Spiral Muzzle Brake

[DustBuster]

Hello friends,

I haven’t posted for a while now.

I built myself a swell functioning gun with a 18” Faxon Heavy Fluted Barrel.

I tried something the last time I shot it, an idea related to controlling Barrel whip and the harmonics of it, etc.

Ive been getting really inconsistent groups with a large array of different loads.  Different manufacturers of factory load, different bullet weights, and good prone shooting stability, all have not seemed to help me with my accuracy. A new better scope even did not fix the situation.  So, I tried something a tad bit different.  I found myself a hose clamp, and secured it right around the base of my muzzle device( a simple compensator).  I then shot the best 5 shot group I ever acclomplished with two different types of bullets at 100 yards.  I then shifted the clamp abit towards the breech, and the groups went wide again.  I shifted it towards the muzzle, and they were wide again.  I tried two different positions but could not find one as good as that first random clamp spot.  This was weak evidence that maybe my Barrel was showing symptoms of pumping out rounds at weird phases of its whip.  I know that that is why hand reloaders have to work up their loads to find the velocity and other variables that works best with the barrel and its flexing, but I am not in a position right now to be able to reload at my leisure to find that magic load.  So I bought myself a Harrel Brake Tuner.  It’s has a Spiral hole pattern.  I don’t like the fact that it might kick dust up if shooting prone, but I’m anxious to get it and try to find the sweet spot for the factory ammo that I can buy fairly cheaply.  Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t.  It’s an experiment, a slight bit better I’m sure than the Hose clamp Barrel Tuner I will not be trying to Patent.  

Anybody use spiral muzzle brakes?  Kick up dust bad?  Loud/Quiet/ or ineffective at recoil dampening?  Anybody ever try the Harrel Tuner or just their plain muzzle Brakes?

If it did kick up dust, I wonder if I could plug the bottom holes securely to experiment further.  Anyway, I’ve got my handgaurd off, checked my gas block port powder marks, and it was 99% centered over my hole.  I plan on shooting the gun with no muzzle device at all in a few days to see how that behaves.

Take Care, and good luck Lane with that Star Trek,  photon/Aluminum/nuclear reactor gun you are wiring up! That’s way beyond my Finite electrical knowledge.

[Armed Eye Doc]

I have not used one.  Let us know how it works.

[DustBuster]

2 hours ago, Armed Eye Doc said:

I have not used one.  Let us know how it works.

Will Do... The same day I tested a new scope on my Lr-308, which did not yield better results, I shot a three shot group with my 30-06, all three shots touching eachother at 100.  Granted, those bullets happened to be reloads using Hornady SST bullets.  It was just random, unworked up powder in those cases though.  The barrel of my 30-06 or its bedding or something just seems to like anything, much more than my LR.  We will see if I can fool my LR’s Barrel into liking the loads I have for it, with a tuner, better than it has been.  So far it’s been my ugly duckling rifle that I Love since it’s birth but it can’t hit or I can’t hit with it the broadside of the barn.

[Belt Fed]

I don't care for brakes, i have them on a few and some i have taken off. I personally don't see the need for one on a small caliber weapon. but that's just me. Plenty of people swear by them. but i hunt with most of my newer AR's and having to wear ear protection while hunting is a pain. brakes are fine on range toys where hearing protection is required and needed.

I am not a sniper or sharpshooter and don't need to hit a dime at a 100 yards every time, just need to put the animal down quickly without it running for a mile. now for me i didn't see any better groups with or without the brakes. but i also don't reload and all my rifles are factory built.

[unforgiven]

So you took a great new barrel and used a hose clamp to figure barrel harmonics ? Barrel whip is usually associated with pencil profile barrels. Between McSnuffy and yourself you guys should be able to put together the most accurate rifle in the 🌎. 

[DustBuster]

Well, the barrel might say Heavy in its description, but it only weighs 2.2 lbs and looks kinda thin to me.  The compensator I had didn’t seem to be keeping the barrel tip down, so I doubt this “Brake” will have that much extra loudness or effect, the holes are bigger but they aren’t huge side ports like the other brakes one sees.  I’ll give you guys a report, I looked in the mailbox and the Tuner Brake was there.

[DustBuster]

Update:  Spiral Muzzle/Brake Tuner from Harrels definetely does reduce recoil more than my cheap KaK compensator.  Noticed it after my first shot.  Then, as I got used to it, I guess I didn’t feel anymore that it kept the kick from happening, but I think the barrel flung around less after each shot.  I fiddled with some of the Settings.. but then ran out of ammo (40).  Didn’t see huge changes between the four different adjustments I did to the movable collar weights.  They act as a lock Nuts against eachother.  After five shots, they tended to loosen up despite having been tightened as hard as my hand strength could manage.  Gonna have to come up with a solution to that beside using channel locks.  

