Cleaning Scythe-Ti

[RAM190Hog]

I know they say you dont "need" to clean them. But mine is now up to a "portly" 9.7oz (with DT mount and single port brake installed). Seems like a fair amount of carbon mist be built up.

I just threw it in a tub of Breakthrough suppressor cleaner to soak. Anyone else got any experience cleaning /soaking these and did you actually get enough carbon out of there to notice?

 

[sidetrak06]

I know they say you dont "need" to clean them. But mine is now up to a "portly" 9.7oz (with DT mount and single port brake installed). Seems like a fair amount of carbon mist be built up.

I just threw it in a tub of Breakthrough suppressor cleaner to soak. Anyone else got any experience cleaning /soaking these and did you actually get enough carbon out of there to notice?

I am curious how the Breakthrough suppressor cleaner worked on your Scythe Ti? I am in the same boat that you were and looking for someone that has taken the plunge already to let me know how it went. If you have any do's or don'ts that would be great also.

All the best, Ben

 

[RAM190Hog]

It actually worked pretty well I think.

I soaked it for close to 24 hours. The solvent was all dark and cloudy. When I removed the supresssor, I would hold it in warm running water and shake it out. Flakes and chunks of carbon were falling out. I used a brush and pick to clean the exposed sections under end cap and DT mount. If I recall got close to 1.5 ounces of gunk out of there.

My 2 lessons learned:

1. Apply an anti seize to threads. My DT mount was stuck on. I had to bring to gunsmith to remove it.

2. The plastic tube that came with Breakthrough cracked. I don’t recall breaking it or dropping it. So some fluid leaked out. I am now using a tall / skinny glass jar.

Overall I think the cleaner seems to work well, but I have nothing to compare it to, so I am a data point of one.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

It's 100% titanium so just plug one end with a foam ear plug stand it up in a jar and pour CLR into it. Leave it overnight and rinse it out.

Just be careful of how you dispose of that CLR/Lead mixture. Don't dump it anywhere your dogs or kids might get into it. I also wouldn't flush it if you're on a septic system. Some people say they add baking soda to it until it becomes a chunk then they just throw it away with their trash. I'm honestly not sure what the appropriate way of disposing it is, some dumps take hazardous materials, some don't.

 

[wind gypsy]

It's 100% titanium so just plug one end with a foam ear plug stand it up in a jar and pour CLR into it. Leave it overnight and rinse it out.

Just be careful of how you dispose of that CLR/Lead mixture. Don't dump it anywhere your dogs or kids might get into it. I also wouldn't flush it if you're on a septic system. Some people say they add baking soda to it until it becomes a chunk then they just throw it away with their trash. I'm honestly not sure what the appropriate way of disposing it is, some dumps take hazardous materials, some don't.

The disposal of CLR concern is the primary reason i've never cleaned a suppressor.. Where the heck does a guy dispose of that stuff?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

The disposal of CLR concern is the primary reason i've never cleaned a suppressor.. Where the heck does a guy dispose of that stuff?

Yeah it't a real thing. I've had people tell me to dump it in gopher holes but I don't have any of those. I have a septic and 2 large dogs that roam my property so I'm not pouring it out there. Right now I have a sealed jar of it in my shop that I don't know what to do with.

One guy I know dumps it down the drain at his work, I don't know if that's ok or not, he says it just goes to the sewer and treatment plant and that its a small enough amount to not worry about but that seems sort of shady.

For all those reasons, I was thinking of sending my TBAC back to them for its yearly cleaning but that's a pain in the ass too.

 

[wind gypsy]

Yeah it't a real thing. I've had people tell me to dump it in gopher holes but I don't have any of those. I have a septic and 2 large dogs that roam my property so I'm not pouring it out there. Right now I have a sealed jar of it in my shop that I don't know what to do with.

One guy I know dumps it down the drain at his work, I don't know if that's ok or not, he says it just goes to the sewer and treatment plant and that its a small enough amount to not worry about but that seems sort of shady.

For all those reasons, I was thinking of sending my TBAC back to them for its yearly cleaning but that's a pain in the ass too.

Dumping chemicals like that down the drain and counting on the water treatment to get it all out of people's water supply is like dumping your old washing machine on BLM to me. I'm not putting it in my septic either.

 

[HighUintas]

I degreased my threads and used a drop of rocksett. I'm a little worried the mount and front cap are never coming out. I haven't tried yet though

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Dumping chemicals like that down the drain and counting on the water treatment to get it all out of people's water supply is like dumping your old washing machine on BLM to me. I'm not putting it in my septic either.

I agree. I also don't want to make a solid out of it and take it to the dump because the dump is filled with bears and eagles, even though they are sort of a nuisance, I don't want to poison them. If I lived in a larger area, I'd call the dumps and see if they have a hazardous materials disposal but until then, Im also off the CLR, it works well but like I said, I have a jar and nowhere to get rid of it.

