How often do you clean your rifle suppressor?

[BrentM]

I have noticed the carbon flakes falling back and out of suppressor. Crazy thing I swear it's worse when it's clean after I get more rds on it seems like that doesn't do it. It's very interesting either way at least thunderbeast seems easy to clean clr.

I thought I was good until I was getting 1/4 size chunks breaking away and locking up my action.....

 

[Schw15]

I thought I was good until I was getting 1/4 size chunks breaking away and locking up my action.....

That is huge what powder?

 

[RockyRandy]

I got my Banish 30 today. Since I ordered the baffle removal tool, I was trying to research cleaning. In my research, I see many folks not even breaking it down, but putting it into a sonic cleaner with solvent. I was also reading one article that said 10s of thousands of rounds before cleaning a rifle suppressor, if not ever cleaning it at all.

A few questions for suppressor owners...

How often do you clean your suppressor?
How do you know when it needs to be cleaned?
Do you not clean it at all?

Would love to hear folks thoughts and experiences.

I have alway heard the dirtier the can the quieter it is and even if this is true I had a bad experience at a shooting school where I was shooting for my final score and it was a timed score where I had to shoot 10 paper targets in 2 minutes, sounds pretty easy until I experience a stiff bolt lift do to over pressure (I left 2 dots un-shot because of it). It was the school suppressor and he said it had been awhile sense he had cleaned it, Oh and it was a Thunderbeast.
I have about 10 silencer's and 2 of them are the Banish 30, one thing you need to be aware of is they can be really hard to take apart so I would recommend that you loosen and re-tighten it after every 100 rds. also you need to get a HIGH temp never seize and use it on the threads. I let mine soak over night in CLR and it cleans up really nice.

 

[BrentM]

That is huge what powder?

RL26, N560, 4350, Staball. I use my cans on different rifles. RL26 being the main powder in the 6.5's.

 

[rooster740]

I mirror what BrentM said previously. I have 2 lane cans and 1- TB ultra5.
One was primarily used by my son at precision rifle matches, and several hunting rifles.
I weigh them new and when they gain an ounce it is over due!
Carbon chunks in a chamber with elk standing there no so patiently waiting will make a fella rethink the suppressor cleaning schedule.

 

[BrentM]

I mirror what BrentM said previously. I have 2 lane cans and 1- TB ultra5.
One was primarily used by my son at precision rifle matches, and several hunting rifles.
I weigh them new and when they gain an ounce it is over due!
Carbon chunks in a chamber with elk standing there no so patiently waiting will make a fella rethink the suppressor cleaning schedule.

Yeah man, I had a wolf at 500 and could not close my bolt. I was like *** and kept trying... finally got the bolt to close but was scared to send it. Wolf was gone. Extracted the round and there was a massive black booger embedded in the shoulder, huge flake of carbon. Looked in the chamber and there was crap everywhere. Pulled the can off, tapped it on my hand, all sorts of nasty chunks fell out. Blew my mind.

 

[Schw15]

Dang I have never had that happen but I mainly shoot elr steel so not much upright carrying. Makes me think suppressors might not be always worth it

 

[lancetkenyon]

I clean every few thousand rounds.
I plug the end and use CLR.

 

[USAFRet]

I have alway heard the dirtier the can the quieter it is and even if this is true I had a bad experience at a shooting school where I was shooting for my final score and it was a timed score where I had to shoot 10 paper targets in 2 minutes, sounds pretty easy until I experience a stiff bolt lift do to over pressure (I left 2 dots un-shot because of it). It was the school suppressor and he said it had been awhile sense he had cleaned it, Oh and it was a Thunderbeast.
I have about 10 silencer's and 2 of them are the Banish 30, one thing you need to be aware of is they can be really hard to take apart so I would recommend that you loosen and re-tighten it after every 100 rds. also you need to get a HIGH temp never seize and use it on the threads. I let mine soak over night in CLR and it cleans up really nice.

The entire suppressor soaking or do you take it apart and soak the baffles?

 

[Knight]

I clean before hunting season regardless of use. I had a gun become a paperweight from carbon flakes falling out of the suppressor into the action while packing in (gun attached to my pack with barrel up).

I use TBAC suppressors so cleaning is simple. Plug small hole, fill with CLR, set it aside for a few hours, repeat.

Pro tip…CLR will "bubble" on a dirty suppressor, so fill it 3/4 full, let it settle down, then fill up. You don't want CLR overflowing onto the nitriding on the outside, it'll eat it.

I have an AAC 30 cal SDN 6 closed system suppressor. Used on 300 black out , 308 and 5.56. After maybe 3 or so hundred rds. I plug one end and fill it up with Bore Tech Carbon Remover then let it st for 24 hrs. Upon examination of the results, it appeared, the stationary baffles looked like they were sand blasted. Very satisfied with that product. Be carefull I don't know if it effects nitrate coatings..

.

 

[Rosebud]

Never cleaned it. Approaching 1000 rounds. Witt machine Naughty 9. They said not to clean it. That it would become more efficient as it was shot. I don't know about that, but no cleaning except for outside.

 

[Clutch]

Never cleaned any of mine.

 

[Mike6158]

I pulled the baffles on my Dead Air Mask a while back. I shot quite a bit of .22LR through The baffles came out in one piece and they were coated with carbon. I marveled at how they machined the baffles in one piece (they didn't. They were stuck together). I cleaned the end caps with a CLR soak and alcohol wipe down. Even thought the finish wasn't affected I can't recommend doing that. CLR can take some finishes off (so I'm told).

This is from a post I made on the Dead Air FB page

I gave my Dead Air Mask a bath on Saturday. I used a 100ml graduated cylinder and CLR. I took the internals out, slid them into the cylinder, and poured in CLR until it was covered. I shook the cylinder a little to clear out the air bubbles. The photo below is what it looked like after 5 minutes. I dumped the CLR and replaced it. Another 5 minutes in that and it was gray. When I put the internals in the first bath they were rigid. I thought it was one piece (amazing machine work if that was the case). By the second soak the internals separated with only two stubborn sections. I soaked those while I hand cleaned the others with a damp paper towel. 99% of the carbon came off in the soaks. There were pieces that had sections with a film of carbon on them and one piece with a stubborn ridge not unlike what you'll find the barrel of a rifle just after the neck. The film wiped off with a damp paper towel. The ridge came out with another, longer soak and some effort. When I was finished I soaked the end caps and outer shield. They weren't very dirty and those cleaned up easily. The internals looked like new when I finished cleaning. Each piece was sprayed with 99.9% isopropyl alcohol and wiped dry before reassembly.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I pulled the baffles on my Dead Air Mask a while back. I shot quite a bit of .22LR through The baffles came out in one piece and they were coated with carbon. I marveled at how they machined the baffles in one piece (they didn't. They were stuck together). I cleaned the end caps with a CLR soak and alcohol wipe down. Even thought the finish wasn't affected I can't recommend doing that. CLR can take some finishes off (so I'm told).

This is from a post I made on the Dead Air FB page

View attachment 531718

I think CLR can cause damage to a lot of suppressors that aren't titanium. Just be careful. That being said, that stuff works great!