Suppressors 101: Don’t Blow Up Your Suppressor – 3 Ways To Avoid Catastrophe

Overview:

In this suppressor 101 video Rob explores common mistakes that lead to baffle strikes and blown up suppressors. Rob provides tips on ways to prevent a suppressor from coming loose and important manufacturer safety guidelines that should be followed for every suppressor.

Skip To Video Topic:

00:00 - Intro
01:34 - 1) Incorrectly Installed Suppressor
03:54 - 2) Suppressor Coming Loose
05:29 - 3) Wrong Barrel Length or Rate of Fire
07:45 - Bonus!!! Caliber Restrictions

Transcript:

Hey everybody, Rob Orgel. The title of this video, "Don't Blow Up Your Suppressor." Why should I worry about and how likely is that to happen? Let's discuss. So, 300 days a year, I'm on the shooting range giving classes and most of the time if it's a carbine class, there will be several suppressors within that class. So, is it a one-on-one class or is it a group of 10? That's going to dictate typically how many suppressors I see. Now, how many suppressors have I see go down range? I don't have a total number, but it's a sad number because it's a bad day for you when you send your suppressor down range. So, that can mean that it's not properly installed and it gets disconnected from your weapon and takes off. That can mean you catch a baffle strike or an end cap strike or that can mean it came loose over time. So, let's identify some of those problems so that we can ask the right questions and create the right solutions. So, first, what's the problem with the can blowing up? Obviously, you have your thousand plus dollar silencer that you don't want to lose. You have however long you waited in your $200 tax stamp. You want to retain all of those things, obviously. Next, not just the property, not just the item, but if you take a good baffle strike, it could send shrapnel out the side of the suppressor and hurt you or someone next to you. So, as a point of safety, it's a good idea for us to check in on these little things that could do serious harm to you or your buddies. Now, blowing your suppressor up, that's a pretty catastrophic day. When a suppressor blows up, it can act like a little hand grenade and quite often send people to the hospital. So, we'll talk about what can cause those things in order to identify what would cause it in order to not cross that line. Okay, so first, what's going to send your suppressor down range? If you don't install your suppressor correctly, you'll see here I've got the ASR screwed about halfway on and you can see there's some play. You can even hear that little bit of play. So, very often when I'm around my clients, I'll take a gun for demonstration or I'll hold their gun for a minute while they put on their ear pro and I always shake their gun just a little bit upright to grab your straight down to gravity and give it a wiggle and if you hear things shaking on it, it's time to investigate. It's uncommon for me to pick up somebody's rifle and not find something wrong. So, that's how common it is. So, whether it's the optic coming loose or the suppressor coming loose, it's worth investigating so that we don't have serious problems in the day. So, this is the suppressor not fully installed. So, now if I crank it the rest of the way down, although the suppressors are jiggling around here, like a T-Rex is coming. All right, if I screw it all the way down and I don't throw the locking latch, it can unscrew itself and again send itself down range. Yes, I've seen that before. It's kind of funny. As long as everybody's okay, it becomes funny. But in the end, let's try it out with our suppressor. So, check in on your suppressor. Mind you, if you just shot a mag or two mags, your suppressor could be very hot. So, give it time to cool and then check in on it. Give it the wiggle wiggle if it's too hot with the upright technique I told you. Or wait for it to cool so you can check to make sure it's tight and check to make sure the locking latch is fully in its position. So, some of the other suppressors that drop on and then throw the collar like the Shure Fire Mounts, those do lock on a little bit easier. Those are a little bit easier to install incorrectly. So, be extra careful and take that time. Now, if it's your first time shooting this suppressor on this weapon, here's a technique I do. Some people are into the alignment rods and that's where you drop the rod down the barrel and you see if it touches anywhere on the sides. And I see a lot of posts on the internet of people saying, "Should I shoot this? Would you shoot this?" And I have a very different technique. I don't own alignment rods. I've done videos on them, but I don't own any. My trick is I'll install the suppressor. I'll remove the upper from the lower and remove the bolt carrier group. And I'll point the gun down range and look from the chamber side and I'll do a circle with my head. And what I'm looking for is suppressor. If I see suppressor on the top, that means you're probably going to get a baffle strike. If I see no suppressor at all, that means things are looking pretty good. But that wiggle with my head is a usually pretty good indication of whether we're going to have problems or not. So, on a first setup, use that technique. If you want to do the alignment rods, just be extra safe. I mean, do what you think is right. I personally don't do that. And I have a few silent serves and haven't had any issues.

