Cleaning a suppressor?

[Againstthegrains]

Just wondering if anybody ever does this? has need to do this? and how?

[jager]

Not sure if right or wrong, but I just give mine a good spray with carb cleaner and let it drain.

[oafpatroll]

I've only got one and it comes apart. I scrub it out with eds red every couple of hundred rounds.

[Tripodmvr]

A friend of mine uses acid in his sealed unit.

[janfred]

Ase Utra recommends spraying oil into their sealed units after use. When the weight has increased by around 100 gram (I think), to clean it in an ultrasonic cleaner. That apparently only happens after multiple thousands of rounds.

[Treeman]

Its carbon, what's going to remove it ? There ain't no usable soap or acid that does anything.
The next question is why and if ever needed. If you run a brush to keep the line of bore clear, what more would you need on the silencer and why.
The carbon build up will only be weight and that weight would only be measure able after a few thousand rounds.

So why do we want to clean the silencer?

I once cleaned a silencer, and after a long many things tried I found one method that worked, one method only and ever.
I took beach gravel(crushed sea shells) put some in the silencer and then put a threaded rod through silencer and tightened it up. I put the rod in a drill and lay it sideways on low speed for a few hours.
Lots and lots came out.

[janfred]

The odd one out is .22LR silencers. Apparently they get very dirty very quickly. Probably because of all the lubricant used and the low pressure cartridge do not burn the powder as efficient as others. The soot is said to contain a lot of lead residue as well.

[oafpatroll]

Second the point on 22 cans. They do get dirty very fast.

Re why you'd want to clean them, main reason is that the muck takes up space/reduces internal volume thereby making them less effective.

[Ds J]

In another thread, someone said that supressed rifles should be stored upside down, because the carbon can fall into the barrel.

If that is true, it only makes sense to clean a suppressor.

Given that it is carbon, one should be able to clean it with peroxide or any other chemical which can clean a barrel.

[janfred]

Problem when using vinegar/peroxide mix is than it also reacts with any lead residue creating a skin-absorbable lead compound. It is also extremely hazardous to the environment. Dumping the used solution down the drain or in the garden is environmentally irresponsible.

Just makes sense to remove the silencer from the rifle after use, preferably when it is still warm, let it air out and then give a spray of oil down the middle.

[Ds J]

Problem when using vinegar/peroxide mix is than it also reacts with any lead residue creating a skin-absorbable lead compound. It is also extremely hazardous to the environment. Dumping the used solution down the drain or in the garden is environmentally irresponsible.

Just makes sense to remove the silencer from the rifle after use, preferably when it is still warm, let it air out and then give a spray of oil down the middle.

Thanks for this, I have only done it once or maybe twice and will keep this in mind for the future.

Which type of oil would you recommend? Q5 or Q10 - penetrating oils?

[janfred]

Q20 would probably work fine. The idea is just to get a light coating on the inside parts. I've used Balistol as well.

Some solvent type spray oil actually loosens carbon. I once used Herschel's Gun cleaning spray. When I picked up the unit 3 months later, pieces of carbon fell out.

The big thing is to not leave it on the rifle. Nitrocellulose decomposes into NO/NO2, CO/CO2 gasses as well as water vapour. As silencers are designed to restrict and retard flow of gasses through it, some water vapour stays inside the silencer. Leaving it on the rifle the moisture can migrate down (or up) into the barrel. To make matters worse, NO dissolves in water to make HNO3 (also known as nitric acid) and that is not very good for steel.

[Treeman]

The only think that works on carbon is mechanical action, be it abrasive, impact or shock waves, carbon is an almost inert, non reactive material. It doesn't give any F******s

There are impractical ways, not applicable ways possibly - like heating object to glowing and dropping into ice water (mechanical actually). Carbon literally jumps off.

Prove me wrong - no apparently, no "I heard", just personal experience.

[janfred]

Deleted because I was being a smartass and could be  misconstrued.

[janfred]

The only think that works on carbon is mechanical action, be it abrasive, impact or shock waves, carbon is an almost inert, non reactive material. It doesn't give any F******s
...

Practically you are correct.

There is a thing called "Piranha solution"; hydrogen peroxide and sulphuric acid. It dissolves organic material including carbon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha_solution

It is not particularly healthy or safe for barrel steel or human skin.

Another solution that is reported to work for silencers is "the dip". 50/50 vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Doesn't do much for carbon; just lead. Please don't.
https://www.silencercentral.com/blog/suppressor-dip-should-you-use-it-or-avoid-it/