Help! Does someone have a good way to clean a suppressor?

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BJK
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Re: Help! Does someone have a good way to clean a suppressor?

Post by BJK »

Update.

Still waiting for weather so that I can work outside. 2 more cleaners I ran across is diluted Simple Green, and the other is a mildly abrasive method using a soda blaster. That would be sodium bicarb.

I have this blaster on order. For $30 I couldn't not try it. With no blasting chamber it's going to be very important to use a good dust mask.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M0CRUUM?ps ... ct_details
FartinSpartan
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Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:52 pm

Re: Help! Does someone have a good way to clean a suppressor?

Post by FartinSpartan »

Hope that goes well for you! They talked about Soda Blaster in that video that is apparently gone now. Seemed to be a decent option.

I think Simple Green might have been the chemical cleaner they used (not purple stuff if i mentioned that previously) that was so bad on aluminum.
BJK
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Re: Help! Does someone have a good way to clean a suppressor?

Post by BJK »

Today was a decent weather day and I clearly got a bug to clean the suppressor. The short story, it worked great and did an excellent job. Now a bit more...

The past few days I used I tried supermarket Bicarb in the blaster and it worked, but not as good as I hoped. So I trotted down to Harbor Freight and bought a 50# sack of medium grit Bicarb intended for blasting. That worked much better in testing it on rust.

Today I took the can outside and screwed up and filled the hopper with the supermarket soda. I realized my error but figured how bad could it be? I started on the baffles furthest away from the barrel which just had light soot and the fine soda did a great job. But maybe water would have also worked there. As one gets closer to the firearm the crud gets thicker but the blaster soda did a fine job. I was impressed. Parts that I couldn't clean in the past were now factory clean. I'll soda blast again. It was easy, fast, and did a great job.

Negatives... The hopper is small and required frequent filling. But that's OK because my Makita compressor has a 50% duty cycle and had to rest anyway. It was a forced break for it. Dust! Yes, it's very dusty, so one trades solvent loaded with carbon and lead for soda dust. But of the 2 I'll choose the "clean" soda dust. A shower cleans it up in a heartbeat. The clothing was likewise full of soda, but the washer is handling that as I write. Since soda is water soluble it's just not an issue. Expense? Hey, I got it really clean and it didn't break the bank, but for the accountants... The sack of soda cost $45(?) and I might have used 5#, so figure $5 for the soda. The blaster is $50 now but when I bought it I paid $32(?). Clean up? I blasted it outdoors, so the next time it rains what's on the ground will neutralize acid rain. It cleans itself. The shower and laundry was already discussed.

Yeah, I'd soda blast it again in a heartbeat. The solvent method last time was a real nightmare and never got it really clean.

I really wanted to try the other cleaners, but I was so happy with the way the blasting was going that I never gave it a thought.

What would make it better or easier? I would love to try wet soda but not without a blasting cabinet and I'm not going to buy one for cleaning one suppressor. A commercial blaster with a siphon and a heavier duty high cfm compressor would also help. But again, I have what I have, a home shop, and I'm not going to spend big bucks to save a half hour.

That's all I can think of.
dpete
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Re: Help! Does someone have a good way to clean a suppressor?

Post by dpete »

Has anyone ever tried wet tumbling the baffles and other internals just like you would empty brass shell casings? The internals of mine are steel. Maybe use water/CLR at 50/50 with the stainless steel pins?
BJK
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 355
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:30 am

Re: Help! Does someone have a good way to clean a suppressor?

Post by BJK »

Just kicking the idea around, never did it.

As long as it doesn't change the dimensions why wouldn't it work?

Can you contact the mfgr and inquire? They might be able to give you the hardness of the baffles. If possible it would be the way to go I would think.

If you try it please get back to us here to let us know how it worked.
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