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Old September 23, 2009, 12:02 PM   #1
hksnpr223
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silencer material question

I noticed that most silencers are made with 304 stainless steel. I was wondering if there is any advantage with 304 over 316 and if 316 would be okay for a .22lr silencer.
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Old September 23, 2009, 01:46 PM   #2
KLRANGL
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Well I know nothing about suppressors, but enough about building things...
Unless you're going to be around salt water, there isn't much benefit in having the superior corrosion resistance of 316. You will end up spending more with the 316 over 304, but for all intensive structural purposes, they are the same. 316 is a bit harder and has a slightly higher yield strength. If you can use 304 for a suppressor, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use 316. I also cant see much benefit.
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Old September 23, 2009, 01:52 PM   #3
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There is a difference but not sure why it would not work as well. You might want to do a search on what is called, a compatability chart and compare these two grades. Or search for metallurgy of these two grades. Again, don't know how it would effect this application. I know that in the petrochemical industry, you have to pay attention to which grade you use on a specific service. My concern in the past, is that a certain grade of SS is more likely to gaul on any mechanical contact. As an example, I have a SS magazine that will not work in one of my SS wells but works great in a blued well.



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Old September 23, 2009, 02:12 PM   #4
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Quote:
My concern in the past, is that a certain grade of SS is more likely to gaul on any mechanical contact. As an example, I have a SS magazine that will not work in one of my SS wells but works great in a blued well.
Stainless steels gall easily with other similar stainless steels.
Had that problem with press fit stainless steel components when I worked as an intern at a fuel injector plant... Had to alternate SS alloys
Aluminum has similar problems

And of course that only scratches the surface of the galling problem...
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Old September 23, 2009, 06:22 PM   #5
hksnpr223
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well i already have 2 316 bars that i got for free so the money is not a problem. r u saying that two pieces of 316 might gall or that if i mix the materials theyll gall
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Old September 23, 2009, 07:29 PM   #6
Jim Watson
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Having worked in a field (fertilizer R&D and no horsey jokes) where we used a lot of type 316 stainless pipe and tubing, I can tell you for sure that a tight threaded joint will gall. It took generous use of pipe dope and Teflon tape to insure we could disassemble and reassemble setups... usually.
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Old September 24, 2009, 09:15 AM   #7
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Jim is correct. You want any threaded connections to be two different SS alloys if you don't want things to gall (as much). Im not sure how well anti-seize will work on threads being heated by firing, but if you can find a high temp anti-seize, that should work also.
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Old September 24, 2009, 03:07 PM   #8
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If the two pieces were painted with a high heat paint (like an engine paint), would that lessen the chance of galling them?
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Old September 24, 2009, 06:47 PM   #9
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If the two pieces were painted with a high heat paint (like an engine paint), would that lessen the chance of galling them?
Paint, I doubt it. A chemical coating, yes...
Paint and close tolerance threads don't go well together...
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Old September 26, 2009, 01:33 PM   #10
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If you are just using it on a 22 I would go with aluminum like most of the manufactures currently use. The suppressor I am designing for my 50ae ar-15 conversion is going to be made out of titanium for the weight and strength, the design is pretty interesting it will actually go over the barrel and then only protrude past the barrel 4 inches making the whole suppressor 13” long with a huge expansion chamber to the rear.
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Old September 26, 2009, 05:29 PM   #11
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Is that four inches going to be enough? I made a can for my 458 socom AR-15. It is the loudest can in my collection mostly likely because of the large bore and it is 12 inches long, extending 8 inches past the muzzle.

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Old September 26, 2009, 06:08 PM   #12
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The main expansion chamber is 9” to the rear, and the way I am designing the baffles it should be very quiet and if not I will make it longer I should be able to figure something out; what material did you make yours out of and how many baffles did you use?
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Old September 26, 2009, 09:38 PM   #13
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All aluminum except for stainless thread adaptor and blast baffle. The blast baffle is a 60 degree conical and the rest (4) are K baffles. I only shoot subsonic in it. It is the least effective of my silencers, including my 50 cal can for the 510 whisper. But the 510W can is 18 " long with only 6" telescoping back over the barrel.

No matter how large the can is, I believe that the key to effective suppression is the length of tubing/baffles the bullet has to pass through after leaving the muzzle.

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