 

[tacks]

Does CLR burn?

 

[tacks]

Does CLR burn?

Just looked it up. What kind to you use? Lime rust remover? Used for cleaning a toilet.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Does CLR burn?

I was wondering that and what the implications of tossing it my burn barrel would be.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Just looked it up. What kind to you use? Lime rust remover? Used for cleaning a toilet.

Calcium Lime Rust

 

[Reburn]

For the CLR clean

Keep it in a glass mason jar until you have enough to take to dispose of.
Look up hazardous waste disposal for your area they will take it for a fee.

FFS. Dont dump it down the drain. There is enough threads about lead injestion from fragmenting bullets. How much disolved lead does it take to contamine a water supply. Disolved lead goes straight to your bloodstream.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

For the CLR clean

Keep it in a glass mason jar until you have enough to take to dispose of.
Look up hazardous waste disposal for your area they will take it for a fee.

FFS. Dont dump it down the drain. There is enough threads about lead injestion from fragmenting bullets. How much disolved lead does it take to contamine a water supply. Disolved lead goes straight to your bloodstream.

The problem I have is there is no hazardous materials disposal where I live so I’ve got a jar of it.

I’m definetly not dumping it in a drain.

 

[sidetrak06]

It actually worked pretty well I think.

I soaked it for close to 24 hours. The solvent was all dark and cloudy. When I removed the supresssor, I would hold it in warm running water and shake it out. Flakes and chunks of carbon were falling out. I used a brush and pick to clean the exposed sections under end cap and DT mount. If I recall got close to 1.5 ounces of gunk out of there.

My 2 lessons learned:

1. Apply an anti seize to threads. My DT mount was stuck on. I had to bring to gunsmith to remove it.

2. The plastic tube that came with Breakthrough cracked. I don’t recall breaking it or dropping it. So some fluid leaked out. I am now using a tall / skinny glass jar.

Overall I think the cleaner seems to work well, but I have nothing to compare it to, so I am a data point of one.

How about the finish? Did it strip it raw and discolor the suppressor? I see in the manual they suggest Kwik-Seal oil to reapply the finish. Did you have to do that? As for the DT mounts being stuck its their poor design that is the problem. I had the same issue and its because the male threads for the caps are longer than female threads in the can. So as you shoot carbon builds up on the last 2-3 threads and as you back off the cap it needs to break that carbon free. I put my caps on a lathe and took off 0.050" from the threads on the caps so that they are the exact same length as the can threads and this helped significantly. I still try to take my cap off every few times I shoot to be sure it doesn't get stuck and I think anti-seize is a good idea as well although I haven't tried that yet.

Ben

 

[RAM190Hog]

The oiled type finish was long gone from mine, but I didn’t do anything to restore. The color is fine after the cleaning.

 

[cbuck516]

I have an Omega 300 that I have shot for the past three years without any cleaning. I have ignored cleaning as Silencer Co pretty much says it’s not needed. I even just got off the phone with them and they again emphasized that you really don’t need to clean.

Well, here I am with a suppressor that is packed full of carbon buildup and now weighs 4oz more than it did when I bought it. Weight with 5-8”-24 direct mount and anchor brake was 17.6oz before I started cleaning. They just weighed on for me over the phone and theirs weighed 13.56oz in the same configuration.

Once I was finally able to remove the mount that was carbon locked inside the titanium baffle stack, I started a series of soaking in CLR, ultrasonic cleaning for an hour, then flushing with hot water.

I have been doing this for several days now and have reduced the total buildup by 0.5oz so far. It’s pretty hard to tell in this photo, but it started out up to 1/4” deep in some of the inside corners. I am sure the baffle stack is also packed full.

I have around 2000 rounds of 300PRC, 25-06AI, 270Win, 308Win, 6.5CM, and 25CM through this can. No 22LR ever. SilencerCo didn’t sound like they believed me when I told them how much carbon was in my can.

I am thinking that my shooting style and choice of slow burning powders is possibly what has allowed this buildup to develop. I was shooting a lot of N570 on that first year I had this can and some other powders that may not have achieved full 100% powder burn. Up until recently when I started getting involved in some PRS style match’s, I only ever shot 3-shot and 5 shot groups and have always allowed barrels to cool often so I’m never getting the can terribly hot or doing any sort of mag dumping.

I think I really need to find an AR to borrow so I can do a few mag dumps and try to knock some of this crud out in big chunks.

The CLR soaking and ultrasonic is slowly working so maybe I just need to be patient and keep repeating that process over the next several days/weeks…

I just thought I would share in case anyone else finds themself in a similar situation