I'm now officially a stamp collector.  I'll have pics of my new can after getting home from work and doing some shooting!

prebans was wonderful to deal with, and I have to say that I couldn't be happier with the level of service or attention to detail.  Plus, I got to see some of his really neat stuff!

You got a can?

Excellent!  Congrats!!

Can is (was?) a YHM 762 Phantom QD.  I wasn't getting any windage POI shift at 50 yards (though the weight of the can obviously brought my vertical down a few inches), and my "group" was one ragged hole off the rest.



Bad News; baffle strike after about 8-9 rounds on my K-31 (after putting through a few rounds on the AR-15 first), and there's some light tube damage.  prebans is going to help me with deal with the whole repair thing, otherwise it looks like I'm going to have to see if it will be safe to use for .223 only.  My first assessment is the ID of the threaded adapter I was using was bore centered, but the threads that went into the QD flash hider might not have been.  I was also having some trouble with the QD retention ring, so it could have been that, but I guess YHM will have the final call.  I might have just gotten my first $1K paperweight, barring a reversal on the ATF ruling for tube replacement.  I'm not sure if they can just drop a new core in or not.

That majorly sucks. Did u have a gunsmith install the FH?  If not, I think that voids the YHM warranty. Worth a shot to see what they can do for you anyhow.

Sorry to hear you had a strike.
Hopefully YHM will make it right.
Keep us posted as to what they say.

FYI, at this time it appears that the strike could have been due to RickFinsta's unique mounting setup for his Swiss K31.    I'll be helping him get it back to YHM for review, but this one may not be on YHM.

Mike

That sucks.  How bad is the damage?
Are the baffles bulging the outer tube or was it an endcap strike?

It looks like a baffle bulged the outer tube - damage looks to be localized on the middlemost baffle; no endcap damage.  I'm not sure if it was the bullet, but something went downrange and hit the berm; the entire assembly ripped itself off the muzzle and launched downrange when the strike occured.  To further what prebans said, I knew going into this that I was going to have to be creative to attach it to an old military rifle, and I am confident in the job I did in designing it, my only lament at this point is trusting the quality of the part I was using (I should have measured the bore concentricity of the threads to the ID of the adapter, but I assumed it was properly made).  That said, I'm reserving final judgement on what happened until YHM gets it and looks over it.

I'm honestly less concerned right now with whether or not it's going to be covered by warranty, and more concerned with feasability of core replacement.  If this was my mistake, then it's a learning experience; I'm just hoping I don't have junk at this point.

Here's the mount setup:


Disregard the gap, as I milled down the adapter to get proper thread engagement and shouldering.  I had a brass pilot machined to bore-center the threaded adapter onto the bayonet mounting area forward of the FSB, and used a sleeve retaining locktite to take up space, and then used the locking screws for final location along both axis (secured with red locktite).  The YHM QD flash hider was then screwed on and torqued to 25ft.-lbs., and I checked the entire setup for movement between shots.  The location screws actually ripped themselves out the front of the barrel, leaving deep scars, so the adapter appears to have not moved until it was literally shot off with the rest of the can and flash hider.

Okay, I have been in contact with YHM's service department.  Please give me a holler later tonight.

Take care,

Mike

It may have been a bad round or a bullet shedding its jacket?
The bullet struck inside the baffel stack but didnt hit the endcap? Odd.
Do you have any pictures of the outside of the suppressor.
Hopefully YHM can cut off the endcap and install a new core if nothing else.

I've got a rundown with full pics on Silencertalk.com here, but you have to sign up to see it.  I'll try to get pics up later today if I've got a break at work.

Mike's a great guy, got multiple cans through him ever since I was of age.  ND resident now, so I'm going through another dealer, but I miss Mike's pricing compared to the one dealer choice I have out here...

Sorry to see the damage, sometimes lessons are unfortunately learned the hard way...  I had an incident with my YHM Phantom can earlier this year, thankfully the results were less catastrophic.

