Originally Posted By: MistWolfCenter fire suppressors will eventually fill up with carbon deposits
Oh man! You got that right!
When I got my HTG Aris suppressor I was told not by some salesman but by the one of the guys that made them that although it was made to come apart that there was no need to do so because they were self cleaning. Ahem. Nope. After several thousands of rounds of .204, .223, .223AI, .22/250 and .220 Swift were shot down it I noticed that it was not as quiet as it once was and decided to take it apart and clean it. Oh me! Talk about waiting too long! I chucked the can in my barrel vice and tried to use the spanner wrench to take it apart and in 10 seconds broke the wrench. I had someone make me a heavy duty one and broke it trying to unscrew the base off of it. Finally took it to a shop and after heating it with a torch we finally got the base off and looked in it and it was solid carbon. I mean, it was so caked up that I could not chip out the carbon to get to the baffles to get them out. Put the can in my Thumler's Tumbler for 6 hours that did not do it. Bought an ultra sonic cleaner and tried every caustic cleaner I had and bought more and nothing got it out. Finally took the can into a gunshop in a nearby town and asked them if they could get it apart and clean it. He gave me the most piteous look and told me to leave it with him and he would take it apart and clean it for me.
Nope. No you won't.
One month later and hours of hand chipping with a tiny chisel and whatever else he could find he got both ends off and still could not get the baffles out. He called and said that he had never seen that much carbon in in a suppressor and that he never would have taken the job had he knew what he was in for but that he got out a fair amount and please- pretty please come get this thing out of his shop. Fine. I went and got it and sure enough he got out of great deal of carbon out of both ends of the can but never succeeded in getting the baffles out to clean in between them. He charged me a miniscule amount despite his hours of messing with it which I gladly paid. I took it home and tried it out. Was it better? You bet. As good as new. No way. Just last week I filled it up with some steel shot and it back in my Tumbler with a plug in my treads to keep from damaging them. After a big squeeze of Dawn and a half gallon of boiling water in the tumbler I turned it on and left it for 8 hours. I then dumped out some of the blackest water I have even seen. And I could see into the baffles! I filled it back up again left it on for several more hours and more black water but not as black as before. I am going to do it one more time and then take it with me to the range and see how she does now. I know that it's going to be better. A lot better I hope.
So now you know. Next time someone tells you that suppressors used on centerfires dont have to be cleaned tell them that they are full of hooey. And full of hooey is much better than full of carbon any day.