Muzzlebreak Question

B

boggan

Inactive
I have a Tikka T3 Lite in .300 win mag. Had our local smith build and instal a threaded on muzzle break.

Recently I am having troubles getting good groupings out of rifle. When cleaning the rifle barrel i noticed that there is quite a bit more copper fouling in the last 1 inch of barrrel. You can see it when you look down the muzzle. After scrubbing it out with Barnes CR-10 and a cotton swab it appears as though 2 of the four lands/groves are somewhat roughed up. Almost as if they are pitted. This gun is only 3 years old and has only fired around 300 rounds.

Is it possible that when the smith cut the threads that it heated up the end of my barrel causing this? It is highly doubtful that it may just be rust as the rest of the barrel looks to be in pretty good shape.
 
Thread cutting do not generate any temperature big enough to change metal properties. However, it is possible that muzzle brake was installed with excessive torque, which could put too much stress into the muzzle end of the barrel and "shrink" bore I.D. there a bit, causing creation of a "choke" in the last inch of the barrel. This would likely cause lots of extra friction, which explains presence of copper fouling in that area. Remove muzzle brake and re-install with less torque, it may help.
 
Brake is only on hand tight right now. although it was quite a bit tighter when i got it back after it was installed. hopefully barrel is not damaged.
 
brake

Sir:
I really, seriously mean no disrespect but I'd unscrew that brake and throw it as far as I could in the ocean or river you are close to!
If your bbl. is damaged just in the brake area I'd cut that off and crown it and forget the brake.
You have a fine rifle there and you could go back to 24" without losing too much velocity. I'm sorry for your bad experience. Your Tika is fine enough you could re-barrel it and I'd send it to douglas in Charleston WVa.
Brakes, particularly in high intensity cartridges as yours is, even with ear protection, still give you auditory damage!
Bad groupings are caused by the loose brake which has changed the "sweet spot" in bbl. vibrations.
By the way, your bbl. is not one of the early so called, "micro-groove" bbls. is it? Those bbls. would loose a section of rifling at times.
Harry B.:)
 
The .300 mag is prone to chamber erosion which will affect accuracy. I see no way installing a muzzle brake would damage rifling. If it had been installed with that much torque it would have taken a 4 ft. pipe wrench to remove it. It is possible the brake changed harmonics enough to throw it off. See how it groups with the brake off.
 
barrel stress (brake stress)

Sir:
When Ruger first came out with their 45Long Colt Blackhawk - and earlier with the 357 Blackhawk they had a barrel alignment problem. I pointed this out to Mr. Bill Ruger and he wrote me a personal letter which I now cherish confirming the problem.
When they faced off the front of the frame the cyl gap would be .004 on one side and .012 on the other - you could see it by eye looking along the top strap. They have corrected that.

However, if you remove the cylinder on a Blackhawk, or any other revolver, sometimes looking from the cylinder opening you'll see (with a small light in the muzzle) - a ring - a stretch ring where the rear threads butt up with the frame. This is caused in bbl. fitting to the frame in tightening it too tight into the frame. Ruger now has corrected this by going to a heavier bbl. at the breech. This caused cracks in a few stainless early Security-Six 357s!
I've not found this in Smiths.
I have pointed this out in regard to muzzle brakes I've noticed in rifles (including the AR15s) where they are screwed on to muzzles by inexperienced smiths, either with, or without peel washers. This puts a stress ring excatly where it doesn't belong - near the muzzle a "ring" or a "dog-knot:D"
This is precisely why, along with hearing loss even with the best ear protection, I'm firmly against muzzle brakes!
I'll make this statement and stand on it, "If a man cannot stand the recoil of his present rifle - get a smaller caliber."
African professional hunters, if they notice a brake on a African class rifle (or other) will make the hunter (?) either unscrew it or go back to the airport and home!.
We are so, so overpowered in this country it's ridiculous! These cartridges such as WSSMs' and the likes are simply "bombs" on the end of a bullet. The old 38-55s, the 45-70s, and so forth used properly, and if the hunter works and "stalks" his game to a safe range would be entirely adequate for any of our game. After all, what Bell used was a 7X57 and 6.5s to kill ELEPHANTS.
Magnumitis- I"m sick of it, along with brakes, electronic triggers, caseless cartridges and the worst of all these abortions we call muzzle-loaders which are "in line" abortions shooting sabots and come in a blister pac! Shameless! And some don't even use black powder but pyrodex or some other hair brained thing - personally I love the smell of real black powder!:D
Harry B.
 
"I see no way installing a muzzle brake would damage rifling. "

If you run a pilot down the bore for threading...
 
brickeyee: BINGO...That was my first responce, something was stuck in the muzzle for a guide of something! Wouldnt know why, no reason for it if brake was installed right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top