Making a muzzle brake

Casull

Casull

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Guys,
I have started making a muzzle brake for a mini14. I have it drilled and bored and fitted. I am now to the point of putting the ports in it. There are so many types online, I have no idea what to do. I have made an expansion chamber after the muzzle and left it close to bore diamter at the end of the brake.
Do you guys have any preferences? There are ports, and slots and contoured ports and large square holes, fins and all sorts of stuff.
The whole thing is just for the experience and fun of it because a mini 14 does not even require a brake.
I am using an octagonal piece of stock just for the heck of it. Anyone have any ideas as to what might look good.
Thanks,
Rob
 
Magnaporting puts the slots on the the top half of the bbl. Helps reduce muzzle flip alot. Since recoil is not an issue with this rifle, this may the a place to start.




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I am figuring to port the top of the brake. I am thinking about open sided chambers on the sides. There are many designs on the net. You guys have any favorites or positive experiences?
 
I had been thinking on this and have decided to drill/mill the ports a couple at a time and go out and try it. Then go back and modify it again until I get what I want. As an example, drill the ports on top. If the rifle wants to lift to the right, drill a port on the right side. Still doing it? Drill another port on the right side...

If the muzzle brake gets looking like swiss cheese, start over maybe with a larger port or milling an angle to let the gases escape in a different direction.

I have also been thinking that along with the rifling and the bullet spinning, the gases probably have a swirl to it too. Maybe milling a slot in a counter action to the gases....

Just thoughts I have had with muzzle brakes.

BTW - I have lots of bar stock so throwing out failures is not a big deal.
 
had a jungle carbine one time with the funnel cut off. For the heck of it i added some slots to the remainder of the end of barrel bulge. It worked and helped to keep the barrel flip under control.

I would go with the slots.
Then you need to post some pics.

There used to be a drill jig available on ebay that let you use hole arrangements.
 
Here is the prototype I made up this weekend. It could be turned round, but I kind of like the look of the hexagon on it. Sorry for the poor picture quality, I am not very good with a camera.
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Some flash hiders/muzzle brakes don't have openings on the bottom to keep the dust from flying when shooting prone. Also some porting causes the muzzle blast to be uncomfortable for people standing beside you on the firing line, too much blast out the sides and back, you don't notice but they do. Interesting project, I would look at bunch of different commercial products for ideas, or maybe a combination of ideas.
 
Bearman, yes I did. There are so many styles and models online, it's amazing. This one has no ports on the bottom to stop it throwing dust up. The side ports are facing upward also. This is on a .223 so nothing more than practice really. I just want to try a few things before making any for larger guns.
 
Looks good to me.Here are 2 I've used.
JP Rifle Brake and Bernie Cooley Brake
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Keep up experimenting .......GO LOUD!
 
I've read in several places that the JP brake is the most effective of all. It's similar (or the same) as brakes used on big tank mounted hv guns. It certainly is a big fugly piece of gear to attach to the barrel of a sporting rifle though.
Also, I believe the biggest single factor in determining the effectivness of conventional round brakes....the ones with a series of small holes drilled around and along their length....is that the rifle and brake bores must line up exactly and that the brake bore be just a couple of thou. bigger than the rifle bore.
I did quite a bit of research on this because being old and feeble I was starting to really feel recoil. I ended up with a local gunsmith and CGN'er to make two, for a 300 Wby. and a 30-378 Wby. Both are conventional, and both rifles are now pussy-cats to shoot. Both are removable, but have never been taken off since installation.
PGW put the same style on a 378 Wby that was no pleasure at all off the bench. Now you can go plinking with it.:D
 
rodagra said:
PGW put the same style on a 378 Wby that was no pleasure at all off the bench. Now you can go plinking with it.:D
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That is remarkable.
I also read of a .50 BMG rifle that was fired unbraked and was a terrible thing from the shoulder as you would expect. It was then braked with a large fan style brake. It removed 80% of the felt recoil and made the big rifle pleasant to shoot. This is a very worthwhile gain.
In the one brake I have made, I was very careful to line up the rifle bore and bore of the brake. This is pretty straight forward when you properly face and bore the brake to match the rifle. On this .223 caliber brake, I made the exit hole .250" I am not sure yet it this is too tight or too loose. I guess effectiveness and accuracy testing from here will let me know.
 
According to Brownells catalogue you're about dead on:

"Single, large expansion chamber with forward baffle, traps and redirects muzzle gases to greatly reduce muzzle rise and blast. Dust printing and muzzle rise are all but eliminated. Stainless steel construction for superior resistance to powder corrosion. For all calibers center hole is .030" over bullet diameter. May be gunsmith enlarged to larger diameter. Available with .575"-40 tpi; allows installation on smaller diameter, slim-tapered barrels that require a shallow thread depth to maintain maximum bore to O.D. wall thickness. Exclusive supplier to elite U.S. military forces."

I think these are 30 thou. over bore diameter to allow for the usual non-concentric barrel situation. Obviously they will work fine, but previous research and conversations with gunsmiths lead me to believe that tighter is better. I'll bet guntech could give exact optimum dimensions for a custom installation.
Where the heck is he today?
 
Basically the greater the"wall" forward moving gases have to push on, the greater the "pull forward" is to reduce recoil.Also once gases have pushed on the
"wall" you need to vent them quickly in a controlled direction.
The ones I've played with largest ports to 90 and smaller top ports to stop rise.
Check JP Rifles site I believe they have some demo clips.
Also look at the design on Armalites and Barrets 50 cal brakes.
The JP I run on 223 and 308 's and are VERY efficient.
More gas expansion chambers equals more front "wall" equals more front push reducing recoil.Some brake need Higher pressure gases to really work best.
Also take a look at the porting on the Sako TRG brake.Also very efficient design.
Have fun
Ont0001
 
rodagra said:
I think these are 30 thou. over bore diameter to allow for the usual non-concentric barrel situation. Obviously they will work fine, but previous research and conversations with gunsmiths lead me to believe that tighter is better. I'll bet guntech could give exact optimum dimensions for a custom installation.
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Do slow-burning powders or shorter barrels increase the brakes effectiveness?

I barely passed highschool physics, so I never fully understood how muzzle brakes work.
Is it the force of the gas on the brake that is pulling the rifle forwards to counteract the recoil produced by the rifle loosing the mass of the bullet, or is recoil reduction due to redirection/diffusion of the lost mass of burning propellent? I imagine that both sources of mass being lost as the shot is fired contribute to recoil in different degrees depending on the type of cartridge.

I would think that the slim muzzle brakes with holes drilled in them don't have much surface area to "pull" the rifle forwards.

Would a custom brake built by drilling the ports directly into the barrel along the grooves without touching the lands be the most effective way to vent the most gas? Some sort of spud would probably be required to locate the grooves and then the section of bore would have to be lapped afterwards to remove the burrs, or would that still cause too much damage the bullet jacket?
 
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Would a custom brake built by drilling the ports directly into the barrel along the grooves without touching the lands be the most effective way to vent the most gas? Some sort of spud would probably be required to locate the grooves and then the section of bore would have to be lapped afterwards to remove the burrs, or would that still cause too much damage the bullet jacket?
Click to expand...

This describes Magnaporting except that the openings are cut rather than drilled.
 
muzzle brakes

i build my muzzle brakes right in the barrel. i use end
mills instead of drills and the first set of holes (the one that are closest to you) are angled forward 15 deg to stop
the muzzle blast from slaping your face. my 338 browning
Abolt and my sons ruger 308 and 444marlin to name a few. after a few shots the milled hole edges are smooth.
works for me
Laser man
 
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