sonic moderator Faulty.

[Redgum]

Had one on a tikka 223 which I bought earlier in the year, the Ghost is supposed to be suitable for most calibres as comes with interchangeable baffles to suit most calibres. Its light and reasonably quiet ( always a comprise with weight and effective suppression ). I decided to buy one for my Tikka 308 as barrel threads are different and couldn't interchange. A few shots through the mod with the 308 and the internal baffle started to rattle around with side movement, not good. Brilliant gun shop replaced the Sonic, went out to test it yesterday ready for a hunting trip on Monday. First shot and the mod flew off the end of the rifle ending up about ten yards away, luckily no damage to rifle thread or me apart from a bit of gas back in my face and ringing ears for a few minutes. It seems as if the thread pitch was faulty and not deep enough to be effective. That mod is going back and will exchange for a pes or something like, luckily I still have my Atec maxim. Now re re zeroed for that and Hunting trip back on again. Will steer clear of Sonic in the future.

[bullet1747]

Blown the threads out and damaged

[Dougy]

I have one on a 22.250 its not bad, and too be honest if it came apart while shooting it would save me the effort of trying to unscrew it. Its solid now,

 

I must say thinking about it and looking at what I have on bigger stuff I would stick to my Jet"Z" mods on my 30 and 6.5 cals the 7 threads or so on these take apart mods plus the internal threaded bits are all things to go wrong. I have a Stalon on my 17 Rem and I think its a better design than the Sonic

[LeadWasp]

In combination with Fister's question was the rifle factory threaded or by a third party? Have you successfully used another moderator on this rifle for a prolonged period? If third party threaded what size/pitch?

 

As Fister says there are a lot of factors that come into play to ensure a good concentric and secure engineering fit. Thread tolerances are one of these and you have 2 independent approaches to tolerances to worry about that must converge at the corrext fit - there are 2 different parties involved in the threading (rifle and mod).

 

You really need thread gauges to test tolerance - don't use a split die to check your muzzle as by their very nature they produce a variable result in thread diameters (not pitch). One for your nearest reputable gunsmith.

 

Some photos of both threads would be interesting to see.

Edited November 6, 2016 by LeadWasp

[reggiegun]

I was at the range the other week and one of the lads Atec Maxim mods blew apart. I have one on my 308, so emailed atec about it, no reply

[Redgum]

In combination with Fister's question was the rifle factory threaded or by a third party? Have you successfully used another moderator on this rifle for a prolonged period? If third party threaded what size/pitch?

 

As Fister says there are a lot of factors that come into play to ensure a good concentric and secure engineering fit. Thread tolerances are one of these and you have 2 independent approaches to tolerances to worry about that must converge at the corrext fit - there are 2 different parties involved in the threading (rifle and mod).

 

You really need thread gauges to test tolerance - don't use a split die to check your muzzle as by their very nature they produce a variable result in thread diameters (not pitch). One for your nearest reputable gunsmith.

 

Some photos of both threads would be interesting to see.

 

My Tikka 308 is factory threaded with proof marked to match, I've had it for a four or five years and had Predator 8 and the atec maxim on it, Maxim is now back on it without a problem. The problem is definitely with the sonic mod and being the second one to be faulty is a worry. I've heard pretty good reports on earlier sonics and the calibre specific ones, just the ghost model seems to be the problem. Maybe I have just been unlucky but won't be replacing the sonic with the same.

[LeadWasp]

Well that's good news and makes things a lot simpler.

Edited November 6, 2016 by LeadWasp

[kyska]

I have one on a 22.250 its not bad, and too be honest if it came apart while shooting it would save me the effort of trying to unscrew it. Its solid now,

 

I must say thinking about it and looking at what I have on bigger stuff I would stick to my Jet"Z" mods on my 30 and 6.5 cals the 7 threads or so on these take apart mods plus the internal threaded bits are all things to go wrong. I have a Stalon on my 17 Rem and I think its a better design than the Sonic

I use a sonic on my 25-06 and that also gets stuck until the barrel/mod cools down

[Redgum]

Have you had the thread independantly inspected, it would be interesting to know the exact tolerances.

