How to Prevent End Cap Strikes

We all dread hearing about end cap strikes and hope it doesn’t happen to us. If it does happen to you, you’re fully covered by our Unconditional Lifetime Warranty. However, we’d all be better off without an end cap strike occurring, so let's get into why they typically happen and how to prevent them on both pistol and rifle suppressors. These issues are for suppressors in general and can be applied to prevent any problems with your suppressor regardless of the manufacturer. The most common causes for strikes come from:

• Incorrect Mounting Solutions
• Piston Not Lubricated
• Suppressor Walk Off
• Non-Concentric Threads
• Improper Installation

A common cause for end cap strikes for pistol caliber suppressors is using an incorrect mount. This is typically caused by using the Obsidian9/45 with the booster system (the mount it ships with) on a fixed barrel platform like a sugbun or PCC. These are called fixed barrel firearms because the barrel does not move compared to how a handgun's barrel tilts up while firing. In order to use a suppressor on a handgun, it needs a booster system which uses a spring to alleviate the weight off of the handgun after firing in order to cycle smoothly. The issue with using a booster system on a firearm like a subgun is that the booster system causes the suppressor to bounce off of the fixed barrel causing missalignment while firing. If you're using a subgun, PCC or levergun ensure that you use a mount like our 3 Lug Mount or Fixed Mount to prevent this issue. If you have questions about what mounting system you need for your pistol caliber suppressor check out this guide.

A key part of the booster system mentioned earlier is the piston. The piston is the part the suppressor and spring slide along in order to alleviate the weight off of your pistol while firing. If your piston is dirty and not properly lubricated it won't allow the suppressor to come back into position fast enough for following up shots causing a strike. In order to prevent this we recommend regularly cleaning your piston and ensuring it's lubricated with white lithium grease like the photo below. Not only will keeping your booster system clean and liburicated prevent any strikes it will also help your pistol cycle smoother.

Suppressors that rely soley on threads to stay tight on a firearm are going to suffer from walk off, this is especially true for handguns due to the additional movement of the tilting barrel and booseter system. As the suppressor becomes unthreaded its alignment is thrown off which can cause a strike. Due to this we recommend checking between magazines in order to ensure your suppressor is tight. Our pistons have an O-Ring built into the threads that greatly reduces walk-off however it's something to pay attention to. A trick that will also prevent walk off is doing a couple wraps of teflon tape on your firearms barrel (shown in the photo above).

Ensuring that your threads are concentric (in otherwords properly aligned) with your barrel is paramount to preventing any strikes. You can follow all the tips above and if your suppresor isn't totally concentric with your barrel you'll still get a strike. Most threaded firearms today have great thread work*, so this isn't something you need to worry about, however you should watch out for o-rings and crush washers. A lot of threaded pistol barrels ship with o-rings between the barrel's shoulder and thread protector. This work great for preventing the thread protector from walking off however, they prevent suppressors from properly aligning to the barrels shoulder and can throw off alignment. This same issue applies to crush washers that are commonly found on rifle threads. Before attaching your suppressor or muzzle device ensure to remove any o-rings or crush washers in order to ensure proper alignment.

*AK variants are an exeption and typically don't have concentric threads. Due to this, we don't make muzzle devices in M14x1LH and reccommend rethreaded AKs to 1/2x28 to ensure proper alignment.

A less common reason for an end cap strike is improper installation. This issue typically applies to quick detach mounts like our Dual Taper Locking System used with our rifle suppressors and 3 Lug Mounts with our pistol caliber suppressors. Making sure that your collar is fully unlocked for your rifle suppressor and not forcing it on will prevent nearly all issues associated with this. For 3 Lug Mounts on pistol caliber suppressors, the most common issue is not pulling the suppressor down enough to engage the mount's lugs when you twist it. In order to provide a fast and easy way to ensure your suppressor is properly mounted we designed a Go/No Guage for our quick detack mounts. After attaching your suppressor, simply check that "No Go" is covered and just "Go" is showing and you're good to go.

Watching out for these issues will prevent 99% of end cap strikes. In rare situations, a bullet may not stabilize and cause a strike, but unfortunetly there's nothing you can do about that aside from using quality ammo. If for some reason you do get a strike, don't worry, you are fully covered with our Unconditional Lifetime Warranty.  Follow this link and we'll take care you: Service Request.

If you have question on anything don't hesitate to contact us!