What effect does a booster have for a Can?

[newtothis]

As my title implies, I was curious as to what function a booster provides for a can?

 

[combat45acp]

On Browning type actions like, Sig, HK, Glock, 1911, etc it will allow the pistol to cycle. Without it it is like extreme limp wristing. When we test silencers that have the fixed barrel spacers in them or don't have the booster the slide won't cycle enough to eject the brass and strip the next round. The booster should be removed, or spring replaced with a fixed barrel spacer, etc for rifles, and fixed type barrels. The Beretta type actions seem to run better with a booster, but they run good with most gun/silencer combos without the booster installed also.

 

[ryknoll3]

^ This.

For a technical explanation.....

The extra mass on the end of the barrel that a suppressor imposes can cause a tilting-barrel (Browning-style) recoil system to short-stroke. The booster (or LID, or Nielsen device, depending on what mfg) has a piston which is threaded to the barrel. Upon firing, a small amount of propellant gases gets trapped between the piston and the body of the booster or the blast baffle. This trapped gas causes the suppressor to actual "recoil" slightly FORWARD from the muzzle of the gun. This negates the mass of the suppressor on the end of the barrel and allows the cycle of the gun to begin with enough force to complete the cycle properly. There is spring between the back of the piston and the back cap of the suppressor that pulls the suppressor back into position once the gas pressure dissipates. If you have a booster-ed can threaded onto a gun, you can actually pull the can forward a fraction of an inch. This is what the can does during the beginning of the firing cycle.

Side note. Don't run a can with a booster on a fixed barrel gun. A couple rounds probably won't hurt, but over time it's a jackhammer effect and can damage the threads on the barrel.

 

[curraheeguns]

Come cans will allow almost all handguns to work normally unboosted.

The Thompson Machine Poseidon for example is small enough that it never needs a LID. The TM QMF rarely needs one.