I think the 13 inch handguard on my rifle might make it look longer in the picture than it really is. The M4-2000 is 6.6 inches but only adds 5.1 inches to the rifle once installed. Basically it makes a 16 inch gun the same length as a 20 inch gun. Still only a few inches longer from my body than my pistol with my arms fully extended. That being said, my next NFA stamp will be for a SBR lower. I would like to have a 12 inch upper to keep the overall package about the same length as a 16in carbine. I don't really like anything shorter than 11.5in barrel length because of the velocity loss and because guns that short can be unreliable without a suppressor installed. This is because not enough gas gets directed back but the Can increases gas blow back. Now a piston gun is another story but my guns will be DI. I think a 12in barrel makes for a nice overall package. Also, even though the length doesn't really bother me on the 16in gun, the longer barrel acts as a lever causing the gun to be front heavy. A shorter gun would suffer less from this. I thought about adding a heavier stock such as the Magpul UBR to help balance the gun out as well.C-dub wrote:I'm kinda curious about something. How long does a suppressor last? Do you have to rework or replace any of the internals after so many rounds or something?
They are tacticool, but man they make the rifle a bunch longer.
The good ones have a pretty long round life. From what I have read the AAC M4-2000 has a round life of over 20,000 round assuming you are not using a really short barrel or firing on Full-Auto. You can't replace the internals on most of them. Its a double edged sword because in order to make them more durable for the military, AAC completely wields the baffle stack inside the Can which makes them pretty much a solid piece. There are some less expensive brands I.E. HunterTown Arms that are user serviceable. You can screw the tube off and get to the baffle stack. Huntertown was also smart and serialized the base of the suppressor so it is the registered part. That means you can keep the base and mail the rest of the Can back to them and have the baffles replaced. That way you aren't shipping a NFA item which is a pain in the rear. However, the baffles are just stacked on top of one another inside the tube and are not wielded at all. So I would think a baffle strike would not be good. I don't know of anyone having a catastrophic incident because of that but its definitely not as strong as a Mil-Spec suppressor such as the ones AAC makes. AAC's have an Inconel baffle stack that is CNC automated fusion wielded all the way around. I watched an episode of Shooting Gallery where AAC installed a 5.56 Can on a 7.62 gun and fired multiple rounds through it. The first few went through the can and just made the 5.56mm hole into a 7.62 hole. Eventually the rounds just started piling up inside the can behind the blast baffle. Ruined the suppressor but caused no injury, explosion, or anything like that. They cut the can in halve and you could see copper and lead compacted in behind the baffle stack. Probably a non issue but its nice to know they are built that durable since they are basically containing an explosion inside them.
Here is a video on the Huntertown Arms suppressor line. He explains about the round life and replacing the baffles. Pretty interesting.
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