My AAC TiRant.45 suppressor documentation said not to use cast bullets. I suppose the fear is lead and fouling build up? Is there any consensus whether powder coated bullets are better/ok for suppressors not intended to be disassembled for cleaning?
Powder coated bullets and suppressors
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wally
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If the can doesn't come apart for cleaning I'd suggest jacketed or thick plated bullets only. I tried lead bullets in my take-apart Thompson Machine Isis when it was new, It was very hard to disassemble after only 100 rounds of hard cast lead bullets. Scrapped off the lead and never did it again. Shooting jacketed and plated I've stopped taking it apart as too much trouble and the only build up seems to be carbon which makes it hard to dissemble after ~300 rounds which is typically a single outing for us. My Gemtech recommend cleaning about every 250 rounds because of the carbon built up, but they also say its a perfectly valid option to never take it apart as the risk of damage from cleaning can be worse than the carbon build up if the cleaning intervals are too long -- they say they easily get 200K rounds though their non-take-apart cans.
I believe it, the carbon seems to be self limiting, I mean when was the last time you had to clean your car's muffler?
I believe it, the carbon seems to be self limiting, I mean when was the last time you had to clean your car's muffler?
I've only been to the range twice with my new AAC Illusion and have only shot about 300 rounds through it, but all the rounds were powder coated except for the first 10 rounds. Both times I have taken apart the piston and cleaned it but haven't touched the baffles. The piston was relatively clean and no build up of junk.
I think the biggest problem with lead bullets would be the lube. The lube fouling gets everywhere and builds up quickly. Powder coating does not have this issue. I have shot hundreds and hundreds of PC rounds through guns without the need to clean them.
If the powder coating is done incorrectly you can get leading in a barrel. If you are getting lead in the barrel I'd assume some lead might be getting deposited into the can, but the bullet never touches the suppressor so I'm not even sure that scenario would be a problem.
95% of what I shoot anymore is powder coated lead bullets I cast myself. My intention is to not make any changes when shooting with a suppressor.
I think the biggest problem with lead bullets would be the lube. The lube fouling gets everywhere and builds up quickly. Powder coating does not have this issue. I have shot hundreds and hundreds of PC rounds through guns without the need to clean them.
If the powder coating is done incorrectly you can get leading in a barrel. If you are getting lead in the barrel I'd assume some lead might be getting deposited into the can, but the bullet never touches the suppressor so I'm not even sure that scenario would be a problem.
95% of what I shoot anymore is powder coated lead bullets I cast myself. My intention is to not make any changes when shooting with a suppressor.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Hi-Tec coating is tough as nails and won't foul a suppressor. I pushed coated 124gr 9mm bullets to over 1200 fps to see if they would fail and they left no lead in a 4" barrel. They can be treated as plated bullets IMO.
Swampman
Old Fart
Most of my experience has been sealed rifle cans with all stainless/inconel construction. The majority of the rounds fired through the cans have been subsonic cast bullet loads.
I used to use The Dip or a couple of jacketed AK mag dumps (sometimes both) @ every 500 rounds of Alox lubed cast subsonic loads in order to get rid of lube and lead buildup.
I haven't had to do either one since I went to powder coated bullets and I've fired several thousand of 'em through the can.
I use about the cheapest coating method I know of. Harbor Freight red applied by tumbling the bullets with 6mm airsoft shot in a Cool Whip tub, followed by baking in a $19.99 Wally World toaster oven.
I don't have any experience with Hi-Tek coatings, but my guess is that they'd be at least equal to, and probably better than, powder paint.
I used to use The Dip or a couple of jacketed AK mag dumps (sometimes both) @ every 500 rounds of Alox lubed cast subsonic loads in order to get rid of lube and lead buildup.
I haven't had to do either one since I went to powder coated bullets and I've fired several thousand of 'em through the can.
I use about the cheapest coating method I know of. Harbor Freight red applied by tumbling the bullets with 6mm airsoft shot in a Cool Whip tub, followed by baking in a $19.99 Wally World toaster oven.
I don't have any experience with Hi-Tek coatings, but my guess is that they'd be at least equal to, and probably better than, powder paint.
I don't know. Does this look okay? This is after a couple thousand rounds of coated bullets through a Bowers VERS-9S.
It got to the point a 9mm wouldn't go through without rubbing on the buildup. Had I continued using it this way, I expect I would have started getting baffle strikes pretty soon.
The buildup is every bit as bad as with bare lead, but the crud is much harder to clean out. Fortunately, I can send the can back to Bowers and they will replace the guts for the cost of shipping.
But after having this happen in a couple of cans, I thought I'd try an experiment. It turns out most of the 9mm barrels I checked were oversized. Up to around a .358" bore. So even a .356" bullet is going to be on the small side.
Running 400 .356" bullets, and then the same number of .358" bullets, I got much less buildup with the larger bullets. But then switching to a plated .3555" bullet, the buildup was almost nonexistent. Long write-up with photos and discussion over at http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/4...ding-up-in-silencers-MORE-UPDATE-1-14-17.html
Scroll down to the bottom for results.
My take-away was that coated bullets don't tend to lead the barrel. But I'll stick with plated or jacketed for suppressor use.
It got to the point a 9mm wouldn't go through without rubbing on the buildup. Had I continued using it this way, I expect I would have started getting baffle strikes pretty soon.
The buildup is every bit as bad as with bare lead, but the crud is much harder to clean out. Fortunately, I can send the can back to Bowers and they will replace the guts for the cost of shipping.
But after having this happen in a couple of cans, I thought I'd try an experiment. It turns out most of the 9mm barrels I checked were oversized. Up to around a .358" bore. So even a .356" bullet is going to be on the small side.
Running 400 .356" bullets, and then the same number of .358" bullets, I got much less buildup with the larger bullets. But then switching to a plated .3555" bullet, the buildup was almost nonexistent. Long write-up with photos and discussion over at http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/4...ding-up-in-silencers-MORE-UPDATE-1-14-17.html
Scroll down to the bottom for results.
My take-away was that coated bullets don't tend to lead the barrel. But I'll stick with plated or jacketed for suppressor use.
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