John T. is an avid gun owner who owns several guns, including a Sig Sauer .300 short-barrel rifle.
Soon after purchasing the rifle, John added accessories, starting with a thermal sight and adding a suppressor.
After putting on the accessories John took the rifle to the shooting range.
At first, he fired about 20 rounds of Hornady ammo.
While shooting he noticed that some of the bullets were exiting the barrel with a strange pattern.
He stopped shooting, unloaded the rifle, and inspected the entire gun.
Everything looked good so John fired five more rounds.
This time he noticed that the rifle sounded funny, but he couldn’t tell what was wrong with the gun.
Once again, John inspected the gun.
When he held the rifle upright, barrel pointed to the sky, he heard something tinkling in the suppressor.
So, John removed the suppressor, and when he flipped it over pieces of what looked like jacket pieces and parts of lead fell out.
Then, he noticed the end cap on the suppressor was an odd shape.
Finally, John peered inside the suppressor and could see that one of the baffles was deformed.
He immediately removed the suppressor and sent it back to the company he purchased it from.
The company said that either one of the bullets didn’t stabilize, or the jacket on one of the rounds was damaged and caused a baffle strike.
Now, who knows the exact reason for the baffle strike, it could have been an ammo problem or an issue with the suppressor.
Either way, John is lucky that it didn’t cause a catastrophic failure or hurt him.
Now, suppressors are a popular accessory, so it’s important to keep in mind that baffle strikes can happen.
What is a baffle strike?:
Baffles are a critical component of a suppressor.
They reduce the sound of the gunshot by trapping the gases and slowing them down before they exit the gun.
A baffle strike occurs when a bullet fired through a suppressor hits the internal parts of the suppressor – called baffles – before exiting.
The majority of baffles strikes are small nicks on the edges of the baffles from the bullet contacting it.
Many times, these small baffle strikes occur and won’t affect the overall performance of the weapon or the bullet.
However, some baffles can be severely struck and create a hole, which makes the suppressor unsafe to fire.
Considering the importance of baffles, here are a few ways to reduce baffle strikes:
Barrel threading:
One way to avoid a baffle strike is to ensure that you are using proper size, quality barrel threads.
For instance, an AR-15 might have a barrel thread size of 1/2×28.
So, you want to make the suppressor fits the barrel.
Inexpensive barrel threads can tilt a suppressor, and cheap adapters can be misaligned from the center.
Check out quality aftermarket barrels such as ones from Daniel Defense or Christensen Arms.
Check it before shooting:
A lot of folks will add a suppressor and then visually inspect the gun before shooting.
You can also get a suppressor alignment rod to confirm that the suppressor is centered.
Simply insert the rod through the suppressor and into the bore to check for even spacing between the rod and the suppressor baffles.
SureFire is one company that makes a quality suppressor alignment rod.
Subsonic ammo:
Subsonic ammo is a good option when shooting with a suppressor since the suppressor can have tight clearance.
Plus, subsonic ammo reduces the crackling sound from the bullet since it travels below the speed of sound.
Subsonic ammo travels slower and produces less heat and pressure, causing less wear and tear on the baffles.
Overall, subsonic ammo will be quieter and lengthen the lifespan of the suppressor.
Now, baffle strikes can be common and not cause any major issues.
But there is always the risk of a major baffle strike that can have dangerous consequences.
So, if you choose to install a suppressor, take the time to do it right and use the proper ammo to prevent accidents.
