Drjones65
Well-Known Member
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!
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!
