I wish some people could simply accept that in every human lifetime some difficult or hard times may be encountered and that this is likely to affect work related issues. If it takes a barrel manufacturer a year to produce a barrel and another six months to obtain an export permit, then its likely to take a gunsmith one hell of a long time to replace a barrel. and that can be said, and time can be added or subtracted for any component part of a rifle that is sourced from further afield.I wasn't the only riflesmith to suffer from problematic supply, and indeed still do suffer. But bieng part time and with some family health issues to boot i sure suffered more than most. Anyhow, the past is the past, despite that some folk seem intent on bringing the past into the present and the future. I would also like to catagoricaly state that never once did i take any money and not deliver, on the contrary, a small few who might even be reading took goods and didn't pay. A lot of rifle builds get delayed due to component supply issues, its a pain in the backside and i'm sick of it. Only way around component supply problems is manufacture in the EU but thats not without its pitfals. It seems to however be the trend and i think the current move away from depandance on US made products we see on the market is a big positive step for all European rifle users and manufacturers alike.
That issue aside.
As this thread is about my suppressors, I guess its ok for me to comment without bieng accused of advertising. It makes sence to get the facts from the horses mouth rather than second hand. So i will explain the history, developement and the facts.
The History:
The Delta moderator design originated back in the early 1990's when I was tasked by my OC with manufacturing a batch of supperssors for some Kalashnikov type assault rifles ( AK74 of non specific origin) belonging to a certain unit.
Rather than remove the flashhider and manufacture a model to suit the muzzle thread, which if i remember correctly was left handed,( i may be mistaken, its a while ago) we didn't have the tools in the Machywagon to do it easily.No left handed plug taps, and no left handed threading tools. I came up with the idea of adding a stack of baffles to adapt a Kalashnikov flash hider into a suppressor ( the flashhider in question was the one that the very similar Noveske KX3 is modeled on) any AR15 buffs will know this flashider and know that it has 2 parts, one is mounted onto the barrel via the thread, the 2nd part is funnel shaped and screws into the front of the first part.
What I did was remove the funnel and add a stack of 5 screw in baffles and an end cap. Over the lot I spot welded an outer shield that was drilled with a load of holes (looked like the heat sheald on a H2MB .50 cal) then dropped the lot into a bath of blueing sollution ( infact I think the first one was painted with suncerite but it let of a stink when the mod was fired, so matt blueing was opted for) and the supperssor was finished and it worked well enough for the boys in green.
I'd meddled with supperssor manufactur in the past, firstly as a teenager, manufacturing one for my .410. I looked at supperssor manufacture again later whilst working for a gun shop, but little demand for supperssors in Germany meant it wasn't at the time worth the effort. Then when I gained my own Dealers and Manufacturers license I began to recieve requests for mods. Not having the machining capability,( it takes a fair while to complete a supperssor on a traditional manual lathe) time or the money, buy in, import was the way to go and norwegan mods where bought in for a while. That went tits up for a number of reasons, so I stayed away from retailing supperssors / moderators for a while.
The Developement:
What I didn't do was stop tinkering. But tinkering is trail and error and the outcome of such is unpredictable. some mods i constructed worked well, others where rubbish, others blew apart on the first shot. Wanting to get my head around the theory, and wanting to jump a step ahead. Finaly getting to s stage where i had the capacity, machinery and funding to go at it the right way, I decided it was time to use my connections to the University of Applied Sciences. The Uni have a gas flow laboratory ( Labor für Ströhmungslehre) and do a lot of R&D testing on gas and fluid flow for the auto and aeronautical industry, stuff like optimising fuel flow through fuel systems, gas flow through cylinder heads and exhausts, and even jet engine fuel flow ( they actualy have a jet engine sat there in the lab that they can test parts on. They have the ability to computer simulate the effectiveness of gas flow or fuel flow in mechanical components from the CAD stage.
The top and bottom is, the University where commissioned with a year long diploma study, and I had access to a team of boffins to develope supperssors and muzzle brakes. I bought in every single type of moderator available that I could get my hands on, (same goes for brakes) they where tested thoroughly as was my excisting design, we also manufactured several theory test prototypes which where also tested. The best of the supperssors where then stripped apart to gain knowledge from the internals. The data compiled and evaluated. The end results, combined with the results of the simulations where included into the alterations to the Delta design and the current suppressor was finaly ready for testing. Then the variouse variants where tested on calibers from .222, through .338lap up to .458winmag. ( Ive a .50 BMG and a .408 version in progress but they aren't ready yet)
The final design is basicaly the same type of design that evolved from that which was originaly screwed to the end of the AK almost 20 years ago. With the shape of the baffles, the distances and geometry of the supperssor optimised with regards to the data from the diploma study.
