MachIVshooter
Member
As I'm always wanting to try new things and have long been obsessed with the lightest possible firearms and suppressors, I decided to try a new take on my Ocelot series.
The standard is 5.5" long and weighs 4.1 ounces, has a Ti tube, 416 SS mount & blast baffle, 7075-T651 for the other 9 baffles and front cap. Still on the lighter side of Rimfire cans, most that weigh less being almost entirely aluminum.
I've also made monocores that are just 2.5 ounces, and my 3" long micro is 1.6 oz. But I still wanted to try something else, and I've really never worked with Magnesium before so I ordered up a length of AZ31B round stock.
First, this stuff machines like butter! It chips like cast and cuts almost as easy as Delrin. I don't think you could hurt a tool working Mg. It produces a slightly porous but very clean finish. Mechanically, the stuff is really similar to 6061 aluminum, falling between 6061-T4 and 6061-T6 on tensile strength. Of course, the Mg is not tempered, so the base material is actually stronger. It also has a similar melting point. The big difference? Mg is 40% lighter than Al. The downside to Mg is poor corrosion resistance. AZ31B is an Al and Zn alloy, which should fare better than pure, but still will have nowhere near the corrosion resistance of anodized Al. Another concern is that it's basically anodic to everything, and the tube is Ti, which is rather noble, so any moisture in the can would be very bad. But in spite of that, I felt it worth the effort, so we have a 4" long critter with a Ti tube and Mg mount, baffles (7) and front cap:
It sounds pretty good, not being a whole lot shorter than the standard and other rimfire cans
I used aluminum black to get the color. I do plan to anodize the Mg, but didn't have sodium dichromate and monosodium phosphate lying around the house, so that's gonna be another day! (BTW, you should see how this stuff reacts with sufuric acid! Wow!)
Time will tell on the durability! I'm curious, as I am not aware of anyone else having used Mg for suppressor internals. I'll keep ya'll posted!
The standard is 5.5" long and weighs 4.1 ounces, has a Ti tube, 416 SS mount & blast baffle, 7075-T651 for the other 9 baffles and front cap. Still on the lighter side of Rimfire cans, most that weigh less being almost entirely aluminum.
I've also made monocores that are just 2.5 ounces, and my 3" long micro is 1.6 oz. But I still wanted to try something else, and I've really never worked with Magnesium before so I ordered up a length of AZ31B round stock.
First, this stuff machines like butter! It chips like cast and cuts almost as easy as Delrin. I don't think you could hurt a tool working Mg. It produces a slightly porous but very clean finish. Mechanically, the stuff is really similar to 6061 aluminum, falling between 6061-T4 and 6061-T6 on tensile strength. Of course, the Mg is not tempered, so the base material is actually stronger. It also has a similar melting point. The big difference? Mg is 40% lighter than Al. The downside to Mg is poor corrosion resistance. AZ31B is an Al and Zn alloy, which should fare better than pure, but still will have nowhere near the corrosion resistance of anodized Al. Another concern is that it's basically anodic to everything, and the tube is Ti, which is rather noble, so any moisture in the can would be very bad. But in spite of that, I felt it worth the effort, so we have a 4" long critter with a Ti tube and Mg mount, baffles (7) and front cap:
It sounds pretty good, not being a whole lot shorter than the standard and other rimfire cans
I used aluminum black to get the color. I do plan to anodize the Mg, but didn't have sodium dichromate and monosodium phosphate lying around the house, so that's gonna be another day! (BTW, you should see how this stuff reacts with sufuric acid! Wow!)
Time will tell on the durability! I'm curious, as I am not aware of anyone else having used Mg for suppressor internals. I'll keep ya'll posted!