Practical Uses for Solvent Trap Cups

Solvent trap cups are essential to keeping firearm maintenance neat, controlled, and safe. When stacked inside a solvent trap tube, they act as channels for cleaning fluid, allowing you to:

• Contain solvent — prevents mess on benches, mats, or the ground.
• Organize cleaning — cups create consistent spacing inside the tube for even distribution of solvent.
• Reuse or dispose safely — captured cleaning fluid can be poured off and handled properly.
• Extend tube lifespan — reduces corrosion and buildup inside the solvent trap tube.

Legal Status of Solvent Trap Cups

By design, solvent trap cups are 100% legal when used for their intended purpose: catching and containing cleaning solvent during bore maintenance.

Federal law (including the NFA) only applies if components are altered or combined in a way that reduces the report of a firearm. As manufactured and sold by Freedom Gear, cups are not suppressor parts and carry no NFA restrictions.

Why Solvent Trap Cups Are Not Baffles

One of the most common misconceptions in the firearms community is that solvent trap cups are “baffles.” This is false. Here’s why:

• Design Purpose: Cups are flat, open partitions for containing solvent — not engineered to redirect or reduce gas.
• No sound reduction: Cups by themselves cannot reduce muzzle noise or act as suppressor baffles.
• Material and tolerance: Cups are sized for cleaning fit, not tuned for acoustic suppression.
• ATF clarification: Legally, cups are considered solvent trap cleaning components, not suppressor internals.

In short: solvent trap cups ≠ suppressor baffles. They are cleaning aids, nothing more. Used as intended, they keep your maintenance area safe, clean, and efficient.