That makes me want to cry,sorry that happened.The only way to truly make sure the threads are concentric to the bore is to pull the barrel and run it between centers on a lathe.Even when you indacate the barrel it will be out a couple of thousands,might have to shim it here and there or tap it with a lead hammer.I have the same can and use it on my AR,a couple of Aks,and a SKS.I have cut and threaded a few barrels,AR,10-22,SKS with single point threading tool,you get it close to size and finish it off with a die.I have 10,000 rds. thru my can,built like a truck.Hope YHM can do some thing for you or you got a $900 paper wieght.Dont try and use a bore threading adapter you wont be happy.My 2 cents.

FYI, the can is in the mail to YHM and I'll update with disposition later on.

If I decide to put a can on the K-31 in the future, I'm going to have the barrel end threaded and I'll have a bushing installed and pinned which can then be properly threaded with a shoulder.  I don't know why the idea of building the shoulder into the bushing didn't occur to me earlier, but that's why I decided not to thread the barrel in the first place, is that I wouldn't have a proper shoulder (which, IMHO, is just as important as the bore concentricity of the threads).  I thought this was a good way to get a proper shoulder and bore index it, but it appears I may have been wrong!   I only say "may have been" because it's still possible at this point that my solution didn't handle the pressure (causing the failure) or there could have been a problem with the QD mount or can (highly unlikely, but not impossible until YHM tells me either way).

You're missed, man.  

How's life in NE?  Still with GF 2.0?

Mike

Life's good, graduating this December, if all goes well.  KMKE is full to the brim, so I won't be going there, sadly.  Looking to stay up here or head down south somewhere.  We'll see.

Didn't work out with her, sadly.  Win some and lose some.

I'll be heading back home in August, will give you a call and see if I can stop on by.

Onward to GF 3.0.  

Give me a holler when you're in town!  

Mike

YHM called today, and said that it will be no problem to fix the tube, and they will be covering it under warranty.  I will update this thread once I've got my new mounting system (THREADED!!!!!!) set up for the K-31, and get it back out for more testing.

I already loved their products (I think half of my AR is YHM goods), and I still think their QD mounting setup is the most versitile for the widest range of hosts, so I was already going to be a customer for life, but this is really going above and beyond in my opinion.  Much thanks to Nate at Yankee Hill Machine for the quick assessment and excellent customer service.  Also, thanks to Bryon at M3 and Mike at Distinction Arms for their help with this mess I made.

You know, for a bunch of shine runners, poachers, and assassins, the silencer community sure is filled with a bunch of stand-up guys!

AWESOME!!!!!
Very glad to hear they were able to take care of you.
Get the rifle threaded and get back out there to enjoy your new toy.

Awesome to hear that they covered it under warranty!

Please tell me it's Jeff Alme, not Sportman's Loft. I used to drive all the way from Minot to Jeff's place, just so I didn't have to deal with the Loft's horseshit.

Man, I do miss ND.

Yeah, I go through Jeff.  Jeff's a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but Mike's pricing structure is much more buyer friendly than Jeff's.  I just suppose that it's because Jeff's only competition is The Loft.

I'd miss ND too if I left.  Hoping to stay when I get done with UND.

I haven't had the cash for any NFA toys since moving back to WI.


Ahh....UND. Dated a chick that went to school there. Many fond memories.... that is, minus the part where she dumped me a week after my dad had a stroke and 3 days after my mom was diagnosed with cancer.

Can is back from YHM; some visible distorition at the area of damage indicates probable use of a mandrel and hammer or press to remove the distortion.  End cap is the same (I think), but appears to have been cut a little bit, so they probably through new baffles in after fixing the tube, rewelded, and then EDM'd a new bore.  I tried it out on the AR-15, and if it weren't for the sonic crack, it would be very comfortable to shoot without earplugs.  As it is, it seems to be the same noise level as a .22LR, but with more of a sharp sound to the sonic crack.

I'm very happy, and so was the other guy at the range that tried it out.  I am looking forward to getting it on the K-31 again and trying that out, as the sonic crack seemed much duller with the 7.5 Swiss than the 5.56.

Excellent, good to hear they were able to fix the tube instead of doing another $200 transfer for a different serial number.

Got your message- things have been stupid busy on this end.

Glad to hear that everything's working again!  

Mike