Finally, got my new supressor. The good, the bad, the ugly!

[davoaz]

The Good. After Purchase In Sept '05 and $200 check cashed in Nov'05 I picked it up last saturday. Gemtec Halo. Good I guess cause I waited so long.

The Bad. Definately louder than I anticipated. Much louder than a .22LR but not so loud that I needed ear protection.

The Ugly. About 1/2 way through my 3rd mag it sounded as though it was getting louder and louder. So I quit shooting and checked it out and discovered that it had come loose. Checked it out and cut a groove in it. I followed the directions to the detail with peel washer and everything but this thing still wiggled loose. Looks like my first time out with it will be my last. :cry:

[MuzzleFlash]

Oooh that sucks! So the suppressor nut came loose or the flash hider?

I'd call Phil Dater at Gemtech and see what he can do for you. They are usually pretty fair - just don't work it out with Kel. He can be a real jerk FWIH. Ask to have Phil call you back if he's out. Turn around varies with parts availability but there's no ATF approvals to hold things up.

You might consider sending your upper in with the can to have the FH dimensions and concentricity checked. As you indicated, they only approve the peel washer for mounting. Loctite is supplied and highly recommended. Crush and split washers are a definite no-no. Assuming the FH is properly mounted and concentric to the bore, the critical mount points are the exterior surface of the hider and the backside of the FH "cage". That's what the suppressor nut aligns to. If the FH is undersized w.r.t. NATO specs, it can cause alignment problems even if it's concentric. Phil could quote you tolerances.

I have a Halo and while it's much louder than a .22, it is still pretty efficient as .223 cans go. Remember, there's a pretty serious supersonic crack generated by the mach 3+ bullet flight. The .223 has roughly 20 times the gas of a .22 (by weight) and the gas is much, much hotter. The Halo does not have 20 times the volume of an Outback can to deal with it all. A true apples to apples would use subsonic .22 (Winchester bulk at WalMart will do) against the only subsonic .223 GT warrants: Engle Ballistic Research (EBR). Pay close attention to EBR's barrel twist requirements.

A hint for when you get it back: spray some graphite on the flash hider and on the mating surface of the can. It will prevent these parts from siezing up from fouling after heavy use.

Hope it all works out for you in the end!

[davoaz]

Thanks for the tips. I should have posted here B4 I shot the thing. Both came lose. Once the can cooled enough to remove I noticed the flash suppressor came lose as well. And the Peel washer began to peel again. I thought I had that thing on there pretty snug. Under the initial setup, seems like I had to peel that thing about 8 times in order to get the flash supressor to rotate in the correct position.

One odd thing, the dealer I bought from said I had the correct flash supressor. But when I read the directions it said I needed a 1/2" open end wrench to take it off and put the peel washer on. The flash supressor I had required a 3/4" open end wrench. I'm starting to wonder if I had the correct one to start with. I'll make a call to them B4 I call Gemtech.

[Zak Smith]

Baffle strikes are not the end of the world. The can most likely still be shootable, AND it is repairable.

Gemtech does recommend having THEM install the muzzle device.

How much torque did you use on the flash-hider? I have had NO problems with any of mine coming loose, with suppressor use.

If you use an A1 flash hider, you can just crank it down to the barrel shoulder and NOT use any washer at all.