Care and feeding of a Volquartsen V-Comp

T

TMA-1

New member
Sent my Volquartsen V-Comp (a bolt-on compensator) on an unintentional downrange trip last night while doing double-taps on my Ruger Mk.II .22 pistol. Apparently the screw holding the comp to the barrel sheared in two, and the next shot blew the comp about 10 feet away. It was by far the most impressive failure I've ever seen from a humble .22!

After initial mourning and some emergency surgery to extract the remains of the screw from the barrel, I was left with quite an ugly sight - about 10 years of carbon, lead, and lube buildup on the front of my muzzle. It took about 30 minutes of Hoppes-soaking and bronze brushing to get it off (fortunately, the gun is stainless steel).

Now I'm hunting around for a replacement screw. Grumble.

Some questions:
1. Anyone ever had this happen to their V-Comp? Given that I've had the comp installed for 10 years, my experience would say this is an uncommon failure, but I'm curious if it's ever happened to anyone else.

2. Could the gunk buildup have lead to increase pressure in the compensator chamber, which in turn caused the screw failure? (Never thought I'd be considering a chamber pressure issue on a .22 LR firearm!)

3. Should I be dismounting and cleaning the muzzle on a more frequent basis? Measuring the benefits of cleaning vs. the wear and tear from continually removing and reinstalling the comp.
 
I had a Mk II and Mk III outfitted with v-comps a few years ago.

The more experienced rimfire shooters in my pistol league warned me that the gun would eventually launch the compensator downrange. They'd seen it happen before. I ended up selling both of them, but not for that reason.

If I remember correctly, the supplied screw with the v-comps is an alloy screw, not a steel one. I had to loctite both of them in because they would back out under recoil.

I clean Ruger .22s by removing the grips and spraying the whole pistol out with brake or carb cleaner. The problem I ran into with the v-comps is the rubber o-ring seal inside. Brake or carb cleaner would corrode that seal, so cleaning the compensator was not easy.

Eventually I decided the v-comps weren't worth the trouble. Their weight probably did more to reduce muzzle flip than the "tremendous" gasses generated by the .22 being vented upward. I couldn't clean it easily because of the seal and I didn't want to keep breaking the loctite to remove the seal.
 
The more experienced rimfire shooters in my pistol league warned me that the gun would eventually launch the compensator downrange.
Click to expand...

Nice to know I'm in good company. :-)

I had to loctite both of them in because they would back out under recoil.
Click to expand...
Same problem here, but I used a dab of clear nail polish on the screw head. Kept it in place well enough.

Whether or not I decide to keep using the V-Comp, one thing is clear - Volquartsen's customer service is top-notch. I emailed them last night asking how to order a replacement screw. Scott emailed me back this morning (FROM HOME!) promising to have a screw in the mail first thing Monday morning. You don't see that much these days!
 
sorry for reviving an old thread.... just wondering if any of you vcomp users had an issue of shooting low with the comp installed? I have the 22/45 mark iii and even with the rear sight all the way up I shoot about three inches low at 20 yards. Also, gun seems group more erratically with the comp in place. Ive been shooting without the comp recently but was planning on stoning down the comp's front sight post one of these saturdays. Thanks for any info.
 
Going out on a limb here, do you happen to have a Volquartsen V-Comp Compensator for Ruger Mark Slab Barrel?
thanks
N
 
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