Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Suppressor and consistency

I just received a suppressor and have installed it on a Ruger mk IV 22/45, but accuracy seems inconsistent.

Groups shot without the can are much tighter than when shooting suppressed.

Is this an ammo situation (Federal 45 grain sub sonic semi-auto) or do suppressors need to be fully cleaned after 100 rounds?

Just trying to figure out why accuracy is so hit and miss with this set up. 2-3 shots out of 10 are way out of the group, as in off the steel plate. The other 7-8 shots are acceptable, but still not as tight as with the can taken off. Even with the same ammo.


Does anyone with more experience have some advice on this?

Dave,

You don't have to clean every 100 rounds... go much over a thousand and you'll wish you had though.

Your groups should not be 'significantly' worse with a suppressor, at least they haven't with any ammo I've used, often it will tighten them up.

Tell us about your suppressor; does it use a 'wipe'? Look at your end cap, does it appear you are betting any baffle strikes? If possible, take it apart and look for any damage to the baffles.

Have you shot it at paper? or just steel plates? From a rest? If not, shoot it un & suppressed at paper.

Jerry

And dump the 45 grain stuff.....

I would bet barrel not trued, baffle strikes, poor ammo?? they all go together. Rio7

I have had it apart twice to clean the suppressor. Silencer Co Warlock.

I don't see any indication of a baffle strike, but I put another 100 rounds through over the weekend and something is definitely up with getting wild fliers.

I cleaned after the first 150 rounds, and am going to give it a cleaning again and inspect it.

It is quiet, but its driving me nuts at the moment.

I was expecting the suppressor to change point of impact, but this set up is just not giving consistent accuracy.

What ammo would you gentlemen recommend for suppressor use?

I cleaned the gun and suppressor again last night. I will shoot again and see if there is any improvement. No signs of a baffle strike.

Mark,

For decent accuracy and the price==> for target shooting/plinking at steel, I use CCI Standard Velocity.

For hunting (CCI SV is a RN solid bullet) I have Win Subsonics and a couple of flavors of CCI Subsonics. I've also used Aguila Subsonics, they're decent, but I like CCI's ammo better. Right now it may be whatever you can find.

I buy CCI SV by the case, only with 'free' shipping. Target Sports is my go to, but you sometimes need to get on the notify list.

I have heard some of the 'newer' coated 22LR ammo is cleaner (less crap to clean out of the suppressor), But I have not tried any yet.

I do not recommend any Remington rimfire for suppressor use... had too many go supersonic, not to mention it's not that accurate. Hopefully this will change since Remington has changed hands again. It didn't improve when the poorly named 'Freedom Group" owned the name.
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Dave,

Do you have another threaded gun, a rifle perhaps? that you can try your suppressor on to test for accuracy issues? As somebody mentioned above the barrel threading could be mis-aligned. I've not had an issue, but I've read of guys claiming the factory threading on their guns was mis-aligned.


Jerry

Not yet, but I am trying to think of which other .22lr I own that I could either have threaded, or purchase a threaded barrel for.

I will try dome different ammo. I have CCI subsonic, standard velocity, and winchester subs on hand, so I will give them a go.


I thought I was in high cotton with the Federal 45 grn subs as they are advertised as being the cleanest option with a suppressor.

Even without baffle or endcap strikes, the alignment could still be far enough off that the pressures can destabilize a bullet as its' traveling through the suppressor bore, especially if the bullet is a little different than the others. (little slower/weaker/inconsistent charge).


Often, with misalignment, if you're not getting bonafide baffle strikes, the group will be inconsistent and with baffle strikes, will often be more like a shotgun pattern than a grouping.


You could get an alignment rod and stick down the barrel and through the suppressor to confirm/eliminate alignment. I think everyone that owns a suppressor should do that at bare minimum for every caliber that they own a can for.


I would put some CCI standards (1070 fps) through the gun and see how that works. They generally cycle in everything and decent suppressor ammo.


I'd still want to make sure that all the threads on the barrel, mount, and suppressor tube are aligned properly. Especially if this is a new suppressor or firearm.


Another thought, if you have cleaned it recently, did you install the rear cap onto the same end of the silencer tube? It could also possibly be the silencer tube itself.

Put it on a .223 and let the centerfire clean the crap out of it. That's what I do

I did swap ends on the suppressor, the manufacturer's directions said it would work either way as long as the baffles were pointed the right direction, etc. What I found going through the manual is that the baffles do have to be orientated or "clocked" the same, not just snapped together. I think that may be what is destabilizing the bullets. The first time I did this, I just stacked them and snapped them together without paying attention to "clocking" them to be in an identical orientation front to back.

Last night I snapped the baffles together with them all aligned/clocked exactly the same from front to back. I'm hoping that works, or that a change in ammo will resolve this.

This will literally destroy a lot of Rimfire cans.

Jerry

Interested in your reasoning.

I know you shoot a bunch of suppressed high quality rimfires.

As rimfire ammo is opening up I was going to test the 45gr loads from CCI and Federal.

The CCI 45 HP shoot OK so far and cycles dirty semi autos better than Eley 38 gr HPs in a Tippman M4-22 but I have not gone further.


I would also doubt it would do any cleaning and just pack the fouling in deeper.

Never shot the CCI stuff, but never had decent accuracy outta either the fed or winny 45 grainers, in multiple of my rifles and 3 suppressed pistols, so I gave up on it. Ended up letting the kids run it thru theirs, just to burn it up.

Thanks.

'Tis a puzzle.



Don't shoot fer crap...


Don't even like my .22 GTC rounds either...


Don't work on the Sneezer either...

True... I thought is was a 22 caliber can that could be used on anything of that caliber like mine...

Dan,

Do you have a link about your .22 GTC

Thanks,

Jerry

My can is a Gemtech and the baffles have to be offset, not lined up from front to back. But I'd do however the MFG says to do it.

I also like CCI SV for pretty much anything, I get better accuracy with Wolf Match Extra, Eley subsonic and Eley 10X but SV is close enough.
5 CCI SV at 50 yards 10/22 with 16" Federson barrel