Curtis Tactical THIRTY rebuild

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speed6
Senior Silent Operator
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:18 pm

Curtis Tactical THIRTY rebuild

Post by speed6 »

About a year ago I had Curtis Tactical rebuild my Thompson Machine THIRTY suppressor. It was the old model THIRTY made out of chrome-moly steel, not the newer titanium model. I was never really happy with the original suppressor. It was very heavy and nearly impossible to take apart (a mallet and custom brass punch I made were necessary after as little as 50 shots with jacketed ammo). I found myself not using it because of the weight, and it had welded itself together by the time I decided to get it rebuilt. Communication with Curtis Tactical was excellent and professional, the cost was reasonable (I think 750 for basically a brand-new suppressor and brake mount, though it has been a while so that could be off) and the turn around time ended up being about 2 or 3 weeks. The finished can is impressive, and is of ingenious design. I have 10+ years experience as a mechanical engineer in a manufacturing environment, so I know good machine and design work when I see it. The finish was adequate for the intended purpose of the components, the suppressor design itself was very good (I have made some form 1 cans so I know a little about suppressor design), and the material chosen was also adequate (17-4 SS, not sure the heat treat condition). He basically shoehorned the baffle stack and mount/blast spacer from their own suppressor into the TM tube. I didn't realize you could just use a standard allen key to disassemble the can, but it's a great idea and the hex-shaped hole probably helps with suppression. The overall weight was reduced by about half thanks to the thinner baffles and eliminating all the wasted material left on the original monocore and end caps. I actually use this suppressor now, since it's so light. I don't really disassemble it much, but when I do it has been very easy to get apart thanks to the thread-together baffles. The suppression is great, in line with other commercial cans I have heard. I highly recommend Curtis Tactical for your rebuilds, and if the quality and design are the same in their own cans I would not hesitate to buy one of those either.

Some pics of it new, mounted on my marlin 30-30 and on one of my registered SBRs (12.5" 5.56 BCM upper on this one).
Assembled
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Disassembled
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On the Marlin
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Brake mount (I used a GEMTECH shim kit to get it timed correctly)
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On the SBR. It has been on this platform A LOT with only some very minor pitting on the second baffle. Blast baffle is totally OK.
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