Cleaning a coated 22LR suppressor

I have a Gemtech mist-22td. Its a great little setup, but I've ran into some issues with cleaning it. After shooting it for the first time and putting 300-400 rounds through it and giving it a scrub down every 150 rounds or so, I noticed that I was getting some decent build up on the baffles. I scrubbed all of the build up off of the muzzle end baffles but the ones closer to the actual exit of the barrel have some extremely stuck deposits. The entire unit is coated with "black inconel" and I really want to avoid damaging the finish, as it seems to be part of the system intended to avoid build up. I was instructed by the MFG to soak it for 24 hours in 50/50 atf/mineral spirits, which has removed some of the build up but the thicker deposits are quite stubborn.

How big of a deal is it to reclaim the space the deposits take up? Is there another soaking solution or a way to remove what looks to be lead from the first few baffles? Do I even need to worry about it?

Thanks!

 

Don't worry about it. A little build up makes the can sound better anyways.

 

I clean my Sparrow every 500-800 rounds, the one time I waited to 1000 rounds it was a PITA to disassemble so I now longer let it go that far. I soak it overnight (or longer) in Marvel Mystry Oil (~$20/gallon at auto parts stores). I don't obsess about making it clean but I scrap off what I can with a tool made from a copper pipe fitting and some "dental picks" from ACE hardware.

 

I soak my cans in a 50/50 mix of ATF and mineral spirits. I also treated my 22 Spectre II with hit silicone oil before the first firing. There's a good article somewhere on the net by a guy who tested a whole bunch of stuff and found dropping the clean heated parts into silicone oil (DOT5 brake fluid) made lead and residue much easier to remove.

 

I've seen the articles, but I missed the boat to try it and will never attempt to get mine clean enough try. OTOH I did try some moly "mold release" spray and I had problems with the lead not sticking and bouncing around inside. I kept shaking it out, but I quickly stopped shooting worrying about the lead pieces making an obstruction. You want it to "stick" and not flake off while shooting, but not stick so hard its impossible to remove. My system has worked very well with a pair of Sparrows.

 

A soda blaster setup is ideal for your cleaning of carbon and lead deposits with no detrimental substrate abrasion on even unanodized aluminum. You can buy bulk baking soda and a blasting gun from Harbor Freight or may make a Venturi pickup tube blaster with any air nozzle and a length of plastic tubing. If you already have a compressor it's a cheap cleaning technique. Just messy and be aware that blasting lead fouling can disperse inhalable lead particulates. Search soda blaster to get an idea of practicality for your circumstances.

 

You could soak it in mercury. It is my understanding that takes lead off.

But this exact scenario is why I bought a stainless can I could dip.

 

I did not know mercury would mess up aluminum. Thanks for the tip. I had always just heard of folks using it in barrels

 

Mercury is a big deal... it produces amalgams with most metals (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_(chemistry) )... even leading to the Navy banning mercury on-board submarines, unless an exception is granted.

In general, mercury is NOT the solution to any problems associated with pressure vessels.

 

I recently started using my ultrasonic cleaner to clean my .22 suppressors. I was surprised at how well it worked. It is far less messy than what I had been doing for years. It is almost painless.

 

I have both stainless steel and aluminum suppressors in .22LR
Both are coated with something. The aluminum one is a dull black......maybe paint ? Probably something more than paint but I don't know. The stainless one is coated with something more substantial. Again, I don't know what it is but it is obviously much thicker and more robust.

Anyway, no, it doesn't damage the finish. For that matter, I am pretty sure that ultrasonic cleaners are used in the jewelry industry. Well....I am not sure that means anything but it can't be too harsh if they use them for cleaning jewelry.

Of course I bought mine to clean brass cartridge cases for reloading. Mine is relatively small. My .22 suppressors fit with not much room to spare. It isn't big enough for my other suppressors.

 

circling back around to not using mercury, this is a pretty cool video showing mercury and aluminum reacting.
it gets more interesting about 2 minutes in. looks a little like those Chinese snake firecrackers you had as a kid.....