Timing a Muzzle Brake with fire (not another Miculeck Comp thread)

[BitchinCamaro]

I lied; it sort of is is another damn Miculeck Comp thread, but at least this is going to be slightly technical.

I used multiple Miculeck Brakes for about 2 years, tried fancier ones, and kept coming back to Jerry's for the $$$ to performance ratio. Real talk- for the money it's an obvious choice. Unless I'm sponsored or losing cash payout matches by under a tenth of a second, the performance of the brake isn't even a consideration.

Still, the locknut always annoyed me. I'm definitely no stranger to an ugly gun, but something about the whole setup kept bugging me.

Eventually I bought a .223 wylde barrel that had 5/8"-24 threads, and I'm selectively cheap as hell so I had to come up with a serviceable solution that didn't require making yet another part redundant.

Enter the dirtbag intersection of Ebay AR parts and welding:

I just fused a 5/8" cheapo crush washer directly onto the base of the Miculeck Brake (after rethreading).

It wasn't meant to be pretty- just less fugly than the locknut. Also, I wanted to bring the crown of the barrel out of the threads of the brake. After it was fused on, I turned the bottom of the former crushwasher a few thousandths with a high relief to maintain some "crushability" and timed the whole thing on the barrel:

Now the whole thing is threaded on with a few drops of Rocksett and a blast from a propane torch.

That's my show n' tell. Feel free to let me know where I messed up.

Edited September 20, 2015 by BitchinCamaro

[BitchinCamaro]

For reference, a catalog shot of the locknut:

[soflarick]

Have you run over your neighbor?

[hax]

And this is suppose to make it prettier?

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[spd522]

Time it to fit without the crush washer. Requires more work but looks like it came that way.

Craig

[oak hill]

And this is suppose to make it prettier?

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LOL, some just can't leave anything alone .........

[PatJones]

Have you checked the alignment of the exit hole to the bore? If it's off a lot, you get bullet strikes. If it's off a little it can cause inaccuracy. I would be concerned enough about maintaining alignment that I would not choose to weld on it. Brakes are a precision item.

[MarkCO]

Agree Pat. These are the kind of home gunsmith projects that make me wince.

[BitchinCamaro]

Brakes are a precision item.

Unless you're making a custom brake threaded for a barrel that's indicated at the bore, I have to disagree. Factory barrels are bored with varying degrees of runout and are then usually threaded with respect to the outer diameter alone. Slapping on a production brake or flash hider with their own varying tolerances for concentricity and thread spec does not make for a "precision item".

In this case, I was just trying to eliminate the locknut, but I still had it turned it on the lathe the same way I try to have anything else turned.

The leading edge of the barrel lands were aligned to .007" TIR or ~.00035" total on the barrel cattail, the brake was roughly fitted below index torque, the runout of the internal bore of the brake was measured, and alignment was adjusted by refacing the bottom of the brake as needed until indexed. The same relief angle was used for each cut so the crush washer could still crush a little past the tenon on the barrel shoulder.

The middle and last baffle are cocentric within roughly .001" TIR, or very roughly about .0005". It's pretty much impossible to get much reading accuracy beyond that because of the pitting and streaking on the brake baffle surface from powder burns. I usually have custom brakes or suppressor mounts bored at .020" over bullet size. Production brakes are somewhere in the .07"+ over range. If you've ever mic'ed an off-shelf production brake like the Miculeck or Surefire or whatever, you'll find that the bores are so large that this degree of obsessive-compulsion is comically overkill.

To put in in perspective, the leading and carbon buildup from shooting alone can be 20 times more of a contributor to "misalignment" of the bullet through the bore than by my incompetent hands alone

I guess I should have taken more pictures of the process and clarified- the top photo was taken on a welding table at a machine shop. The second was taken at my cluttered reloading table at home.

Wince all y'all want, but I'd bet $30 that my ugly-ass $30 brake is more "precisely" aligned than yours .

Edited September 27, 2015 by BitchinCamaro

[BitchinCamaro]

Time it to fit without the crush washer. Requires more work but looks like it came that way.

Craig

I wanted to, but since the brake is designed for use with the locknut it's fairly short in the threads. I'd have to turn down my barrel roughly 1/2" to keep the muzzle from taking up almost all of the room in the first port. I figured the brakes are more of a consumable than the barrel so I dinked around with it instead.

Edited September 27, 2015 by BitchinCamaro

[mpeltier]

And this is suppose to make it prettier?

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I thought the same thing. LOL

I too like and use the MiCulek break, but did not like the gap that sometimes results on some bbls (most actually). What I generally do is install the nut all the way tight to the bbl and install the comp all the way tight and note how close to indexed properly it is. I then file the nut a little at a time on the side that tightens to the barrel until it indexes properly with no gaps. Takes a little work but looks professional.

[hax]

Do y'all time the brake to the 1'oclock position?

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[louu]

Do y'all time the brake to the 1'oclock position?

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Yes if your right handed

Edited October 1, 2015 by louu

[MarkCO]

If you tune it correct with rifle length gas, no need to clock it. That is mostly countering torque from unlocking with the pressure still high.

[hax]

If you tune it correct with rifle length gas, no need to clock it. That is mostly countering torque from unlocking with the pressure still high.

Please explain more, because that sounded a little Greek.

I got the part. If I have rifle length and adjustable gas block and tune it just right I don't need to time it, correct?

Other part I'm lost.

Thank you very much

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[BobS761]

I just followed the instructions that came with my Miculek comp. Works great.

[MarkCO]

Torque. If the case wall is sealed to the chamber and has not yet rebounded, then the bolt has a resistive torque applied to it as it unlocks. If you have a gun that moves off center in recoil, if you can, shut off the gas and shoot it. Chances are that the off center movement will be gone, or much less. The better way to tune the rifle is to use a faster powder so that the pressure in the chamber is lower at unlocking.

If you have a carbine gas system, it is almost impossible to get there. With a mid-length you can get there. With intermediate and rifle length, pretty easy. Once I figured this out, I stopped clocking my comps and tuned the system appropriately.

[mpeltier]

Do y'all time the brake to the 1'oclock position?

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"Timed" break? Never perceived a need for it on a game gun. Several years ago I made a special target that had a 1/2" grid system. I had on hand 6-8 of the most common comps for 3-gun that were on the market. Using my 18" bbl game gun with a gas tuned JP LMOS, I tested and recorded the track of the aiming point. I even clocked them to attempt to have the aiming point track straight up and down. Now the movement wasn't much at all with all of the comps. Some did exhibit more of a difference in direction of movement. some by design, and on my rifle tracked straight up and others went up/right or up/left. (this is in a neutral, unclocked position). The bottom line was for me it did not matter which way the aiming point moved, so long as it came back to the same spot each time, which is more the shooter than the comp. My practice since has been to just install the comp so it looks right and just shoot. This testing also showed me how good of a value the MiCulek comp is. The difference between all the comps I tested was very minimal. I did not test the comps on a standard gas system rifle.

Edited October 3, 2015 by mpeltier

[hax]

Torque. If the case wall is sealed to the chamber and has not yet rebounded, then the bolt has a resistive torque applied to it as it unlocks. If you have a gun that moves off center in recoil, if you can, shut off the gas and shoot it. Chances are that the off center movement will be gone, or much less. The better way to tune the rifle is to use a faster powder so that the pressure in the chamber is lower at unlocking.

If you have a carbine gas system, it is almost impossible to get there. With a mid-length you can get there. With intermediate and rifle length, pretty easy. Once I figured this out, I stopped clocking my comps and tuned the system appropriately.

Thank you!

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