To clean the can or not to clean.

[Anmut]

I read a lot of advertisements about "easy cleaning suppressors" and while that's neat and all - I've never cleaned the muffler on my vehicles and those baffles get much dirtier.

Thoughts?

 

[Gtscotty]

I don't think my muffler is dirtier than my Sparrow after 1k rounds. I've cleaned it a couple times, and you'd be amazed at how much lead is splattered on the inside. I wouldn't buy a can I plan to shoot lead bullets through that wasn't user serviceable.

 

[UhKlem]

Not all user serviceable cans are as easy to work with. Conventional k baffles that allow fouling access to the tube (Outback IID, HTA Guardian 22 without the kestrel style nesting baffles, as well as most mono cores other than Sparrow) will need to be cleaned at least every 200 - 500 rounds. If the baffles are lightweight aluminum soda blasting is about the safest most effective way to clean lead off.

For centerfire pistol if you stick to jacketed or cast bullets you can go thousands of rounds without a cleaning but be prepared to persuade the baffles even after a good penetrant soak. High pressure CF rifle cans are claimed to be self cleaning as long as you don't shoot unjacketed ammo in them.

If it weren't for the NFA the market would likely provide cheap 22 cans that would be sealed and disposable to reduce lead exposure. At the price of 22 these days the ammo makers could provide a free disposable suppressor with every case. I have a dream...

 

[Sol]

Not all user serviceable cans are as easy to work with. Conventional k baffles that allow fouling access to the tube (Outback IID, HTA Guardian 22 without the kestrel style nesting baffles, as well as most mono cores other than Sparrow) will need to be cleaned at least every 200 - 500 rounds. If the baffles are lightweight aluminum soda blasting is about the safest most effective way to clean lead off.

For centerfire pistol if you stick to jacketed or cast bullets you can go thousands of rounds without a cleaning but be prepared to persuade the baffles even after a good penetrant soak. High pressure CF rifle cans are claimed to be self cleaning as long as you don't shoot unjacketed ammo in them.

If it weren't for the NFA the market would likely provide cheap 22 cans that would be sealed and disposable to reduce lead exposure. At the price of 22 these days the ammo makers could provide a free disposable suppressor with every case. I have a dream...

this.

22 supressors can get leaded out and need cleaning.

Your car shoots the by product of a pertroleum and oxygen reaction, which are gases and some particulate, your gun shoots solid metal projectiles.

 

[wally]

For centerfire pistol if you stick to jacketed or cast bullets you can go thousands of rounds without a cleaning

See my thread debating the issue.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=754948

GemTech has said my Multimount 9mm can should be good for at least 100K rounds if I never take it apart to clean it and shoot only jacketed or plated bullets. But if I take it apart to clean it should be done not to exceed 250 rounds.

 

[orionengnr]

I've never cleaned the muffler on my vehicles and those baffles get much dirtier

Your logic is seriously flawed....as in, apples and oranges.

Your vehicle has fuel injection and a feedback loop (sensors and ECM) which ensures that the fuel mixture burns completely. Your firearm burns a powder, which may or may not burn completely.

Your vehicle has a catalytic converter, which runs at 1000 degrees plus. It burns off any residual particulate matter. Your firearm does not.

If you are old enough to have owned a 1970s era car/truck/bike, you would already know this. Back then, it was a ritual to "blow the carbon out" by taking said vehicle on the highway, nailing the throttle for a quarter mile or more and seeing all the black particulate matter come from the exhaust.

It is a different world today.

 

[Elkins45]

It really depends on what you are sending down the bore. I have a 30 caliber can that I use almost exclusively for shooting cast lead bullets through a 300 Blackout. If I didn't open it up every 150 rounds or so it would soon be just a solid cylinder of soot, lead and cooked bullet lube residue.

When I come home from the range I drop it into a container filled with a 50/50 mix of ATF and mineral spirits, and let it soak for a few hours. The core comes right out if I let it soak. Before I started soaking it I splintered a 1/2" wooden dowel trying to drive out the core. Now with the soak it just slides right out with a few taps...and a whole lot of gunk comes out with it. I've taken to wearing yellow house cleaning gloves otherwise I would probably have enough lead ground into my skin to poison a flock of geese. Nasty stuff.

 

[Aaron Baker]

I've never cleaned the muffler on my vehicles and those baffles get much dirtier.

Car mufflers also wear out and get replaced. And it doesn't cost me a $200 tax stamp each time.