Baffle Strike
A bullet clipping a suppressor baffle or end cap from misalignment or a loose mount, a destructive failure that can ruin the can.
A baffle strike happens when the bullet contacts a baffle or the end-cap instead of passing cleanly through the bore of a silencer. The usual causes are a suppressor that is not concentric with the barrel, a mount that has loosened under recoil, or crooked muzzle-threading that points the can slightly off axis. Even a small angular error stacks up over the length of the suppressor.
The consequences range from cosmetic gouging on a baffle to a blown-apart can and a damaged host rifle, so a strike is treated as a serious failure rather than a nuisance. Careful mounting, verified thread concentricity, and an alignment-rod check on a freshly installed suppressor are the standard ways to avoid one.