So, next is it coming loose. So, there's a conversation about modular suppressors. We like to change it, make it a long, make it a short, do an ASR, do a direct thread, do a different hub. That's great. I love modularity in my suppressors, but you'll see in another video I mentioned loctite. Once you decide what suppressor setup you want and what gun it's going to be on, put some loctite to it, red, high temp loctite, because you don't want that coming loose. If the body comes loose from the mount, you're going to find that end cap strike or a baffle strike and it's going to be a bad day. One, constantly checking to make sure it's not coming loose, and two, set yourself up for success by using some loctite. Now, on muzzle devices, the manufacturer is going to recommend doing rock set. And that's what the manufacturer recommends. So, you do that. Personally, I don't do that. I use the same high temp, red loctite just because I prefer that. But, you know, you do what you think is right. It's your own safety. Make good choices. So, make sure it doesn't come loose from the ASR mount or from the muzzle device. Make sure the muzzle device doesn't start to come loose and make sure the modular system doesn't start to come loose upon itself to include the end cap. You'll notice this is an Omega 300. I don't like the anchor brakes. I take those off. I feel like it adds extra length. I feel like it makes it a little bit louder. So, I put flat caps on my Omega 300s. And then, I use a whole bunch of loctite and I crank it down so it never comes loose again until I'm on the workbench and I put the torch to it. And I'm choosing to remove it with force and heat. Okay, so that is the big no-nos about sending the suppressor downrange to catch an end cap strike or a baffle strike. Now, let's talk about the big scary stuff. If your can is to blow up, why would your suppressor blow up? Well, either you're outside of the barrel lengths that you're supposed to be in or you're running the can through way more rounds than it's designed to take at a time. They'll call that high schedule of fire or they'll call that full auto-rated. So, if you have a suppressor and you say, "It's full auto-rated. I'm going to put my whatever doohickey on it that makes it shoot faster." Personally, I have registered lowers so I can make it a machine gun with a machine gun lower. Some guys are using other doohickeys to increase their rate of fire. That's all fine. Just make sure it's not just full auto-rated, but it's full auto-rated to that barrel length. So, if this suppressor says, "Full auto-rated 16 inches," and you put on a 12-inch gun and run six mags through it, it could be you blow up that suppressor. So, be extra mindful of the rate of fire and the barrel length. So, if you look at some of the titanium suppressors, you'll find lots of barrel length restrictions, particularly in the older stuff. The newer stuff, you're finding less and less barrel length restrictions because we're evolving our science and technology and we're getting great ingenuity in the 3D printing and metal lids they're using. It's very impressive how far we've come. And really, just 2024 in the suppressor world. Obviously, you see what I'm diving into because we're leaping forward. This is the time to buy. The clearing is going fast and the technology is just amazing. So, definitely, if you're thinking about buying a can, now is the time to pull the trigger. Having said that, a lot of the old barrel length restrictions, you're finding less and less of. Now, if you have one of those older titanium type suppressors and it says, "Don't go below a 13.5," well, 12.5, that's pretty close. That one inch is not one inch. That is a lot more pressure inside of that suppressor. So, I highly recommend you stay within their recommendations. You start going shorter. You're not risking losing the suppressor. You're risking your eyesight or your hands or something catastrophic. So, stay away from the pushing the limitations on the barrel length restrictions. And if you are a full auto, make sure you're not just within the barrel restrictions, but within the full auto barrel length restrictions. Hopefully, this sheds some light onto some of the things I've seen on the range that can be pretty sad days. And I hope that we can apply this to our own gear and make sure that we're making good choices and take good notes on what silencers you have and read the manufacturer's website to make sure that you're well within the standards of barrel length and full auto and whatever other things you might fall into. One other thing, which, you know, obviously be careful of this too, is a final note, caliber restrictions. So, you say, "Well, this is a 30 caliber suppressor, so I'm going to put it on my 300 PRC." Okay, it might be rated for a 300 PRC within a certain barrel length. So, the caliber and the barrel length can get you in trouble if you're not paying attention. So, when in doubt, check the manufacturer's website. Plenty of times I've called Silencer Code. They have really good customer service, and I've said, "Hey, I didn't see a 7.62x39 on the website. What's the barrel length restrictions?" And somebody quickly answers a surprising number, and it makes my day that I can put this on yet another host. So, when in doubt, look it up. If you can't look it up, call the manufacturer directly. Alrighty, hopefully this sheds some light, helps keep you all safe. And if you like this video, please like, comment, subscribe. It really helps us defeat the algorithm, because you know who doesn't like us talking about these fun doohickeys I have in front of me, and I want to continue sharing. So, please help us grow the channel by doing that for me. And, as always, stay safe. See you on the next one.