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Muzzle Brake Timing

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Plastic
Joined
Oct 27, 2011
Location
Central Texas
So I have a customer that had me put on a brake for him. 3 months later decides to true the action and AI the chamber. Now I need to re-time the brake. The brake has been profiled so the OD is no longer concentric with the ID. When I get one port indicating .001 the others are off and the thread relief is way off. -/+ .010. How would you guys go about timing this brake? The barrel is too short to go through the headstock with the action on. Would you setup on a steady rest and move the thread shoulder back on the barrel?

Honestly thinking about just scrapping this brake and putting a new one on that I don't have to mess with.
 
Honestly thinking about just scrapping this brake and putting a new one on that I don't have to mess with.

That would be the best, quickest and maybe the cheapest solution. Sounds like someone already buggered the brake anyway.
 
Not if, as OP stated "The brake has been profiled so the OD is no longer concentric with the ID." It could lead to serious accuracy issues.

I took that to mean this (how it is often done). The brake is mounted up correctly aligned to the bore, THEN you dial in the OD of the barrel (quite often not true to the ID exactly) then turn the brake to blend with the barrel OD.

If that is the case I would treat the brake just like a front sight, time the feature by altering the barrel shank until it "clocks" properly.
 
+1 Anvil, Best way I think.

Butch the older smiths that manage to teach me things when I listen seem to have found ways to get the customer to their goal with the least "work"....time is money. Most of us know what "should" be done when a rifle gets a new barrel, and what kind of barrel might be the best choice...but there are a whole slew of folks out there making a living finding a middle ground that does not make a re-barrel cost $1000 by the time it is all done.

Bill
 
Sounds like you already had the barrel off considering the work you did. Why not mark the position of the barrel on the action, pull it off and re-time the break to that alignment.
 
Well there is so little information its hardly worth commenting. It would be a simple matter to bring the OD and ID back together. Lock a tap or stub in a collet or 3 jaw if it runs close enough. Screw the brake on and run the muzzle of the brake in a rotating dead center and take a truing cut on the outside. Probably only .005 or less. Then lock the break in the three jaw or collet and face off the front until it witnesses back up top-dead-center and then recut the taper on the brake to match the barrel diameter. But I really don't have a clue what hes asking. Pictures always help but I imagine hes already done the job by now.
 
Sorry I haven't been back. I had it set to email me be it never did.

Okay so we went from a 223 to a 223AI. Trued the action and the customer wants the barrel marks down. Therefore I have to re-time the brake. I don't have enough brake to take a skim pass. Well, I guess I could always contour down to the new brake size. I think I will go this route, make a stub true up OD/ID then put muzzle brake in the chuck and start moving back to adjust timing.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
 
Sorry I haven't been back. I had it set to email me be it never did.

Okay so we went from a 223 to a 223AI. Trued the action and the customer wants the barrel marks down. Therefore I have to re-time the brake. I don't have enough brake to take a skim pass. Well, I guess I could always contour down to the new brake size. I think I will go this route, make a stub true up OD/ID then put muzzle brake in the chuck and start moving back to adjust timing.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

So, the brake and the barrel are the same diameter? If so, retime it, put the whole thing in the barrel spinner and polish the two together. Assuming there is only a few thousandths difference between the two.
 
Back the brake off enough to insert a feeler gauge blade. Find the right feeler gauge gap to align the brake. If the brake alignment is early remove the number of thousants indicated. If the alignments are past the desired position determine the thread pitch. and determine the movement in one revolution. Then substract the indicated amount from one revolution and face off the back of the brake that amount . Now that was not so hard was it.
Nat Lambeth
 
Back the brake off enough to insert a feeler gauge blade. Find the right feeler gauge gap to align the brake. If the brake alignment is early remove the number of thousants indicated. If the alignments are past the desired position determine the thread pitch. and determine the movement in one revolution. Then substract the indicated amount from one revolution and face off the back of the brake that amount . Now that was not so hard was it.
Nat Lambeth
 








 
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