Thread: 3D printed 22lr suppressor

I'll just start out by saying I engaged the FSA before undertaking this exercise and got the green tick, provided this was only for personal use, and not to be sold or given away (I don't have a dealers license).

I took an existing design for a 3D suppressor, and adjusted it so it was more appropriate for a 22lr.
For a sub $10 suppressor, it works rather well. Not the traditional baffle internals, but rather a vented spiral design.

Is it larger than my DPT - yup
Is it heavier than my DPT - definitely.
Does it cost more than my DPT - not even close.

I've thrown 100 rounds through it, and it's holding up well.
I printed it simply because I wanted print something on my new printer, and the starting design was easily available. Printing a benchy is so last year.

As you can see, the majority of the weight is in the side walls. It's a bit of a chonk.

Happy to share the .step file if anyone wants to make one themselves.

Thats pretty cool.
I think we are about to enter a very interesting time in regards to 3d printed accessories and not just for firearms.
imagine going on the magpul website and instead of buying a product, downloading a file that you print yourself.
No postage, no customs fees and no import permits.

Originally Posted by Sh00ter

Thats pretty cool.
I think we are about to enter a very interesting time in regards to 3d printed accessories and not just for firearms.
imagine going on the magpul website and instead of buying a product, downloading a file that you print yourself.
No postage, no customs fees and no import permits.

Definitely. I'm waiting for the metal additive printers to become realistic for home users, there's no end to the things you could make for yourself then!

Nice work! For those who want to know more, https://www.thingiverse.com/ has some great shooting accessories.

Looks like an interesting design. It would be interesting to meter that against a more traditional baffle stack and see if its any better.

I have found a wall thickness of 1.5mm when printing with ABS is plenty strong enough for subsonic 22. Even with mag dumps from short barrel semi autos. I have over 10,000 rds through one of mine on a bunny gun. If your using supers in a semi, you can overheat and melt them with an aggressive enough fire rate and enough mags.

If you want better muzzle threads, look at getting a heavily knurled muzzle thread protector off ali or ebay and heat press it into the rear. Can take a bit of pissing around to get the threads concentric with the bore, but once you do, you now have steel or aluminium threads in your 3D printed can. Can also glue them in with epoxy, which bonds pretty well to ABS, or make a thick ABS/Acetone slurry and use that as an adhesive.

Here's a screenshot of a suppressor I modeled off a 14.5mm shell. A bit flimsy but works well, just goes to show how small they can be.

There was/is a slip on PVC suppressor made in NZ.
I'm sure you could thin that plastic our heaps if that worked

Originally Posted by csmiffy

There was/is a slip on PVC suppressor made in NZ.
I'm sure you could thin that plastic our heaps if that worked

Silent Kill.
An over barrel held on with a hose clamp, which didn't interfere with you sights.
My boy has a printer which prints with carbon fibre.
Would carbon handle the shock?

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Silent Kill.
An over barrel held on with a hose clamp, which didn't interfere with you sights.
My boy has a printer which prints with carbon fibre.
Would carbon handle the shock?

The Carbon Fibre filament would probably be one of the better choices for this. I printed with PLA which is not overly tough or heat resistant, hence the chunky outer walls. I'll review the design and remove a lot of the weight when I get setup to print with better suited filament.

Originally Posted by quentin

The Carbon Fibre filament would probably be one of the better choices for this. I printed with PLA which is not overly tough or heat resistant, hence the chunky outer walls. I'll review the design and remove a lot of the weight when I get setup to print with better suited filament.

PLA will still be fine for around 1.8mm wall thickness, its a bit less heat tolerant than ABS or other high temp filaments. Carbon is just an additive to the plastic filament, offers a small increase in stiffness and maybe toughness, but not dramatic.

I have found ABS to be very good for stuff that is going to be used in real life. It's more robust and temp resistant than PLA and not as difficult to print as some of the more exotic stuff. PETG is good too.

To give you an idea, I printed a suppressor from ABS with 0.6mm wall thickness. It worked fine and held together through multiple mag dumps. However it was too fragile for normal handling in and out of gunbags etc and ended up breaking from being bumped on something, not from shooting. This gives some perspective on strength of the plastic.

Yeah I've got one of them for my 10/22. It slips on without having to remove the front sight or thread the barrel. Works pretty well

Originally Posted by csmiffy

There was/is a slip on PVC suppressor made in NZ.
I'm sure you could thin that plastic our heaps if that worked

Another option for the thread is something like a keensert or timesert. Better than a helicoil in this instance because they're solid thread inserts rather than basically a coil of wire.