Deposition of lead in an A-TEC CMM4(6) Suppressor/Moderator

[Odd Job]

I bought an A-TEC CMM4 suppressor configured with 6 baffles. This is a rimfire suppressor currently on my SIG522. I've been weighing it and X-raying it after every 500 rounds (with no cleaning).
Part 1 of my observations can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/j4wrw83

Here are the latest X-rays with round count in red and weight in yellow:

[jmc67]

Cool. Don't think the Linked in link is working properly though.

[Odd Job]

Ta.
Fixed it.

[Les]

Excellent write-up and pics!

[Hunter87]

Awesome

[jmc67]

There's a lot of urban legends in the shooting world (as there is in many hobbies - I spent he last 10 years tuning an old car, there was more pub talk rubbish in that field than I thought possible). Good to see actual data about leading up in moderators. I'm guessing it is all lead? Presumably powder/carbon wouldn't be anywhere near as opaque to the x-rays. I could well believe that it would build up to a certain level and then level off as it reaches an equilibrium point where a similar amount of excess is being lost as added. Looks like it's going up again after 3500 rounds. Be interesting to see what happens after 4000.

[Odd Job]

Presumably powder/carbon wouldn't be anywhere near as opaque to the x-rays.

Yep, those residues are much less opaque compared to lead. Anything in large quantity will attenuate an X-ray beam, but for small quantities the material has to be quite dense to be noticed.

[Odd Job]

Part 2 here:

http://tinyurl.com/jn875ps