'm trying to devise some sort of ultrasonic cleaner, but it would require specific geometries that fit inside the can. And I don't think I'd like to fixture a titanium can, for fear of it cracking. (cause titanium has a bad habit of cracking from vibrational stresses) But knowing that you shot that many rounds, with that much variation, and only have that much build-up to show for it, tells me that maybe I should calm down a bit.

 

[Darkside-Six]

I haven't had mine for all that long, so was just kinda trying to form (or temper) my expectations. The dealer that I bought it from literally told me that I'd never need to clean it, I just knew that wasn't right.

As stated earlier, I'm trying to devise some sort of ultrasonic cleaner, but it would require specific geometries that fit inside the can. And I don't think I'd like to fixture a titanium can, for fear of it cracking. (cause titanium has a bad habit of cracking from vibrational stresses) But knowing that you shot that many rounds, with that much variation, and only have that much build-up to show for it, tells me that maybe I should calm down a bit.

I have a titanium can and have used it many times in an ultra sonic cleaner.
I clean my cans once a year over the winter break. Last year I put close to 5000 rounds through it. It was about 3.1 ounces over its normal weight. I found that the easiest way to get all the build up put is to start with a good 24 hour soak in CLR followed by several runs in the ultra sonic cleaner with a 50/50 mixture of simple green and water. Took me about 3 days to get it back to its normal weight.

 

[Solid7]

I have a titanium can and have used it many times in an ultra sonic cleaner.
I clean my cans once a year over the winter break. Last year I put close to 5000 rounds through it. It was about 3.1 ounces over its normal weight. I found that the easiest way to get all the build up put is to start with a good 24 hour soak in CLR followed by several runs in the ultra sonic cleaner with a 50/50 mixture of simple green and water. Took me about 3 days to get it back to its normal weight.

Sorry, didn't mean for my comment to be misconstrued... I was saying that I didn't want to use an ultrasonic where the can was fixed - try to visualize a paint can shaker. And it sure seems like standard ultrasonic cleaners have a hard time on surfaces that the waves can't directly contact. Which is why I was pondering developing the internal device.

This is my first non-serviceable can, so as much as I love the performance, I'm having to grit my teeth and bear that part of it.

 

[parshal]

My TBAC can't be taken apart. Soaking CLR gets more out of it than ultrasonic. I soak the can in a Pringles container with CLR for a couple days changing out the CLR every 24 hours. The last time I tossed it in the ultrasonic after the couple days' soak to see what more came out. All it did was darken the fluid in the cleaner.

 

[Reload10]

Is clr messing with the cerakote on the tbac cans?

 

[parshal]

It hasn't done anything to mine, yet. But, I fill the can and don't soak the outside.

 

[Darkside-Six]

Is clr messing with the cerakote on the tbac cans?

No.

 

[260284]

I soaked my 30P-1 in CLR in a 1-1/2" PVC tube with a cap on one end and a female adapter with a plug on the other. Two soaks for 9 days each, shook it up a couple of time during the soak. Rinsed it with hot water and couldn't belive the chunks that came out. Put it in my cheap ultrasonic with the purple simple green and ran it for several cycles. The cerakote is a little damaged where the suppressor makes contact with the plastic tray, but it is down to 1 oz over new. Dropped over 5 ounces out of it. I have had this suppressor since 2014 and have done this once before with an earplug in the end.

Need to try my Harvester in the purple simple green and see what it does.

 

[Lunchbox27]

I soaked my 30P-1 in CLR in a 1-1/2" PVC tube with a cap on one end and a female adapter with a plug on the other. Two soaks for 9 days each, shook it up a couple of time during the soak. Rinsed it with hot water and couldn't belive the chunks that came out. Put it in my cheap ultrasonic with the purple simple green and ran it for several cycles. The cerakote is a little damaged where the suppressor makes contact with the plastic tray, but it is down to 1 oz over new. Dropped over 5 ounces out of it. I have had this suppressor since 2014 and have done this once before with an earplug in the end.

Need to try my Harvester in the purple simple green and see what it does.

Let me know how the Harvester does. Mine needs a bath soon. Is the Purple the Air Craft grade?

Edit: just looked it up.. nope, it’s not.

 

[260284]

Let me know how the Harvester does. Mine needs a bath soon. Is the Purple the Air Craft grade?

Edit: just looked it up.. nope, it’s not.

The purple that I bought is supposed to be aluminum safe. I will look at the bottle and see what the number is.

Edit. It is the Pro HD and on their website it is listed as safe for aluminum.

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[Lunchbox27]

I might just go straight for CLR (inner soak), but let me know how this works.

 

[260284]

I might just go straight for CLR (inner soak), but let me know how this works.

I have heard CLR is a big no no on aluminum and the Harvester tube is aluminum.

 

[kurtispalu]

I might just go straight for CLR (inner soak), but let me know how this works.

I would contact SilencerCO CS before soaking your Harvester. The outer tube is Aluminum and the baffles are Stainless (17-4PH if I remember correctly). I've done some testing on 17-4 and CLR, short soaks in the 15-30 minutes range are okay but if you leave CLR in there overnight (10 hours) it can/will start to pit the 17-4 slightly and I mean very slightly.

 

[just browsing]

Plug and fill with CLR. Once it’s had a chance to soak, I’ll throw it in my Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler with hot water and simple green (no pins) and let it bounce around for a while. It sounds like a stampede but the internal surface of the FA is rubber and it seems to protect the finish pretty well.

Comes out nice and sparkly clean every time...

 

[BurtG]

The cerakote is a little damaged where the suppressor makes contact with the plastic tray

I think I read you need to put rubber bands on can then the ultra won’t damage the finish