more time off work, muzzle brake time.

[300sniper]

i'm off work again this week because of the weather. time to mess around in the shop. i have had a couple muzzle brake designs in my head for a while. i decided to make one of the designs i had been thinking about. i just used cold rolled steel for this. if i like it i will make it again out of 4130 or 4140. it would take less than an hour to make a duplicate now that i have the program written.

here is what i came up with today:

i didn't take any pictures of it on the lathe but it looked just like this when it came off. i made the bar that is in the chuck to hold the muzzle brake during the milling operations. it is threaded to 3/4-28.



i center drilled and then drilled holes to give the end mill some where to enter.



cutting the ports with a 1/4" end mill.



ports cut.

[300sniper]

i used a 1-1/4" 6 flute end mill as a face mill to make some flats on the top and bottom of the brake.



one of the flats.



i wanted a 1" hex head at the rear. two flats for a wrench would have been enough but i thought this would look tougher. i kept the 1-1/4" end mill in for this operation.



hex head finished.

[300sniper]

removing the brake from the 3/4-28 threaded bar.



back view of the brake.



front.



and the side.

[PONY_DRIVER]

I'm still jealous. Looks good, whatcha screwing it onto?

[300sniper]

i couldn't have a shiny brake so i tossed it into the blast cabinet.







i want to stick it back in the lathe and radius the edges on the hex head just a bit.

[300sniper]

i plan on threading the barrel of my htr so i will use it as a guinea pig testing the effectiveness of my creations. the factory loads in 300 win mag don't bother me but i plan on hand loading some hotter loads in the near future. i need to order a range rod to indicate the bore in the lathe before i thread it.



once the bore of the barrel is indicated in the lathe i will cut the threads. while the barrel is still in the lathe i will thread on the brake and use a boring bar to bore out the holes in the baffles to .015 over the bullet diameter. i will also open up the crown on the brake a little bit more.

[Fisheadgib]

Looks good. How involved is it to angle the ports back a couple of degrees?

[300sniper]

Originally Posted by Fisheadgib

Looks good. How involved is it to angle the ports back a couple of degrees?

with my 4 axis mill, it would be pretty tough. i think with something like a bridgeport mill you could angle the head to do it pretty easily.

[usmcdoc14]

it needs some sort or radius or transition from the round to hex. I liked it "pre-hex" better
as for angling the ports back you could use a dovetail cutter on just the back side of the ports and it would effectively aim the blast back.

[300sniper]

Originally Posted by usmcdoc14

it needs some sort or radius or transition from the round to hex. I liked it "pre-hex" better
as for angling the ports back you could use a dovetail cutter on just the back side of the ports and it would effectively aim the blast back.

i'm not real sure how i feel about the hex myself. this is just experimenting right now. i am not very concerned with aiming the ports back. from everything i have read, porting directly out the sides is going to work just fine.

[Weasel]

Originally Posted by 300sniper

i want to stick it back in the lathe and radius the edges on the hex head just a bit.

That was my first reaction, but radius and fillets take some time. Looks way better with therm though IMO.

[Keith Strong]

Needs more triangulation

When you decide you dont like that one you can give it to me

[aloharover]

Hmmm, wonder how that would work on a Saiga