Smoking suppressors, fouling and heat management.

Heya guys. In my quest to learn as much as I can about my new interest, I am writing articles for my site - the last one being on suppressor storage.

Follow on in the same theme - more on suppressors.

I have asked a few gunsmiths/importers these questions, but would also like the forums feedback.

It seems fairly common to have smoke coming back at your from out of your action when shooting with a suppressed firearm. The can is obviously 'slowing down' the gas release from the front of the barrel, and some of it is heading back down at you. Couple of questions relating to that -

Has anyone noticed any additional fouling from the gas (and presumably carbon) being sent back down the barrel?

Has anyone noticed a change in POI when firing in rapid succession (and not waiting for the smoke to clear, potentially compressing that gas in the bore)?

Has anyone noticed any issues with the barrel overheating, or do you tend to wait between shots - furthermore, suppressor/barrel mirage - do you get it, how do you deal with it?

I guess I could have split this into multiple questions, but they all seem to link together nicely... ;)

Appreciate your input :thumbsup:

Get in contact with Nathan Foster from ballisticstudies.com he has some interesting points on it.

Hes a great bloke too

1 No

2 No

3 yes

Q 2 that gas is in your bore regardless... Its not a vacume in there.

Q 3 with over barrel cans the last 6 inches or so under the can can get very hot. So can the can.
A cover of some sort over the can helps mitigate mirage for a bit but you still get it.
At the range i take can off and bolt out to cool, Im more worried about the can than the barrel as far as heat goes.

AR's smoke a lot with a supressor on (especially after a few mag dumps or a long 3 gun stage, the nice looking powder coated finish sorta falls off in a blob of ooooooooooo )

But you do get a lot a crap come back out the side. I use an adjustable gasblock and "gasbuster" charging handle. Not really an issue

Between shots I send a couple of lungs full of air down the barrel from the ejection port.

I've also screwed a computer power supply fan to a small piece of timber and hooked it up to and old UPS (SLA) battery and aim it at the barrel and suppressor. It is bloody amazing at cooling the outside of the suppressor down and basically cost me two screws and two spade connectors. The batteries only last 2-3 years in a UPS and someone is always throwing out old computers. (should run about 20 hours on the battery)

I can testify to the effectiveness of GM's PC fans! At an afternoon at the range his barrel/suppressor was cooling WAY faster than usual. Usually our cooling times were pretty similar, but he was able to fire cold shots about 3x more often than me.

Back on topic...I have an over barrel and it's great but after about 3-4 shots without cooling she's pretty warm. After a couple more it's frigging hot and mirage is definitely noticeable on 18x. Only time I've had heat issues is at the range though.

Can't say I've noticed the smoke coming out my end, but it does slowly waft out the suppressor sometimes.

If I send 3 shots after each other out my 308 the barrels getting pretty hot and it creates flyers, and can see the heat haze in the scope which screws up vision

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Originally Posted by thedrunkfish

Get in contact with Nathan Foster from ballisticstudies.com he has some interesting points on it.

Hes a great bloke too

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Yes, yes he does and yes he is. Nathan has been awesome getting back to me regarding my questions - as have many of the industry guys out there.

Though, I already have a few quite differing opinions. ;)

I have not noticed any extra fouling but thats hard to measure.

Have not noticed and point of impact changes but have not fired in rapid succession at paper, only while hunting.
I suspect small changes but not big enough to notice a change in hunting scenarios.
We(brothers,dad and I) have a few suppressed guns used for goat and wallaby culls where we might fire 50-100 shots over a day/night.
Not super rapid but a fair amount of shots with no real cool down or clean. We try and remove the suppressor when we can to help it cool down and leave the bolt open aswell.

Definitely notice the heat build up. A .223 can take a few shots(5-10) before you start to see a mirage. A 7mm Rem mag heats up in only 2-3 shots to where you can see alot of mirage(depends on conditions and scope mount height and magnification). Neoprene covers help reduce the mirage but I think they trap the heat making it worse in the long run?

For normal big game hunting where only one or two shots are fired there is no problem. Only with high volume target shooting of "varmint"/pest control do you see the heat really build up.
Try and find some DOC cullers. Ive done a little bit of culling and the DOC guys I have seen use .223s with Gunworks suppressors. some guys have had them for years and they put thousands of rounds through em.

Hope this is of use

I agree with you there JP100 - the heat management is less of an issue hunting big game - you aren't likely to run the gun that hot - if you need more than three rounds you need more time at the range!

I have really just noticed it target shooting after a couple of rounds in fairly quick succession down the tube. I see you can get covers - neoprene, but also the heavier ones that guys in the states are producing - which look like they have some serious thermal insulation in them. My concern is essentially dampening the ability for the suppressor to dump heat - it must mean the heat has to go somewhere else - and the next logical place is the barrel itself.

My scope sit's down quite close to the barrel - so in my case I know that will be a contributing factor as well.

I reguard to using a can or no can , with a can , I alot more carbon & crap build up on the muzzle/crown area , seems the can re-directs some gas back onto the muzzle/crown area , instead of letting the gas escape out the sides or to the front as in a clean muzzle would do .

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Originally Posted by ChrisF

I reguard to using a can or no can , with a can , I alot more carbon & crap build up on the muzzle/crown area , seems the can re-directs some gas back onto the muzzle/crown area , instead of letting the gas escape out the sides or to the front as in a clean muzzle would do .

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I have also noticed this but with two different makes the result was quite different.

My mates rifle has a gunworks can and his crown gets fouled up something cronik, my MAE can does not foul the crown of my rifle at all.

I got more gas coming out the ejection port after firing. making a more dirty action.
I also think the barrel got hot quicker for longer.
this was all on a 7mm08, I also don't think recoil reduction or noise reduction was that great, or at least to warrant having the extra weight and heat on the end of the barrel.(standing shots were horrible)

after I weighed everything up. suppressed vs not. I sent the rifle back. for me it just didn't end up worth it. (it was a suppressed rifle I brought new)

but each to there own.

Can I ask what the rifle was? My smoker is a 7mm08 X-Bolt...

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Originally Posted by The Bloke

Can I ask what the rifle was? My smoker is a 7mm08 X-Bolt...

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it was a tikka. id also add, it was my second tikka... im not sure if it was the chopping of the barrel and suppressor, but it didn't shoot like I expected from a tikka either. so that helped in the decision to send it back too.

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Originally Posted by bully

it was a tikka. id also add, it was my second tikka... im not sure if it was the chopping of the barrel and suppressor, but it didn't shoot like I expected from a tikka either. so that helped in the decision to send it back too.

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You were fairly lucky in being able to send back a chapped barrel weren't you?

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Originally Posted by The Bloke

You were fairly lucky in being able to send back a chapped barrel weren't you?

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it was brought new as a suppressed rifle. but yes, im lucky and thank full to the company that sold it to me, and took it back. I have no problem dealing with them again. great to deal with. id like to add, maybe its me but I didn't like shooting it without earmuffs (suppressed) so to me I didn't see the point.