How To Clean A Suppressor Or A Gun Silencer?

how to clean a suppressor

Shotguns and pistols are among the favorites for many adventurous people today.

These are most important for them to enjoy their hunting and shooting hobby.

However, if you are really passionate about your sport, regular cleaning is most essential to enhance the longevity of these guns.

Not just a regular cleanup but, you need to get the parts of your firearms cleaned so that you can shoot at your targets just as a pro without any trouble.

The sound suppressor is one such essential gun part which oftentimes gets ignored when it comes to cleaning your pistol or gun at home.

What Is A Suppressor?

According to Wikipedia definition, a suppressor (or a silencer, sound suppressor, or sound moderator) is a detachable muzzle device that helps in reducing muzzle flash and intensity of the sound when a firearm is discharged.

Basically, it’s an integral accessory that is designed in the form of a metallic cylinder.

This includes internal sound baffles to cool and slow down the propellant gas which escapes, hence decreasing the volume of sound and blast.

The main components of the gun silencer need to be examined and cleaned include:

  • O-rings
  • Threads
  • Boosters
  • Tube/endcaps
  • Monocore/baffles

In addition to sound suppressor or a silencer, there are also flash suppressors, that only suppresses and cool down the burning gases without reducing the sound.

Due to the variety of suppressors available, there are differences in opinion when we talk about silencer vs suppressor.

Although both these terms are many times used interchangeably, these may not mean the same thing.

>> According to silencershop the term Silencer is today – used only as a legal definition (in both state and federal regulations).

>> While Suppressor is used more like a technical term as it is capable of suppressing or reducing the sound from a firearm, and not actually silencing it.

Pros and Cons of Using A Suppressor

Although there are various advantages of using a suppressor for your gun barrel, there are also a few disadvantages of a suppressor which you need to know about.

Check below to know them in short…

Advantages of Using a suppressor

✔ Good for beginners

✔ Saves your eardrum while shooting

✔ Improves your aim and performance

✔ Allows you to talk more with fellow shooters

Disadvantages of Using a suppressor

✘ Can cause chamber blowback

✘ Adds extra weight to your gun or barrel end

✘ Can cause extra heat generation (by converting sound into heat energy)

✘ Causes increased gas pressure and hence wear in an operating system

Why Do You Need To Clean A Gun Suppressor?

Most of the modern-day suppressors (including the sealed suppressor) rarely need the cleaning as these are designed to self-clean themselves when you fire a shot.

However, there are many exceptions. For the suppressors that can be opened and serviced, it is essential to get your suppressors cleaned up so as to get enhanced performance.

The carbon settles inside continuously due to low pressure and it is not an easy task to clean than imagined. The more you use, the more you need to clean your gun silencer or a suppressor!

Although cleaning a gun suppressor may require lots of effort (due to eccentric on the muzzle), you should not ignore this if you really wish to get the best professional shots.

You need to look for the best suppressor cleaning solution, dip or cleaners to handle the tedious task efficiently without any hassle.

Due to lack of proper servicing, fouling starts to increase inside the silencer and allows carbon to accumulate around the mouth of the aluminum suppressor baffles.

At some point, it will worsen the working condition leading to problems of shooting like wild shots!

How To Clean A Suppressor or Gun Silencer?

Every shooter follows safety measures to keep their firearms and parts free from mud chunks.

While most of them just wipe their pistol guns and suppressors for better use, many go beyond and take extra efforts to clean & oil them professionally for enhanced results.

Well, when it comes to cleaning your gun and suppressors, you need to go through the complete cleaning procedure with the right steps that can be easily followed at home.

These include:

  • Take a large glass jar, tall and narrow in shape.
  • Add some gun or suppressor cleaning solution and immerse the silencer into it
  • Let it soak for a few hours to loosen the dirt grime and get cleaned off the fouling easily
  • After certain hours of soaking and cleaning, take it out and let it dry properly
  • Fix the suppressor to try its functions. Shoot to a certain range to know the condition of the silencer at various levels of heat

As an alternative to the above manual cleaning method, you can make use a suppressor cleaning kit or an automatic gun cleaning machine that uses ultrasonic sound waves.

This can relatively make your job easier.

Cleaning Suppressor with Ultrasonic Cleaner: Does It Work?

Many times guns and suppressors have very tiny holes that prevent the solution from entering deep into, to clean the dirt and grime.

It is therefore good to use automatic gun parts cleaner such as which can ease your task.

This is, in fact, one of the best ultrasonic cleaners for a suppressor that I have used and have found online after Hornady.

Cleaning a gun suppressor with an ultrasonic gun cleaning machine and with the best solutions can help you complete the cleanup task professionally without any frustration.

Few other polishing tools and brass tumblers are also many times used and recommended for cleaning suppressors.

However, you need to be extra cautious while using these power tools and cleaning devices as they can erode the finishing of the used metal quite easily.

As some guns require a robust method to clean and maintain the parts, some people even follow an expensive soda blasting method to clean the gun and suppressor.

Most of the suppressors are made up of metals such as aluminum, stainless steel or titanium.

We recommend checking the material of which your suppressor is made up of and choose the cleaning method so that you do not damage the silencer.

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