OK, I've embarked on my own attempt to recreate Andy's suppressor, but with a couple of upgrades..... The only steel parts in mine will be the baffles and the challenge coin. All the other parts are titanium.
Here's a pic of the parts I've purchased so far. What I'm lacking is the freeze plugs and a muzzle device:
I registered it as a 12", which allows me to rebuild it in any length I want to, up to and including 12". Apparently, you can go shorter than the registered length, but not longer. This tube is 9.6". I can either cut it down later if I want to, or I can destroy the existing tube and buy a new one in a longer length (up to 12"), engrave that one with the same serial#, and rebuild the suppressor without having to involve ATF in the process:
This is the end cap for the distal, "muzzle-end" of the tube. You can see that it comes with a pilot hole drilled in it, which you then drill out to the desired diameter compatible with your intended caliber. I'll be drilling this one out to .362" to accommodate .308 caliber projectiles and smaller:
This is the "challenge coin". It also has a pilot hole so you can drill out to the desired caliber. The vanes act on the gases to prevent the parts from becoming unthreaded from one another:
This is the "thread protector". It threads into the barrel-end of the can, and it in turn threads on to a
Griffin Taper Mount Muzzle Brake. (It's ironic that the entire suppressor only costs about double the price of the muzzle device....):
This is the spacer that goes inside of the tube, between the baffle-stack and the thread protector. The inside of the space will be occupied by the muzzle device. The spacer has to have a short piece - maybe a 1/2" or so - cut off the distal end, and the challenge coin goes between the two pieces of spacer:
And here is the order of assembly, minus the baffles (freeze plugs) which I have not yet purchased, keeping in mind that the challenge coin will be inserted along the length of the spacer, about a 1/2" or so from the distal end of it.
These are the freeze plugs you need:
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Catal ... 0204530916
Here's the links to the parts I bought:
Including $12.00 for shipping, I was out the door for $248.44. The freeze plugs are $0.69/each, and I'm going to need about 14 or 15 of them, or about $10. To put all of this into perspective, my all-steel AAC 762-SDN-6 can (7.6" long) was $830.00. So even after I buy the freeze plugs, I'll be in for less than 1/3 the cost of my AAC suppressor........
.......AND.......
I'll have a user-serviceable/user-rebuildable/user-configurable suppressor. If my AAC suppressor needs servicing, it has to go back to AAC, and then there are all kinds of transferring issues.
I have one more commercial suppressor I'm going to buy (a Griffin Optimus), and then I'm going to build all of mine from now on.
Edited to add:
DISCLAIMER:
Almost ANYBODY can build one of these things. However, DO NOT assemble a complete suppressor without having already had the tube engraved; and DO NOT DRILL HOLES IN
ANYTHING until you've received your approved tax stamp back from ATF.
IF YOU DRILL THE PARTS WITHOUT A TAX STAMP IN HAND, you will be in constructive possession of an unregistered Class III NFA item, EVEN IF it is not assembled, and that is not a good place to be, so long as the law mandates registration. Now, when the zombie apocalypse happens (and people who shoot suppressed will live longer), have at it all you want.
