ATEC Suppressor experience, problems, and troubleshooting thread

[tibo]

Hi Team,

Joel here from Stäger. Actually some good info on this thread. Some points from my experience I think could help:
- In the last 7 years I have had three gents reckon they saw a small POI shift when they remounted the suppressor onto the A-Lock in a different clock position. One gentleman (Mikee I believe) is an extremely good shooter (consistent sub 1/4moa groups) so we could hand-on-heart observe the phenomenon. The POI shift was about half moa or so, something like that eh Mike? The solution was to reattach the suppressor to the same clock position each time and this instantly fixed the problem. I remount my suppressor each time with the logo uppermost, solved. Logically using about the same force/torque estimated by hand would help too but is undetectable in my testing, "tight" works.
- Suppressor maintenance in my humble opinion is mostly about preventing combustion remnants and humidity forming a corrosive solution inside the can. It gets into the material and corrodes it, google aluminium corrosion. WD40 sprayed all around into the can after each use is a great idea.
- Pommy's point about the H3 using all Alu baffles and the Optima series using SS and Alu baffles is spot on. In the Optima the SS is locked into a Alu tube. If the unit is heated too fast, the materials expand at different rates and the bond between these material is weakened and worst case can break.
-- The Optima material selection is to minimise weight but still maximise product lifespan. So to help customer choice we have clear info on the design purpose of each model on our NZ website. In the case of the Optima series they are meant for pure hunting where rate of fire and therefore temperature is lower than other applications.
-- H3 baffles are all Alu; so whilst Alu plastic/melting temp is much lower than SS, it's a single material so expands uniformly.
-- Have a look at our A-Tec product pages for the image showing all the suppressors in a row which discusses heat resistance and design purpose.
- Heat resistant lube on the baffle threads is a great idea. Get some from repco or supercheap, or we have it available.
- Heat resistant lube on the outside of the A-Lock is a good idea, although I've found some clients want the suppressor to be firmly stuck on and really hard to remove from the A-Lock as that gives them a feeling of security. So in any case, regularly checking the suppressor is tight on the muzzle is a great habit for any attachment method. Can tell a funny story over a beer some day about a colleague shooting a suppressor off his M4 in the ghan...learning is fun.
- When fitting A-Locks to the muzzle thread I have found one should use COPIUS loctite. Some folks underdo it by just putting a couple of spots on the thread. There are some good YT videos demonstrating how much fluid is needed to lock a thread. In short drown it in loctite, both the muzzle thread and the A-Lock female thread. Mount the A-Lock, wipe off the excess, patch the barrel and use moderate torque to tweak up the A-lock. Better still use one of our retail partners or gunsmith partners to order the A-Lock and fit it for you.
- On older generations of our suppressors, A-Tec would have us bore the rear bushing with 0.1mm radius clearance around the barrel. In practice this could cause fliers out of a usually tight group due to the bush contacting the barrel intermittently. Not always observed, but happened from time to time. In the current products the rear bush is supplied with a larger clearance to prevent this. It can even be left off if desired.
- We or our partners can lock the A-Lock into the suppressor so you can sue it like a conventional screw on if desired. This is permanent or at least I haven't been able to get one out yet.

Cheers
Jbrad.

Thanks Joel, great info! off topic but is there much difference between H2 and H3?