One other thing I noticed, which others across the world have also noticed about muzzle devices of various sorts, is the fact that some devices threads are longer than the barrel threads; to accommodate different barrel length threads of all sorts.  With my new Brake Tuner, there was almost 1/4” of void after the barrel crown to the end of the Brake threads and the start of the Brake.  Not sure if this causes problems or is negligible to the shot gasses, but bugged me a bit.  One solution of course would be to grind off the excess length of the Brake.  I opted to just fill the void with carefully a crafted washer and once of those nuts with a washer built in.  I drilled the nut with a 11/32 bit, giving me an inside diameter >.002 bigger than .308.  I shaved down the corners of that nut-washer and the nut fit into my recessed flat barrel crown.  This nearly filled the void but another washer ground to the right dimensions and shape fit tight against the Brake almost perfectly reducing the void.  I screwed the Brake back on and torqued it as tight as I could, and sent the borescope down to confirm the fit.  I hole powder residue will fill the small connections and the gas will now I hope will have a more streamlined exit towards the ports.  I’ll keep a wary eye on the Brake.  A little lock tight might save me from having the brake loose up, a washer or nut tilting , and my head getting blown off with a muzzle that explodes.  

I’ve shot more the 300 rounds with this new gun, and probably will have to shoot at least a hundred more just to fiddle with this tuner to see if it helps my shooting any using non-worked up loads.  My shooting technique is something I also need to Greatly improve.  Holding the trigger after each shot, squeezing ever so slowly, etc.  Maybe( probably) all this time shooter error is a huge factor in the wide groupings I get with this gun.  It may be way more less forgiving than my 30-06 bolt action.

Stay Tuned:  no pun intended, I might see no good changes with this thing and toss it into the recycle bin.

 

 

[98Z5V]

26 minutes ago, DustBuster said:

 

One other thing I noticed, which others across the world have also noticed about muzzle devices of various sorts, is the fact that some devices threads are longer than the barrel threads; to accommodate different barrel length threads of all sorts.  With my new Brake Tuner, there was almost 1/4” of void after the barrel crown to the end of the Brake threads and the start of the Brake.  Not sure if this causes problems or is negligible to the shot gasses, but bugged me a bit.  One solution of course would be to grind off the excess length of the Brake.  I opted to just fill the void with carefully a crafted washer and once of those nuts with a washer built in.  I drilled the nut with a 11/32 bit, giving me an inside diameter >.002 bigger than .308.  I shaved down the corners of that nut-washer and the nut fit into my recessed flat barrel crown.  This nearly filled the void but another washer ground to the right dimensions and shape fit tight against the Brake almost perfectly reducing the void.  I screwed the Brake back on and torqued it as tight as I could, and sent the borescope down to confirm the fit.  I hole powder residue will fill the small connections and the gas will now I hope will have a more streamlined exit towards the ports.  I’ll keep a wary eye on the Brake.  A little lock tight might save me from having the brake loose up, a washer or nut tilting , and my head getting blown off with a muzzle that explodes.  

 

 

 

In order to fully understand what you're talking about here, pics will probably be mandatory, to tell the story you're telling.  The words-on-screen isn't getting it done. 

[DustBuster]

Ok.  Tomorrow I will take it off, for the dual purpose of putting some blue thread locker on it and will take pictures of the two filler things I made and of the borescope pictures.  

One other note about this spiral Brake is that it does indeed send dust and debris flying when shooting prone.  I wish Harrels had sold a version with side ports only but they only have that for 5.56.  I’ll add some picture tomorrow

[Matt.Cross]

On 9/19/2021 at 1:07 AM, 98Z5V said:

In order to fully understand what you're talking about here, pics will probably be mandatory, to tell the story you're telling.  The words-on-screen isn't getting it done. 

I am assuming he means that the threaded portion of the rear of the brake is longer than the threaded portion of his muzzle by roughly 1/4", leaving a gap that he's filled with a modified nut. The pictures will tell the tale though.....

[DustBuster]

I have two PNG pictures a WMV movie and a JPEG to try and upload.

First I will upload the HandDrawn JPEG.  It shows the crown of the barrel, the bore, the outline of the Combo Nut-Washer I ground to fit the crown and the inside of the extra threads of the TunerBrake.  It also shows the extra filler washer.

[DustBuster]

Looks like wmv wont work, have to convert it to this phones format

Edited September 19, 2021 by DustBuster
Bad file upload

[DustBuster]

Two snapshots here,

Crown and most of the inside of the Comb_nut_wash, and then of the shaped washer and the start of the muzzle device shaft.  With this stuff inside the device, I have gotten rid of a huge void and expansion chamber which maybe would just collect more dirt and debris and change the flow of gases.  Don’t know if it was worth doing or not.  I either am going to use a bit of blue loctite which I have or rockset which I’d have to order.  For now I’m going to leave the thing attached.

[98Z5V]

Makes sense now - you don't want those threads exposed in the middle?   This device looks like it functions as a comp, but primarily changes the length of your barrel, in order to tune the load.

[DustBuster]

I wish I could have ordered the tuner Brake with the right length threads.  I’ve shot through it already, 40 rounds, and it seemed fine.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but I just got to thinking about gunk and debris hanging out there every time I cleaned the rifle.  Build up of brass shavings likes to accumulate in the lugged chamber area of the barrel, so maybe it will clog up the front also. I bought these speedy little lug sponges, and an air compressor can blast the stuff out too.  Im experimenting and still learning about it all.  My older brother said he’d give me his unopened new rockchucker... I eventually will be trying to reload abit.  I have 8 jugs of powder and a whopping 200 primers.

Tuning my bullet loads will be the ultimate proper way to get the rifle to shoot well.  The front end of this barrel will nicely become lighter as I shuck Ol Harrels Tuner!