The Story: My form arrived at my FFL this morning and I went and picked it up. Brought it home, read the instructions, checked everything out and went to the range. I put 60 rounds through the silencer with it on my AR15 with out a hitch. I then transferred it to my AK, put it on properly, double checked it, fired one round, checked the tightness of the fit, it clicked tighter one click. Put 4 more rounds through it. All 5 rounds were loud. I checked the silencer and found that I had one or multiple baffle strikes.

Details: Surpressor: YHM SS Phantom, Model 3400A 308
Mount: YHM QD muzzle break, 308
Host: Romanian AK '63 put together on a NoDak Spud reciever by a gun smith.
Ammo: Wolf 7.62 x 39

The mount was put on by my gunsmith who is also a machinist. He also checked for me that the threads were aligned correctly on the muzzle of the AK. I paid him for this service and he is a licensed gunsmith and has done excellent work for me in the past.

The Damage: There are two big bumps and 2 small bumps on the tub. The baffles are obviously ruined and the end cap has a new whole. I cannot get the can off of the QD mount and I have not yet removed the mount from the rifle.

Questions:

1. What do you think went wrong?
2. I cannot call YKM today, do you think they will cover this?
3. Should I show this to my gunsmith first? Or just contact YKM on Tuesday?
4. Do you think this can be fixed or is it trash now.
5. Any other comments or suggests on what my next steps are and/or what my options are.

Thanks.

PICS

WAG... non-concentric bore on the AK.

My assumption was correct to the bore and the muzzle. During the 7 month wait I told him that I was waiting on a surpressor for an AK and he told me I should have it looked at to make sure it was all aligned. So... I brought it in and he installed the mount and told me the alignment was good to go. He is a top notch gunsmith and a seasoned and experienced machinist. I have had nothing but outstanding work done by him before. He also did the same for me with a 303 Enfield. He found the bore was slightly warped and straitened it out for me. I did not get a chance to run the silencer on the 303.

AKs are notorious for non-concentric threads. They honestly make terrible suppressor host in general. That suppressor tube looks like a goner to me. Because of the Gem-tax (original definition) you'll at the very least have to pony up for another $200 tax stamp. Hopefully YHM offers to sell you a new can at a greatly discounted rate. But to be honest, this doesn't look to be a failure of their product. But I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. I'd say give them a call on Tuesday. Also, see about sending your AK host in to them so they can take a look at it.

Keep Shooting it. I think its is new junk.

did you look down the bore with the suppressor mounted to see if there was any interference before firing?

Honestly I think the best course of action is to call YHM, talk to Nate (their suppressor guy) and send them your barrel with the muzzle device you used, and the can. They will check all the stuff and tell you what went wrong. No sense pointing fingers at your 'smith right now. Wait until you know for sure what happened.

I think this is sound advice. I will call on Tuesday and send the gun in as is and they will examine it and tell me what is what. Before sending it to YHM, I will also take it to my GS and have it look at it and see what he says. I have looked down the bore after the fact and it does not look misaligned. But I am not certain I could tell by looking. Also, it appears that just the last couple of baffles were hit and not the front ones near the bore of the rifle. I am not sure what that means in terms of what went wrong.

You're lucky it didn't grenade in front of you. I've never seen a strike like that.

I was just saying how strong these cans are thanks for helping to prove that.
I've seen aks with the barrels drilled all kinds of fucked up ways. Including haveing what looked like a small balloon in the barrel

Tag to see outcome

I dont think that would be legal. If they do have to warranty the whole thing he may just have to pay the $200 stamp again and hopefully get a new can for free.

i would never trust any stock AK barrel even with a new thread job that is concentric to the bore.
I have worked on many AK's and many of them didnt have very good barrels,
some made keyholes in paper without any muzzle device.
I feel sad for your new can loss