Comp Erosion

[Big Guy]

Noticed some erosion within the first baffle of the comp. Not much, but there is definetively some erosion (round edges).

How much will this erosion affect the way the comp works?

Should I replace the comp immediately or could it "wait"?

Edited April 15, 2010 by Big Guy

[calishootr]

you havent told us what powder(s) you are using or how many rds have been thru it to this point???? erosion is normal wear an tear, now how quickly it occurs is on the powder/bullet combo....back in the day AA#7 was using plastic pellts in their powder to make it burn more uniforily, what we found out was twofold, it ate the rifling in one of my barrels and the comps were eaten as well....also the TI 'jet' comps didnt react very well to it at all, tons of sparks, which was the Ti being eaten away at with every shot....miking the baffles we noticed significant wear...

[G-ManBart]

I think it would take pretty significant erosion for you to feel any difference in how the gun reacts. I'd wait until it's more significant before considering replacing the comp. R,

[Jody Waring]

Years back I shot lots of 540 and I experienced a bit of erosion, but noticed no difference in how the gun worked. Still have that gun and still performs perfectly. I shoot alot of HS6 now which is supposed to be the same powder, but I haven't really noticed the wear getting any worse.

[XRe]

Erosion in the comp is inevitable. The speed with which the baffles will erode depends on your load parameters and the material the comp is made out of. It can wear in a couple of ways - especially with tight holes through the baffles, you can sometimes hammer the edge of the hole over and effectively shrink the diameter of that hole. So, it doesn't hurt to have a reamer handy to clean those up every once in a while... The other eventuality is that you'll blast off enough of the face to where you'll get kind of a cone shape, wider at the side of the baffle that faces the barrel, skinner at the side that faces the front of the comp - and eventually you'll start to widen the hole in the baffle simply through erosion. That's when you actually start losing effectiveness in the comp - but you might be surprised at how long it takes to really make a difference.

That said, with really soft comp material, you can wear out the comp in 3-5K rounds... (think: aluminum, like they use on Bianchi guns and sometimes steel guns). Titanium does better. Steel lasts the longest - except in designs that tend to crack, a steel comp could basically last for the lifetime of the barrel, albeit sometimes with significant wear on the first baffle.

[ExtremeShot]

Shoot it 'til it falls apart.

[Big Guy]

... The other eventuality is that you'll blast off enough of the face to where you'll get kind of a cone shape, wider at the side of the baffle that faces the barrel, skinner at the side that faces the front of the comp - and eventually you'll start to widen the hole in the baffle simply through erosion. That's when you actually start losing effectiveness in the comp - but you might be surprised at how long it takes to really make a difference.

It's a Dawson steel comp (stroker gun). Since the erosion is not critical, I guess comp replacement can wait 'till I get my tax refund.