 

I will not be bothering to have it checked as its going back to the shop but visual inspection( from what I can see as its over barrel type) looks as if the hole bored to take the thread was just too big a diameter leaving a very shallow and ineffective thread, as the rifle thread is fine then this makes sense for it to fly off. I'm not sure if the threaded part is alley or not but that would not have helped with a shallow thread. The rifle is 1/2 unf and the moderator has a sticker on it 1/2 20* so in theory all should be well.

[activeviii]

i know of two sonics that have also gone down range. we now call them spudnic

 

whats the thread tim. 14x1 or 1/2unf if its the 1/2 then you can always have a look at my dpt and see what you think

[Redgum]

i know of two sonics that have also gone down range. we now call them spudnic

 

whats the thread tim. 14x1 or 1/2unf if its the 1/2 then you can always have a look at my dpt and see what you think

 

Cheers mate, its 1/2 unf. Spudnic is being kind son**** is more like it. Even more miffed now as have noticed a big scratch on the objective of the VX3L I bought off you a bit back. Didn't notice it before the self propelled piece of junk took off but can't see how that could have scratch the lens, must have been me in a slack moment, I did get a bit of something back in me face when it departed, interestingly the inner baffle was untouched though the bullet ploughed into the ground well before the target. I have the atec maxim back on now, what are the dimensions of the dpt ?

[activeviii]

 

Cheers mate, its 1/2 unf. Spudnic is being kind son**** is more like it. Even more miffed now as have noticed a big scratch on the objective of the VX3L I bought off you a bit back. Didn't notice it before the self propelled piece of junk took off but can't see how that could have scratch the lens, must have been me in a slack moment, I did get a bit of something back in me face when it departed, interestingly the inner baffle was untouched though the bullet ploughed into the ground well before the target. I have the atec maxim back on now, what are the dimensions of the dpt ?

 

it could have been parts of the mod thread blowing back into the lens causing the scratches. it was njc who first put his mod down range, you know what he is like with guns. more anal than most. they tried to blame him for not tightening up the mod, then a week later another friend, who took the pee out of njc, also put his down range. this time they listened as the guy knows a thing or two. swapped hos mod straight out once put back in their place. njc changed his to something else but cant remember what.

 

the DPT's that i use are light, i use a stainless first baffle to help with gas cut. if you want to come over and we will pop over one of the farms and you can have a try with one then your more than welcome

[Redgum]

I'm popping over to R&B sporting tomorrow evening to return the moderator and see what else Rob has in stock, don't think he will be stocking Sonics anymore. The scratch on the lens is sort of 'C' shaped and can't understand how I have done it as I'm pretty careful when cleaning the scopes plus I would have noticed the scratch before. The scratch does not effect the scopes performance in anyway, I have also emailed Leupold to see how much it would cost to have the lens replaced ( I've heard that in many cases they will do this sort of work on warrantee). The Mod was put on tight but I think it was just interference fit on a half cut thread, all and all a bit of a bad experience but it didn't stop me going hunting on Monday. That didn't go so well either, the fallow were tight into some thick holly in the bottom of the woodland to get out of the cold northerly, moved into them real carefully but didn't clock the main lady who soon took all her lady friends fleeing. I say didn't go well but it was an exciting stalk in a beautiful woodland landscape and a cracking day.

[Redgum]

The sonic ghost moderator was returned to importers and just had news back that the hole machined to except the female thread was oversized so there was virtually no thread cut, my screw cut must have just bitten in to the shallow thread enough to screw it on securely to the feel. least the importers could do is offer to pay the postage to send my leupold back to have the scratched lens replaced. Could have been much worse and I could have suffer eye damage. Not going to let this one rest, may take some legal advice.