Unbiased opinion: Who's refinishing is better - IGF or RDTS?

[Turbo_Supra]

I have never had RDTS do any work for me, but IGF has done 2 of my guns. Both have the Envirotech HK Black finish, which is a satin black. Looks very nice and wears very well...

[AviatorDave]

This was his response....

Stainless is not stronger. It can be hardened to a fairly high hardness, but that doesn't necessary mean strength. Or in another way to think of it one of the hardest materials is glass, but it would not be considered to have much strength. Sometimes that confuses people.

I definitely want something that is as strong as possible, but I also want it to be as corrosion resistant as possible. Weight matters to an extent, but I would prefer it to not rust or blow up over everything else.

I'm not a metal guy, so I don't know the difference between carbon steel & regular steel.

If I'm looking mainly for rust-proof and as blow-proof as possible, what metal should I have him make it out of?

Carbon or high carbon steel is steel that can be hardened to a high degree. And while hardness does tend to make a steel more brittle, it also increases its tensile strength. Mild steel may be more flexible, less brittle, but can't be hardened the same amount, and as such has a lower tensile strength.

I'm not experienced at making suppressors, but I do know that if you want something that needs to be corrosion resistant and will operate at high temps, you usually look at stainless or other alloy steels. It really depends on exactly what someone means when they say "strength". Some steels are better at wear resistance, some have higher tensile strength (like the bolts that hold engines together), some are meant to bend without fatiguing (springs), etc. It seems to me like the best materials for a suppressor would be stainless steels, or the exotic super alloys like inconel (jet engine parts are made from inconel). But again, I'm not a suppressor maker, so I'd really have to defer to Jayson on that. It may be some issue like there are manufacturing limitations that don't let you take advantage of the properties of stainless steel.

Also, you might be asking for two opposing things - it might be that the most rust proof would be stainless, but that the most "blow proof" as you put it would be a standard non-stainless steel, in which case you'll have to pick the one that is MOST important.

[TronJohn]

That IGF paint job looks nice. But is there any way to get a flat black instead of that shiny finish?

Does RDTS's finish have more of the flat black look to it?

Since most parts on the gun are susceptible to rust anyways, that just means you have to take care of them and use the proper oils. So the suppressor would be along those same lines and I think it would more important to have it "blow-proof" over rust-proof.

[AviatorDave]

That IGF paint job looks nice. But is there any way to get a flat black instead of that shiny finish?

Does RDTS's finish have more of the flat black look to it?

Since most parts on the gun are susceptible to rust anyways, that just means you have to take care of them and use the proper oils. So the suppressor would be along those same lines and I think it would more important to have it "blow-proof" over rust-proof.

But you can't oil the insides where the corrosion will be.

[schmellba]

But you can't oil the insides where the corrosion will be.

It's not hard to lubricate the interior of a suppressor, even one that is designed to not be taken apart readily.

When youa re designing and building a suppressor, you need to review your wish list of wants and prioritize what you are looking for more than the next.

Weight is always an issue with a supressor. You don't want your supressor to be too heavy as it tends to adversly affect your accuracy relatively quickly and can also have an effect on POI with and without the supressor attached to your barrel. If you are SD'ing a weapon, weight should be one of your major concerns as the suppressor is basically married to the weapon and isn't removable for times where you dont necessarily need it. This is where the materials of construction plays a huge role. Stainless is heavier than aluminum, etc.

Stainless is a great material, but it's not necessarily a cure-all for building a supressor. It's expensive to obtain, it's far more difficult to machine than carbon or aluminum, and it is heavy. Also, depending on what grade of stainless you get, there are significant differences in heat and structural properties. It also has 1.85x the expansion/contraction ratio that carbon steel has.

Aluminum is lighter than carbon or stainless, but is not structurally as strong. If you are looking at a FA .223, this is probably not the material of choice.

If I were building it, I would have the tube housing and both ends fabricated from carbon steel with a good powder coating. A53 or so is pretty standard and is durable, relatively inexpensive, and there are numerous different types of piping and sizes that it comes in. I'd fab my 1st and 2nd blast baffle out of stainless, with every subsequent baffles out of carbon after that. But that's just me.

I'd seriously talk with RTDS about doing supressor work. They have a damned good design already for the 9mm Luger round, and I bet they could adapt said design relatively easily for the 5.56mm NATO round. They've been building supressors for quite some time now and are fairly well versed in it.

You can also check out this board for more ideas and advice on supressors:

http://www.silencertalk.com/forum/index.phpwww.