First time failure with Thunder Beast Arms Ultra 9 DT GEN 2 and Silencer Co accessories.

Last summer I went to Africa on a safari. The guide would not let me hunt without a suppressor. I was shooting a 300 WM. He spun off the direct thread suppressor on his 338 Lupua Mag and put it on my rifle. First time hunting with a suppressor and absolutely no issues. I came home and went into my local Scheels and asked them what their best suppressor was. The department manager gave me a long but perfect sales pitch on why I should buy the Thunder Beast Arms Ultra 9 DT GEN 2, I have know this guy for a long time and felt that I could trust his recommendation. I ponied up the $1,279.99 plus sales tax plus $200 tax stamp so over $1,500.00. I wanted 9 months and in July of this year I received my suppressor. First mistakes was not know enough to buy a direct thread suppressor. This suppressor was purchased to go on my Cooper M52 300 WM with a Leupold VX6 HD 5X25 scope. (Over $5,000 invested in this setup).
The suppressors was the universal and needed an adapter to use it. I first emailed Thunder Beast and their initial response back was that Scheels had no business selling me that model of suppressor. I then received a phone call from a second guy who advised me that I needed to strip the entire rifle down and send in the barreled action and they would rethread the barrel and set up the suppressor with the correct brake and adapter ring and send it back all set up perfectly. I was not excited about them re-threading my Cooper barrel. I went in to Scheels and told them about my conversation with Thunder Beast and they told me I was given the wrong information. They had no idea why Thunder Beast was telling me what they told me.
The guy walked over to the wall by their suppressors and they had a whole section of SilencerCo accessories. He told me I only need to buy one adapter ring and a brake for each of my rifles. With his help, I selected an adapter ring that would fit the Thunder Beast suppressors they had sold me and I bought 3 brakes for 3 of my rifles. He told me that for liability reasons Scheels could not install the brakes but they were super simple. He said that there was a little tube of Rocksett threadlocker included with each brake along with some shims. $469 + later I walk out of Scheels. This new suppressor has now cost me over $2,000 and I haven't even got to shoot it yet and I am 10 months down the road and a month out from my hunt. The only instructions on the packaging for the SilncerCo accessories is to go to their website. You have to carefully read and watcha video to get the information - easy to miss. They do say in their video how easy the Rocksett threadlocker is to use and when you want to take the brake off you just dip it in hot water and it will come right off - WRONG! I will mention that the fist brake I opened up the tube of Rocksett was all dried up and you couldn't squeeze it out of the tube. So I used the 2 remaining tubes of Rocksett for 3 rifles - it was put on fairly thin due to the shortage. It instructs you to use a torque wrench and tight to about 25 FT LBS. I follow the instructions to a tee. The next Saturday I set off for the local range. I shoot 12 shots perfectly. The 13th shot there is a huge bang and the suppressor is flying down range 50 years! See the attached picture. No idea what caused it so I sent it back to Thunder Beast. $71 to overnight it. I am now 3 weeks out from my hunt. They called me within 1 /2 hour from receiving it. Told me The suppressor was sagging when I shot it and I had a baffle strike and the suppressor is ruined. They said too bad so sad it sucks to be you! They further said there was nothing wrong with their suppressor and they would not do anything about it. They said they could cut one end off of it and rebuild it for $1,000. Absolutely no way I am paying a $1,000 for a rebuilt suppressor especially they way their arrogant people.
I sent back the adapter rind to SilencerCo to inspect. I can't get the brakes off of my rifles to send back for inspection.
Now I try to take off the 3 brakes from my rifles since I can't use the suppressor. They are cemented on and won't budge. Tried the boiling water no luck. Heated the barrel no luck. I am panicking. I call SilencerCo and the guy there is no reason the water won't free the Rocksett. I take my 3 rifles into my local gunsmith and explain everything to him. He tells me my first mistake was buying a Thunder Beast Arms suppressor. I leave the rifles with him and he calls me the next day. He had to totally disassemble each rifle and put the barrels in a barrel vise and heat them up and put a huge wrench with leverage to break them free. Charges me $75 per gun to remove the 3 brakes.
SilencerCo calls me back and says they have inspected the adapter ring and their is nothing wrong with it. Tells me there should not have been any sag. Tells me my mistake was mixing and matching brands and had I bought a SilencerCo suppressor and used the SilencerCo accessories I wouldn't have had any problems. They further said, "I guess you are in the market for a new suppressor, you should look at buying a SilencerCo suppressor".
I am now approaching $2,500 down the drain on this endeavor. I have a bunch of SilencerCo accessories I can't use. I have a Thunder Beast suppressor I can't use. I have a wallet that is way thinner than I would like.
I find it very interesting that Scheels has dropped the Thunder Beast line.
Well so much for my sad tale...many of you will just chalk it up to me being a Dumb A** and not knowing what I was doing. We all have to start somewhere. I really didn't think buying a suppressor was going to be such a major ordeal. Best of luck to all of you successful suppressor shooters!

