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New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 4:30 pm
by papajohn
I got my muzzle brake from Ross Schuler today, this thing is awesome! Very impressive workmanship, it's absolutely perfect.

Any hints, tips or tricks involved in getting the stock Bushmaster flash hider off? It's on there pretty tight. I swapped out the muzzle devices on my DPMS 308, but that one didn't offer much resistance. Does it need to be heated up in case there's Lock-Tite on the threads?

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:15 pm
by Al in Mi
I had to use heat and pretty sure it had loctite

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 8:51 pm
by Hoot
Al in Mi wrote:I had to use heat and pretty sure it had loctite


As best I recall from back in 2010, I had to heat mine as well to break it free. I didn't however, notice any kind of thread locker on it. Just reefed on plenty tight. I made a barrel fitting vise jaw set from some oak skid runner boards. Clamped two halves together in the drill press vise and drilled down between the two halves with a silver and demming step up bit. I have oak sets for just about every barrel diameter known. Getting those miserable twist nails used to make the skids out, was a real test of my determination however. I don't know if you can still find skids made with oak runners. Everything has gotten so much cheaper in design these days. :roll: Any fine grained hardwood should work. Having a mofo 8" bench vise has its benefits. ;)

Hoot

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 7:19 am
by papajohn
Thanks Hoot! I have a pretty decent woodshop but no fancy drill bits like those, I may have to ruminate on this awhile. I'm guessing the idea is to clamp the barrel down tight enough that the torque to apply to the flash hider is only felt by the barrel, and not the receiver, which is what I already suspected. But finding a drill bit to hold a .742" barrel might be a challenge.

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 10:48 am
by Hoot
papajohn wrote:Thanks Hoot! I have a pretty decent woodshop but no fancy drill bits like those, I may have to ruminate on this awhile. I'm guessing the idea is to clamp the barrel down tight enough that the torque to apply to the flash hider is only felt by the barrel, and not the receiver, which is what I already suspected. But finding a drill bit to hold a .742" barrel might be a challenge.


You can get a basic 8-piece, Cobalt S & D bit set from Amazon for about $4.00/bit. Note: Best to stick to wood, plastics and soft metals with them.
Edit: At that price, I doubt they're M42 Cobalt bits. :|

For barrel diameters that fall between two hole steps, I usually wrap them in a layer or two of paper soaked with rosin and go with the bigger hole.

Hoot

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2018 4:02 pm
by papajohn
Okay, I got the old one off (with heat) and cleaned up the threads with brake cleaner.

So I threaded the new unit on, and it's not indexing properly under hand tension. It's about a quarter-turn past TDC when it gets tight. My son (aviation mechanic trainee) thinks we can torque it down another 270 degrees but I'm not so sure.

Would a locking washer of the right diameter work? Is it safe to torque it down nearly a full turn?

Should i just use purple Loctite to hold it in place?

I understand that the muzzle brake is stainless, and a fair bit softer than the barrel steel, but I'm a little nervous here. Mom raised me to be a handsome leader of men, not a machinist. :cry:

Your thoughts?

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2018 4:29 pm
by Al in Mi
You won't be able to torque it that much.

Couple options are plumbers tape or shims which there is a link for in one of these sections.

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2018 4:32 pm
by Hoot
PTFE pipe thread tape, built up to the tightness you like, works well. Numerous accounts here on it. Also, you can buy Shim Washers that will fix it.

Hoot

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2018 6:43 pm
by papajohn
I found some plumber's tape, we'll see how that does and go from there. Many thanks for all the help and suggestions! Your experience and willingness to help is really valuable. :)

Re: New Muzzle Brake......Question

PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2018 8:34 pm
by Hoot
papajohn wrote:I found some plumber's tape, we'll see how that does and go from there. Many thanks for all the help and suggestions! Your experience and willingness to help is really valuable. :)


If you tried looking at the Shim Article, I fixed the image links.

Hoot