The facts:
all the stalking, hunting and general purpose supperssors on the Delta range are of the same design. Only the Delta Xtrem and the QD versions bieng different.
rear expansion chamber that screws to the barrel, to which a baffle stack is screwed, to which an end cap is screwed.
by adding 1 baffle to a Delta IV you make a Delta V, +1 and you have a Delta VI.
Recomendations on the best suited caliber are a result of 2 things:
1. Case Capacity x Load intensity
2. Bullet Diameter
The recomendations do not mean you can't use the mod on a larger of smaller case capacity, but you better not try and use a larger bullet than is recomended.
The Ultralight versions are recomended for light use only, general stalking and occasional check zero. They are not for use every weekend banging 100rds down range quickly, they will do it, but you will burn the baffles out quick.
The light versions are recomended for the user who shoots more than the avarage hobby stalker, lets say a deer manager, pest controller or someone who does a fair bit of load developement with a suppressor fitted.
Neither the Ultralight or the Light are recomended for magnum cartridges. You will be ok with WSM's 30-06, 9.3x62, as they have around the same capacity, the slightly stronger standard cartridges is what i would call them, but one needs to bear in mind that the internal volume capacity needs to be stepped up with the case capacity for best results.
Its absolutely ok to use a 4 baffle supperssor on cartridges like the .308win, you will however get more sound reduction with more baffles, 4 reduce the peak noise level of lets say a .308win down to below the required level. for a 30-06 best performance is achieved with 5 or 6 baffles.
The standard versions are recomended for everything else and will stand up to just about any abuse you can throw at them and will cope with semi automatic fire from cartridges like the .223 Rem, 6.5 Grendel etc in a 4 baffle version and .308win in a 5 baffle version. They will also cope with any magnum up to .338 lap and .458 winmag ( the larger bore bieng a special order by the way) but 6 or even 7 baffles are recomended for best results on large magnum cases.
The cheap and chearfull version of any of the mods is parkerised steel. there are stainless steel versions also, and for ease of cleaning and corrosion resistance, but dark in colour its possible to TiAIN coat the stainless, the things can also be coated with a sutable firearms coating.
The Delta Xtrem and the Delta Sub are more militarised versions that are beefed up to withstand volumes of semi automatic and automatic fire.
The Delta Supermag is designed for sniper rifle use with the .338 lapua.
You may soon see the German Bundeswehr version of the L96A1 ( the G22) wearing one.
Personaly i'm using an ultralight model with 4 baffles weighing 165g on my .260 rem. it performs with no problems and is hardly noticable until you fire a shot. The difference between the 165g version production models is the wall thickness in the expansion chamber. its thicker. and its thicker because i just know for a fact that when i start sending the mega ultra light versions out I say max cal .308win, some one will put a mod on a 300winmag or 300ultra and wonder why the lifespan isn't what they expected when they split the damn thing, then i'll take the flack again and be public enemy nr 1.
So the mega light rear ends are mine and for a few select mates, whats 45g anyway.
I also use a production ultralight on my .260 for demonstration purposes, adding a baffle from 4 to 5 makes no difference what so ever in the impact of the rounds but does achieve more sound supperssion, also swapping the first 2 baffels for TiAIN coated models makes no difference to point of impact. no suppressor fitted to supperssor fitted shift is 4cm up. this is on a one of the alloy sleeved lothar walther barrels. Ive noticed no shift at all when fitting a .308 capable version to a Tikka T3 tactical.
The info on the website is not up to date as the website is shortly to be updated, the info on the webshop is better. I hope i haven't annoyed anyone by posting this info, its not intended to advertise, just to give the facts in a thread that was started about my supperssors.
with regard to Longshots comment about delivery to the UK.
All that is required to get the correct EU transfer paperwork for any moderator-supperssor or any catagory C ( or D for that matter) firearm from an EU country to transfer to the UK directly to the end user is a copy of a UK FAC. Scanned and emailed. That might be use full to any of you guys who shop on the continent. I have a letter from the home office confirming this fact. For RFD the same applies but ist a different department that issue the paperwork. and it takes a little longer for an RFD.
and Yes i am in talks with a UK retailer about distributorship, but I am sure that they will announce this when the time is right.
regards. Pete