Cleaning a suppressor?

[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
...

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/

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As I said, " nothing practical or applicable"

[janfred]

Since nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin decomposes completely into gas, have any of you wondered where the "carbon" actually comes from?

[Ds J]

Under which circumstances do they dissolve or decompose completely?

Candles leave soot, diesel leaves smoke and soot, etc.

[janfred]

Candles and diesel need added oxygen to burn. If there isn't enough, then you get smoke and soot.

Nitrocellulose on the other hand has all the needed oxygen included in the molecule. Hence no need for extra oxygen.

When detonated, the nitrocellulose decomposes rapidly, and exothermically:
2 [C6H7O11N3]n = 9n CO (g) + 3n CO2 (g) + 7n H2O (g) + 3n N2 (g)

[oafpatroll]

Since moving to S121 for my 9mm sport fodder and 12g bird seed my guns are filthy caked in black residue within as little as 50 rounds.

This wasn't the case with MS or MP. What gives?

[Mohamed]

This is the cleaning instructions that came with my silencer.

[Treeman]

Since nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin decomposes completely into gas, have any of you wondered where the "carbon" actually comes from?

No combustion is ever complete ?, but yea! where does the carbon come from ?

[Treeman]

Since nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin decomposes completely into gas, have any of you wondered where the "carbon" actually comes from?

No combustion is ever complete ?, but yea! where does the carbon come from ?

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Primer residue, graphite and other retardant coatings and incomplete combustion ?

[janfred]

Most of the black carbon we see is just that; the graphite coating of the powder granules. Because there is very little free oxygen in the case when the powder burns, the graphite (like the retardant coatings) has nothing to react with so it blows out the barrel as smoke. Graphite itself is quite soft and easy to remove.

Nitrocellulose deflagrate quite completely. But the process making nitrocellulose is not as efficient and depends a lot on the quality of the raw materials. Not all the cellulose treated is converted to nitrocellulose and stays in the mixture as an impurity.

For those unfamiliar, cellulose is a natural polymer, i.e. plastic, with a melting point around 265C. Melted plastic sticks very nicely to solids like barrel steel and silencer baffles where it acts as a glue for other particles following it. Who wanted to know how a carbon ring forms?

So, while it is impractical to use a carbon solvent, the search for a faster cellulose solvent continues.

[Treeman]

 ******************cellulose is a natural polymer, i.e. plastic, with a melting point around 265C. Melted plastic sticks very nicely to solids like barrel steel and silencer baffles where it acts as a glue for other particles following it******************************* the search for a faster cellulose solvent continues.

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THIS - This has been a valuable enlightenment to me, this may be some of what I needed to know. I always thought it was just carbon, thats all.
If this is the case why would a soak in acetone not melt the residue ?

[janfred]

Acetone does not dissolve cellulose. Search for liquids that disolve nitrocellulose. The most efficient solvent I found was "ethylene glycol ethyl ether", a.k.a. Oxitol, Ethyl Cellosolve.

Another one is Amyl Acetate. This is the solvent that gave the smell to the original Hoppes No 9. No longer used due to long term health risks. Difficult to get hold of in Cape Town.

Even using these solvents, you have to keep agitating to get the cellulose to disolve. Apparently the hydrogen bonds between the molecules are very strong. Because of this, the outside layer may become soft, but does not come off the surface very quickly. To clean a silencer or barrel, you have to keep wiping off the softened layer for the solvent to get to the rest. Using a brush accelerates this.

I do not know of any other cleaning chemicals or solvents that work faster.

At the cost of the solvents and the time and effort required to use them, it is just cheaper to get an ultrasonic cleaner for your silencer.

[Treeman]

Cheapest is drill - rod and abrasive matter. IE : dry tumbling.