Stalon Moderator and Carbon & Ammonia build up

[rhogg4803]

I have always treated my moderator as per the instructions, ie. allowed to dry out and always stored off the rifle and stood upright.

Yet my gun cabinet reeks of ammonia from the moderator.

What methods do others use for removing the carbon and ammonia crystal buildup?

The instructions says a light spray of WD40. I am not sure whether WD40 is any good at removing carbon and there is the risk of ignition is not fully dried out. Why not brake cleaner as a solvent to remove carbon?

Thanks
Rob.

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

I have always treated my moderator as per the instructions, ie. allowed to dry out and always stored off the rifle and stood upright.

Yet my gun cabinet reeks of ammonia from the moderator.

What methods do others use for removing the carbon and ammonia crystal buildup?

The instructions says a light spray of WD40. I am not sure whether WD40 is any good at removing carbon and there is the risk of ignition is not fully dried out. Why not brake cleaner as a solvent to remove carbon?

Thanks
Rob.

I've often thought of this.

I've a stalon mod for my .308. After a shot, its stored upright and off the gun but sometimes theres a bit of white powder falling out of it.

Is there a way to remove the baffles?

 

[viking90]

If I feel my ASE needs a clean I put it in a tub with brake cleaner and scrub it with a bottle brush, sometimes on a drill. I'll then blow it out and put it in a pan of boiling water. Drain the excess water and blow out as much as possible and put it in the oven at 100° to dry like wet tumbled brass.

 

[Smellydog]

Where the hell has ammonia come from

 

[Steff]

Where the hell has ammonia come from

From burning powder.

 

[Steff]

I have always treated my moderator as per the instructions, ie. allowed to dry out and always stored off the rifle and stood upright.

Yet my gun cabinet reeks of ammonia from the moderator.

What methods do others use for removing the carbon and ammonia crystal buildup?

The instructions says a light spray of WD40. I am not sure whether WD40 is any good at removing carbon and there is the risk of ignition is not fully dried out. Why not brake cleaner as a solvent to remove carbon?

Thanks
Rob.

Dry it outside the cabinet for a night or so.
The white crumble is part of the game with aluminum moderators. Spaying WD40 or any other substance in the mod will only turn this crumble into gunk. The worst of both worlds IMHO.
Run a dry brush through the dry mod and accept the fact that a mod is a consumable. Thus buy them accordingly, don‘t spend a fortune believing in marketing. Buy the cheapest that will still do the job.

 

[Smellydog]

From burning powder.

So it's worse than black powder then!

 

[Smellydog]

I don't find any reference to ammonia being produced from the combustion of smokeless powders in small arms and I have never smelt it as indicated by the op. Any one got any reference to this please?

 

[Steff]

I don't find any reference to ammonia being produced from the combustion of smokeless powders in small arms and I have never smelt it as indicated by the op. Any one got any reference to this please?

I cannot give you any chemical evidence but the smell of ammonia is very present at any range. And unscrewing a freshly fired moderator and taking a whiff is very definitive evidence of ammonia.

The smell is nothing that will linger. Only fresh gases or liquids will bear it.

 

[Smellydog]

I cannot give you any chemical evidence but the smell of ammonia is very present at any range. And unscrewing a freshly fired moderator and taking a whiff is very definitive evidence of ammonia.

The smell is nothing that will linger. Only fresh gases or liquids will bear it.

Maybe a smell that resembles ammonia but not necessarily ammonia

 

[8x57]

Dry it outside the cabinet for a night or so.
The white crumble is part of the game with aluminum moderators. Spaying WD40 or any other substance in the mod will only turn this crumble into gunk. The worst of both worlds IMHO.
Run a dry brush through the dry mod and accept the fact that a mod is a consumable. Thus buy them accordingly, don‘t spend a fortune believing in marketing. Buy the cheapest that will still do the job.

Unfortunately drying outside the cabinet "for a night or so" isn't an option in the U.K.
Here legally they are regarded as firearms and must be secured when not in use.

I tend to agree with you regarding WD40. There's a great deal of misunderstanding about what WD40 actually is and what it does, it's only really a water dispersant which leaves a tacky coating on surfaces.

 

[Rory]

Is the 'crumbling white powder' aluminum oxide, from corrosion?

 

[Steff]

Unfortunately drying outside the cabinet "for a night or so" isn't an option in the U.K.
Here legally they are regarded as firearms and must be secured when not in use.

Same here. But locking it away in a closed safe right away is technically simply not an option. It‘s plain stupid.
Sometimes the law is just the law ….

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

Unfortunately drying outside the cabinet "for a night or so" isn't an option in the U.K.
Here legally they are regarded as firearms and must be secured when not in use.

I tend to agree with you regarding WD40. There's a great deal of misunderstanding about what WD40 actually is and what it does, it's only really a water dispersant which leaves a tacky coating on surfaces.

Come on now...

 

[Smellydog]

I thought the law said "when not in use".
If it is being maintained and the authorised person present then no breech of the law is being made as it is in use. Or a routine related to it's use is in action.

I honestly think we, the British make far to much of stuff than is really necessary.

Has any one been prosecuted for maintaining a firearm at home over night and still present?

 

[Edinburgh Rifles]

Dont use WD40
It solidifies, accumulates carbon and becomes difficult to remove, it also wont be blown out under firing.

Use a squirt of light oil, it will neutralise the nitrogen based compounds formed from the combustion of nitro-cellulose powders.
A blast of legia or similar not only neutralises the residues it pushes some of the gases out.

It also stops the crystalline structures forming.
The white stuff that falls out or can be seen occluding the bore if you look down the hole.
A brush on a rod will knock them off and they will get blown out when you fire along with any other particulate matter.

What you are smelling is a range of organic compounds rather than pure ammonia.
Many of them are Diphenylamines and nitrated derivatives.

Don’t store them with the guns and keep them dry

 

[Adyb]

I sometimes blow mine through with compressed air, any cons with doing this..?

 

[TheCornishman]

I cannot give you any chemical evidence but the smell of ammonia is very present at any range. And unscrewing a freshly fired moderator and taking a whiff is very definitive evidence of ammonia.

The smell is nothing that will linger. Only fresh gases or liquids will bear it.

You don’t have a pet cat do you?…. Ours once got into the gun cabinet cupboard and if it hadn’t have been for my girls she would’ve found herself on a mount