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Posted: 8/12/2010 3:22:36 PM EDT
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I've had a TAC-16 for several years now and run it on my 11.5" SBR. As such, it gets a little cruddy (at least, too cruddy for me) from the unburned powder, and every now and then I'll throw a few rounds of .22 down the pipe (such as this past weekend when I shot a copperhead with it at a father/son retreat), which gives me probably a negligible amount of lead in it. The can, being non-stainless somehow ended up with a light hazing of rust on the inside of the body around the 3rd/4th spacer down from the end cap even though I dip it in Ed's red, fill it with Hoppes 9, and other petroleum-based liquids fairly often which *should* have suppressed any rust creation. However, sure enough... there's the little bit of brown where it looks like it wasn't coated with whatever the rest of the inside was coated with. I think what has happened is that the 4th spacer is rust-welded itself to the can body and no amount of tapping on the backside of the blast baffel with a dowel rod and hammer will knock it loose. That being the case, I can't get the rest of the baffles and spacers out and I'd like to clean the can. It is currently filled with Ed's Red with an ear plug in each end, but I wonder how that will clean it? I don't have anything I could put it on which vibrates which might better get rid of the crud, so I'm left with just a simple soaking. I've thought about mixing up some peroxide/vinegar solution, but am reluctant to do so since the oxidizer in the peroxide would probably throw the thing into hyper-active rust mode, and I'd rather not do that. Soooooo.... how well do you all think soaking the can for 24 hours or so in Ed's Red will clean it? None at all, a little bit, still have a ton of gunk in it? It's really not THAT dirty now, but I'm a little OCD about trying to keep it cleaned out (which makes the rust on the 4th spacer so frustrating). If you guys think that should do it, then let me know. Otherwise, I'm open to any sane suggestions on how to clean the carbon out. Thanks. ETA: Well, I think I rigged up an ultra-sonic/vibration mechanism to help shake it up a bit. I disassembled the can as best I could down to the 3rd spacer (thought it was the 4th earlier), filled the stainless cleaning pan with enough Ed's Red to cover the can, and put the pan on the workbench close to where my 8" grinder is screwed into it. I then screwed a couple pieces of 1X2" boards into the bench to keep the stainless pan from possibly going anywhere, and turned the grinder on. Sure enough, it vibrates it a little bit (not a ton, but anything is better than nothing), so I'll let it run for a couple hours and see what comes loose. I'll probably run it for a while tomorrow, too, but I don't want it to go all night just for safety's sake. The fluid is already getting pretty dirty, so I know it's cleaning it some. ETA2: Well, the Ed's Red and vibration mechanism got a lot of little bits out, but I still can't get it apart past the 3rd spacer. I did some looking online and found Exrust from Kano as a rust dissolving agent. Anybody ever used that stuff on steel, and did it work well? |
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It's been vibrating in the SS cleaning pan filled with WD-40 for about 5 hours now and the solution is getting black, so it looks like it's cleaning out some of the carbon. I'll have to shut off the grinder in a few minutes to go to bed, but I'll let it soak all night/day tomorrow, and I'll kick it back on tomorrow when I get home. Hope to get it apart if I'm lucky tomorrow evening or maybe Wednesday. Anybody have any suggestions for dissolving the rust? |
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Quoted: CLP or Liquid Wrench were made for dissolving rust, among other things. I'd consider trying one or both of them, or a like product, before giving up. Just a thought. I think I have some liquid wrench or PB Blaster downstairs, so after I soak it for another 4-5 hours in the vibration tank I'll hose the stuck areas down with the PB Blaster/Liquid Wrench. I also have some CLP, but the PB/LW is a *lot* thinner than CLP, which would work better at getting into the areas. If I have to, I'll warm up the can a little in the oven to about 200 degrees or so and then spray the PB/LW into the seams, which would probably draw it in better. |
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Well, I got one more baffle out, so that leaves the two blast baffles. I have a little issue now, though, as the dowel I was using to try to tap/drive them out shattered and now I have little pieces of wood in the suppressor between the blast baffles. Yippie.... I'll let it soak some more tonight in the WD-40 bath/vibration tank and see if it'll come out tomorrow. The rust on the inside of the tube is pretty rough back where the outer-most blast baffle is, so I'm going to have to work on it before I put the can back together once I'm done. I *really* don't want to send this thing in since it's so much $$ to get it worked on ($55/hr), but I might have to. Hope not, though. ETA: Got the wood pieces out, but the blast baffles are still stuck tight. I might take pics tomorrow of the rust on the inside of the tube. Are these things supposed to have bluing or some other coating on the inside of the tube to help with corrosion? Anybody else with a TAC-16 know if the inside of their can is coated or just bare steel? ETA2: Finally had to just give up and send it in. Hopefully they can get the two blast baffles out and then do something about the rust inside the tube. It looks like the bluing was only applied to about 1 1/2" inside the can, and then the rest is bare steel. Still not sure how it rusted with all the oil it's had in/on it over the years... |
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