Ballistol Suppressor Cleaner

[mdwest]

One thing that separates the United States from almost every other country is that we have a shooting culture, whereas Europe has a hunting culture. We shoot our guns far more than most, and fully automatic firearms are legal in many States.

^^^ this ^^^

Most of my hunting rifles get 100 +/- rounds a year.. pistols and semi auto rifles probably see 500-1000 rounds per year depending on the firearm… .22 lr easily sees 1000+ rounds a year.. all in I probably shoot 10000-12000 a year these days…

And I shoot a tiny fraction today compared to what I used to.. there was a time I easily put 8k-10k+ rounds down range a month, every month, for years.. some months that number could double…

Granted not all of that was suppressed… that was 20+ years ago when we didn’t have as easy access or nearly as much variety..

But if I were shooting that much today you can guarantee almost all of it would be suppressed.

 

[BKS1]

I have used another brand of suppressor cleaner, BreakThrough Clean, and it worked great. Even on a rimfire can and a 45ACP can. I wont go back to any other way.

I bet Ballistol will work just as well.

 

[LeftySixgun]

Im interested in how well the Ballistol cleaner works!

 

[UKHunter]

How often they need cleaned is very dependent on caliber, type and use.

One thing that separates the United States from almost every other country is that we have a shooting culture, whereas Europe has a hunting culture. We shoot our guns far more than most, and fully automatic firearms are legal in many States.

Any firearm that uses lead bullets will need the Suppressor cleaned before the lead buildup becomes severe. Even center-fire rifles and pistols can build up copper and powder fouling to the point of creating baffle strikes and even suppressor fires, and of course corrosion as has already been mentioned.

Fair point well made

 

[Sika98k]

Because like everything else on a firearm, it requires regular maintenance.

It can become so filled with carbon fouling it's effectiveness is reduced.

If not cleaned, extreme corrosion inside the suppressor can result.

Worse case scenario is the ignition of built up unburned gunpowder inside a suppressor, resulting in a suppressor fire.

In a word, bollicks. We’ve been using them this side of the pond for years. I have never heard of one going on fire or exploding. The early ones made of mild steel rusted away. Most are made from aluminium nowadays and the first baffle is stainless steel or titanium to reduce erosion from muzzle blast. Silencers/suppressors are regarded as disposable items. After time, depending on use, they have to be replaced. How long it takes depends on your volume of fire.

 

[skydiver386]

In a word, bollicks. We’ve been using them this side of the pond for years. I have never heard of one going on fire or exploding. The early ones made of mild steel rusted away. Most are made from aluminium nowadays and the first baffle is stainless steel or titanium to reduce erosion from muzzle blast. Silencers/suppressors are regarded as disposable items. After time, depending on use, they have to be replaced. How long it takes depends on your volume of fire.

Bollicks?

You sir have no idea what you are talking about.

In Merry Poppins land and all of Europe for that matter, there is zero Civilian ownership or use of fully automatic sub machine guns equipped with suppressors.

Here in the United States, we not only have them, they are available for hire at indoor shooting ranges. For many years I was the Indoor Range Officer and Range Supervisor at a facility that had numerous suppressors and fully automatic machine guns for rent. It was one of my responsibilities to ensure the cleaning of both. There are specific firearms, like the Ingram MAC10, that were notorious for building up un-burned gunpowder inside the suppressor, then catching fire in a horrifying display.

Indoors this can lead to a catastrophic range fire because ahead of the firing line there is an accumulation of gunpowder that must be cleaned daily. The backstop is also constructed of Rubber chunks. If these catch fire it's near impossible to put out. Even steel plate systems and indoor range ventilation systems require constant maintenance to avoid fires from un-burned gunpowder accumulation.

As a matter of fact, just more than a week ago, this range where I was formerly employed had such a range fire.

https://www.facebook.com/BlackWingS...-filtration-system-unexpect/1667236488740485/

We also don't consider anything constructed primarily of Titanium and costing nearly $1,000 to be disposable.

 

[ZG47]

You can also get a long muzzle flame, every so often, with Break Free, if you use it frequently and do not clean that garbage product out of your barrel. That which can burn, will burn, in a high heat environment. Caked residue is also to be expected, following combustion of solid materials. Any residue containing carbon gets harder to clean, the more you expose it to high heat.

Notwithstanding my above comments, I would first try the simplest and cheapest possible option i.e., sodium carbonate a.k.a. washing soda. If that did not do the job, I would then use a 50/50 mix of Ballistol and water. My third choice would be this new product. I will be interested to read any reports on its performance.

 

[mdwest]

Silencers/suppressors are regarded as disposable items. After time, depending on use, they have to be replaced. How long it takes depends on your volume of fire.

Thats a huge difference on this side of the pond..

here they are ATF regulated, require the owner to form a legal trust to possess (or at least most are owned by trusts), obtain a tax stamp and license from the ATF, take weeks, sometimes months to be approved to even purchase (until recently wait times were anywhere from 6 to 18 months)..require a ton of paperwork, fingerprints, photos, etc.. etc..

and they cant just be "disposed of" here without substantial paperwork and scrutiny from the federal government...

they are considered a "lifetime" purchase here by most buyers.. or at least thats what the buyers intend when they buy them (baffle strikes or other "problems" obviously can make that not happen)..

So owners really go out of their way to extend the life as much as possible.. for example you wont find many aluminum cans here anymore outside of rimfire suppressors.. theyre almost all hard, high quailty, carbon or stainless steel or titanuim... almost all suppressor companies in the US offer lifetime guarantees and warranties with their cans.. if it wears out.. or you get a baffle strike.. or anything else goes wrong they repair or replace the part or the whole can.. Some companies like Rugged offer unconditional lifetime warranties.. if you run over it on purpose with your truck.. they repair or replace..

I dont know of anyone in the US that considers their suppressor a disposable item..