Sorry to hear about your struggles, I don't think any of these companies are going to do anything about it. Just sucks bc I've been in the same boat due to misinformation!!!

That sucks… and it sounds like you're pretty much screwed. Scheels did you dirty by selling you multiple items that they knew less than nothing about.

PS… direct thread is the ONLY way to go.

My thunder beast has been great but I use a cb brake to match their suppressors. The same as you want one suppressor on several different rifles. I move it as needed. Always confirms suppressor is tight and loads are stable in your gun. Sorry as I can only imagine how frustrating it is getting ready for a hunt

Thanks

Buck

Had a direct thread 5/8-24 that would not thread on a GAP rifle, MFG replaced it, second hub worked.
So direct thread is not the only way to go, They may have issues also.

DR. Sounds like you may have had brake to hub pitch/thread size alignment issues.
There is lot's of miss information out there on SUPPRESSORS, Be careful
T.P.

I have 2 ultra 7's and an ultra 9 all direct thread. Swap them back and forth among multiple rifles. Only issue i have had was a baffle strike either from a ballistic tip coming apart in the suppressor or some other unknown issue. Called TB shipped it in, week later returned to me fully repaired.

Always have been helpful with questions and ordering.

Dang thats a bad deal.

Things that I see that were bad, was the guy at scheels a general sales person or someone very familiar with suppressors?

Mix matching products is not a good choice. The alignment, relief in the threads and shoulder junction can always vary from one manufacturer to the next.

Did Scheels sales tell you that once the suppressor is attached that you should pull your bolt out of the chamber and look done the barrel from the chamber end and see if you have any shadowing around any of the edges in which would show that the suppressor is not concentric with the bore?

We really like using the correct muzzle brake suppressor adapters, this allows you to use the same suppressor on multiple guns of the same caliber or smaller that may have different thread patterns on the barrel, but the threads and shoulder are always the same when screwing on the suppressor onto the adapter.
When using a direct thread on multiple rifles, one rifle might have a extra thread or two versus while the others others shorter and then carbon will build on the threads in the suppressor and then will not screw on as tight or be challenging when going on a barrel that was longer by a thread or two. A pain to keep tight and shoulder up and trying to clean.

Not saying it happened but if you had a dozen shots fired and all was well and the 13th had a baffle strike did you check to see if it was still tight after a few rounds? It may of came loose and sagged causing the alignment to suffer.

I would never mix match, we have ran Thunder Beast with their Brake / Can adapter and a few other brands without issues in everything from 375s, 338 LM, 6.5s and down.

We use red thread locker on all of our adapters and have taken a adapter off when chambering a new barrel or swapping something out, we just heat up the adapter with a small propane torch a little at a time until the lock tight gets gummy and releases. Using a wrench on the adapter and a little heat without having to get crazy they come off.

I'm guessing it came loose after the dozen rounds and started to sag and flop some causing the mis alignment and strike. Just a guess



The Thunder Beast adapter when used with the Thunder Beast Suppressors we use on a lot of rifles is in the picture.

JH
Osoh

VALKYRIETP said:

Had a direct thread 5/8-24 that would not thread on a GAP rifle, MFG replaced it, second hub worked.
So direct thread is not the only way to go, They may have issues also.

T.P.

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Yes, they can have issues…. But if they do, there's no denying what the issue was. Pretty easy to establish the fault is on the manufacturer, Your replacement example is proof of that.

Sorry to hear about the problems. I would find a local dealer (not from a chain store) that sells a lot of cans to buy from. You need a one stop shop from someone experienced. I just do not trust chain stores for items like this.

I bought a Liberty Mystic (multi caliber) years ago and have adapters to use it on pistols and rifles. I have never had an issue, but you have to ensure everything is lined up and tight before shooting. Yes, there are threads on rifles that are not lined up with the centerline of the barrel.

My Mystic baffle can easily be replaced if I ever have a baffle strike and it is not the serialized part so they can easily send me a new one if I need it.

Did you use an alignment rod to make sure everything was concentric?
They are cheap insurance against baffle strikes....and when shooting, always double check tightness after a few shots---- metal expands and can loosen if not checked

Thank you for sharing your experience. I haven't purchased a suppressor yet so your experience might help save me some grief. I'm sorry to hear of all the troubles you have had.

ShtrRdy said:

Thank you for sharing your experience. I haven't purchased a suppressor yet so your experience might help save me some grief. I'm sorry to hear of all the troubles you have had.

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I've been in the process of trying to decide whether or not to buy a suppressor and if so, which one. After much deliberation, I decided that in my particular situation, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. After reading some of this thread, I feel better about my decision.

I'd chalk it up to a bad experience and do the proper research and buy what fits your actual needs. Shooting suppressed, especially hunting has its perks as you experienced. One of my cans is an omega 36m with a Q attachment, I read a bunch before I did that and was sweating the first couple shots. Torqued everything correctly and checked the bore to can. I won't ever go back to hunting without cans, sucks you got some poor advice.

Thanks for sharing, hope you get it sorted out. Just to note I use a Silencerco ScytheTI on my 300 WM and it's been great.