Baffles or ???

[a_s]

I was watching Forged in Fire and they had a bucket of steel cuttings, they were long coiled strips like when you run a lathe and get long coils. Eventually I got to thinking, what if something like that was used instead of baffles? I imagine that it would work to cool and create turbulence.

[a_canadian]

The lathe swarf you're describing sounds basically like a coarser version of pot scrubbing material, the Chore Boy such as Dr Dater used to wrap around the reflex/ported area of the barrel on his integrally suppressed Ruger Mk pistol. Not 'instead of' baffles but 'in addition to' baffles, before getting to the baffle stack. You could try putting a bundle of lathe swarf into a can and call it a baffle stack. Problem is, your bullet would basically grab it on the first pass and tear the front cap off. Maybe even hurt the shooter. If you use a perforated tube as a core, to allow expanding gasses out into the swarf heat sink, you've basically recreated what many shooters in the UK use for airguns and rimfire. Steel wool or even polyester scrubbing pads wrapped around a holey pipe. Sort of works. Better than nothing. But the limiting factor is that tube. Put too many or too big holes in it and the tube lacks integrity, will collapse, while the ablative wrap gets pulled into it by convection as bullets pass by. Of course you could use heavier cuts of waste metal to leave it better able to resist being pulled through the holes... but then you're adding weight, reducing flexibility... generally undermining your purpose of introducing complexity and surface area.

Now, do something like that in a 3D printed design using sintered titanium powder with intersecting lasers and you may be onto a good idea. It would have to be designed in such a way that there was sufficient linkage between elements and the tube wall for it to have enough strength for the caliber/load you're shooting, but could be a good thing. Not exactly waste from a lathe though.

[ninoslavt]

Not sure who did it, but there was a cast aluminum version of what a_canadian mentioned. They used it for 5.56 and it was disaster, because pressures were just to high. But as idea, it was actually very promising.

[a_s]

The way I was imagining it would be best described as coiled ribbons of 3/16" 22-28 gauge steel. Multiple helixes intertwined front to back with helixes set in circles on the inside of the tube. Not so much like the really small steel wool sized ribbons that come off.

I like the idea of making it a lattice arrangement that would be easily removable (thanks a_canadian). I wonder if a branching coral kind of pattern would work.

Thanks for the feedback of it showing promise.

[a_canadian]

From what you're describing, it seems unlikely you have any experience with a suppressor. The pressure involved even with something as weak as subsonic .22lr is likely to pull a structure like that apart in short order.

[Zero99z]

Spiral spring baffles ARE WAY old tech. I don't think anybody uses the design anymore.

[YugoRPK]

Somewhere along the lines silencer builders got away from Maxims original baffles designs which although they werent terribly efficient they worked and started doing all kinds of goofy stuff like chore boy packing, expanded metal screen etc. Some work pretty good. I did a 22 silencer decades ago that was the perforated tube style with vent screen and it was stupid quiet. It also lasted 20 shots. The Spiral idea was junk to begin with . Was it Sionics that made the can for the MAC series with shoelace eyelets for packing material? It worked ? All that stuff burns up in short order though.

[a_canadian]

Yeah, problem with really thin material is that it hits critically high temperature very quickly. So if what you're using it on tends to heat up a normal commercial suppressor quickly, it will likely bien through some sort of swarf packing in no time at all. Ultimate example - the finest grade steel wool is actually listed as a fire hazard in workshops, as a single spark can ignite every scrap in sight.

[alordnapa]

Somewhere along the lines silencer builders got away from Maxims original baffles designs which although they werent terribly efficient they worked and started doing all kinds of goofy stuff like chore boy packing, expanded metal screen etc. Some work pretty good. I did a 22 silencer decades ago that was the perforated tube style with vent screen and it was stupid quiet. It also lasted 20 shots. The Spiral idea was junk to begin with . Was it Sionics that made the can for the MAC series with shoelace eyelets for packing material? It worked ? All that stuff burns up in short order though.

I think it was Jonathon Arthur Ciener who used eyelets in his full length, integral 10-22 suppressor, and for refurbing rhe old High Standard "OSS" models that were never really designed to be refirbed. MAC had the very cool "Donuts" made by casting copper with rock salt inside. When the salt was dissolved, it made a perfect "sponge" material.

[Capt. Link.]

Somewhere along the lines silencer builders got away from Maxims original baffles designs which although they werent terribly efficient they worked and started doing all kinds of goofy stuff like chore boy packing, expanded metal screen etc. Some work pretty good. I did a 22 silencer decades ago that was the perforated tube style with vent screen and it was stupid quiet. It also lasted 20 shots. The Spiral idea was junk to begin . Was it Sionics that made the can for the MAC series with shoelace eyelets for packing material? It worked ? All that stuff burns up in short order though.

The WW2 .22 High Standard HDMS netted about 24 db using a ported barrel w/ bronze rolled screen w/ bronze washers.That was top suppression until the 1980s Finn designs.They can be repacked and upgraded using the Dater type packing .Dr Dater used tightly twisted and packed copper chore boy scrubbers in a few of his early integral .22 pistols & carbines with results better than the HDMS.Ciener used eyelets as did the two stage Mac suppressors while Sionics used spirals touted by Werbel.The Maxim baffle is still a good one ,a 30-06 suppressor 1x9" giving over 22 db suppression is not bad considering the large bore diameter and light weight.

Packed cans do work well on rimfire and have some advantages.Tightly packed twisted chore boys on a ported barrel have no FRP ,quiet if packed tight ,plus accuracy can be very good with a fair life span. I used this tech in combination with baffles on integral .22 caliber hosts for years with excellent results.