cleaning moderators

[steve b]

Hi all a bit of advice if you do not mind.

 

I have just taken my parker hale moderator apart which is fitted to my krico .22 lr rifle. It was absolutely caked inside so I spent ages cleaning it all up before refitting. A few questions on moderators

 

1 If dirty does this affect accuracy

 

2 If dirty does this affect how effectively they reduce noise

 

3 how often do you all clean moderators

 

4 how do you clean your moderators

 

Please feel free to answer one two three or all of these for me as you see fit.

 

Advice greatfully received

[hellier0437]

not sure about most of thse but i did read somewhere that the deposits that build up can help to deaden the resonance of the can and so make it 'ring' less and so be quieter

[mossy835]

never cleaned a mod yet.

[kirky640]

never cleaned a mod yet.

ditto

[caplock]

Cleaned the sak on the hmr after about 3k rounds as the 'clag' was dropping out of the thing and purely by chance had a look through and a lump was sitting right in the bullet path.

The thing was choked almost to the point that the internal pathways were almost flush for the 1st quarter of the mod.

Stripped down and cleaned with boiling water, stiff brush and sugar soap. Will keep an eye on things as it approaches the next 3k

[Dirty Harry]

Sorry to drag up an old one but I was at the range today and noticed that my .17hmr seemed really loud. I took the mod (ASE ULTRA) off and it looked full of grease. I have put about 1000hmr through it and 500 .22lr.

I took it apart when I got home and it took me ages to clean it. I used white spirit and hot water but the hardest part was getting it all back togther.

I cant wait to shoot it now and hear how much difference it's made.

 

Same questions as above really. How ofter should this be done and what is the best way to clean it?

 

Cheers

Harry

[arjimlad]

I clean my SAK after about every 500 rounds or so.

 

The best way I find is to give it a squirt of WD40 before taking it apart and then immerse it in something to keep the lead dust down. A quick scrub round with an oily old toothbrush, if necessary with a bit of old oily wire wool on stubborn deposits and then a wipe clean and back together.

 

I cleaned a very dirty moderator with baffles in an ultrasound cleaner. I have also used wheel cleaner - the stuff which removes brake dust - to good effect. This particular mod was so caked up I needed to use a sanding pad to remove the leading.

 

Because (albeit after many thousands of rounds) a mod will eventually cake up & underperform I take the view that little & often is preferable.

[fortune]

I have mods on rifles from .22 rf up to 270 win. I clean them out regularly. I never gave it a thought until I went to take a 22 rf to pieces to show someone what was inside. Firstly I couldn’t get it to bits and when I did it looked like I’d filled it up with soggy rich tea biscuit that had then gone hard. It took a fair bit of effort to get it all cleaned out. When the mod was fitted and used there was a marked sound reduction from what I had gotten used to. As for the larger units they also get caked inside and again can be a sod to dismantle when they get caked inside. I copper slip the threads now, which helps a lot. I use the PES stainless silencer that dismantles right down and which doesn’t rust, so it must be a real mess inside some of the ones that can’t be dismantled.

[chunk]

I clean my rf mods regularly. They do choke up with residue over time, and as they relie on spaces inside to deaden sound it makes sense to clean them for optimum efficiency.

I get mine apart, brush off the loose claggy ****. Spray with something like Napier gun cleaner and leave to work. Use an old bronze bore brush to get in all the nooks. Apply gun grease to mating faces so it comes apart next time. Reassemble. Job done