Courtesy of Breach Bang Clear
Just The Tip: Maybe You Should Clean Your Can?
Alexander Crown
Silencers are a buzzword right now–so why not capitalize on some of that sweet, sweet google traffic? Not only are silencers really newsworthy right now, but there are a lot of abhorrent silencer nerds at Breach Bang Clear. So many nerds that we argued about how to clean them to the point of dousing ourselves with Unicorn Dick Lube and Grecco Roman wrestling to decide who got to write the article about it.
I won, but I’m not proud of it. And I can’t look Merrill in the eye anymore.
In my mind silencers get looped into three main categories: rimfire, pistol, and centerfire rifle. Yeah, there is a shotgun silencer out there but no one bought it so it doesn’t matter. Within these three categories the rimfire and pistol are pretty similar in cleaning procedures. The centerfire rifle is different and will be addressed later.
Before we get into the cleaning procedure(s) let’s look at some of the most prevalent metals being used in silencers today. Rimfire and pistol silencers are usually made of some combination of 6061 aluminum, 7075 aluminum, 17-4 Stainless, and in some cases 6AL4V titanium. Cleaning stainless and titanium is pretty similar, but aluminum requires a gentler touch in most cases.
Elixirs
Silencer manufacturers recommend ways to clean their rimfire and pistol products. Gemtech recommends a 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and mineral spirits, soaking for 24 hours, then scrubbing with your choice of cleaner. Dead Air recommends a firearm solvent bath, tumbling in stainless media, ultrasonically cleaned, or The Dip. I am going to say it now: The Dip can be very unsafe and requires HAZMAT disposal of lead acetate. Don’t use it. Lead acetate can kill you pretty easily.
Continue reading on Breach Bang Clear
Photo courtesy of Breach Bang Clear
