This is a follow-up to previous discussion on this board about the Morini CM84E Free Pistol compensator. In that previous discussion I indicated that I had exceeded 300 rounds of firing without cleaning the compensator. I also indicated there wasn't a visible buildup of contaminants in the compensator vent ports.
Last week I finally took my compensator off and cleaned it, after it had in excess of 500 rounds of Eley Match Pistol (yellow box) shot through it. The vent ports showed some signs of fouling, but they were by no means plugged or even close to being plugged. There was an even deposit of grey-black powder/lead residue in the ports. Q-tips soaked in Hoppes powder solvent cleaned them out. It took me about a dozen Q-tips and about 10 minutes.
The harder job was cleaning the inside of the compensator - the portion that slips over the barrel. Mine is installed at its outer-most installation location (ie installed so as to produce the longest possible overall length of the pistol). There was a considerable buildup of lead residue at the forward end of the compensator tube, just at the point where its inside diameter transitions from being the outside diameter of the barrel to a hole slightly larger than .22". This bulkhead was a bit of a devil to clean, requiring multiple soakings in solvent, as well as the application of a plastic scraper to dislodge the lead. (I ground the handle of an old plastic toothbrush off to a chisel point and this worked well as a scraper.) All told, it took me about 30 minutes to clean the inside of the compensator.
Total cleaning time was about 40 minutes, and required nothing more esoteric than regular powder solvent and a bit of elbow grease. Not that big a job.
Conclusions:
1) Would I recommend shooting the CM84E with the factory compensator installed? DEFINITELY YES! I wish this had been the first free pistol I had purchased.
2) Did the accumulated residues from firing over 500 rounds effect accuracy? Probably not. I make this statement only because I shot a new personal best on my last 10-shot string before cleaning.
3) Will I shoot 500 rounds before cleaning it again? Probably not intentionally. It was a lot easier to clean after 100 rounds than after 500 rounds.
4) The by-products of shooting which accumulate inside the compensator can't be good for you, so wash your hands thorougly after cleaning the compensator.
I hope this information will be of assistance to those who are considering using this fine free pistol and compensator.
Mark.
.48978.0