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Aluminium muzzle brakes?????

chuckgreen

chuckgreen

When I switched to .284 Shehane in my 1K LG last year I had two new barrels theaded for a Vais brake made from aluminium. The lighter brake was suggested by a respected long range shooter who originally built the rifle and seemed like a good idea to help me make weight. I've always used the brake shooting this rifle as I don't much like recoil.

I've never been able to get these barrels to shoot as well as I thought they should until recently. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try them without the brake and suddenly my groups shrank by 40%. I was surprised as I've used Vais stainless brakes before and never had a problem.

The brake seems to fit properly on both barrels but as I think about it I've never seen anyone else using an aluminium brake and wonder if anyone on the forum has had any experience using one. Could the material itself be affecting accuracy?

I'd appreciate your comments.

Chuck
 
Could it be that the few ounces of "brake" weight are acting like a "tuner" ? A wise man told me once upon a time that heavy barrels need very little weight for a correct tune. Does this 1K rifle have a heavy barrel? At what range do your groups shrink 40%?
 
Few weeks ago I answered a post asking the question . can a muzzlebreak cause loss of accuracy . I anwsered yes but it is the rare occasion and not the norm. The break in this case is more then likely causing a turbulance at the muzzle which is disrupting the fight of the bullet . I have found on some guns the through bore must be opened up .005 to .010 thousands bigger in diameter. this usually helps in any event what you got now certainly is not working so what do you have to lose. www.therifler.com
 
straight pipes....The barrels on this rifle are both Broughton 1-9 HV 28". Recent testing is at 200yds where I develop loads. Load testing has all been with the brake and loads were tuned to be as fine they would get with several different bullets. The marked improvement came when I took off the brake.

therifler...Thanks that may be a plan. Sure can't hurt but I'm inclined to also try some other types of brake. My son, the engineer rocket scientist ;), thought the difference in density between the aluminium and the steel barrel might be doing something to the harmonics.
 
well that could be i only build them out of S.S or Cm steel . I would be interested in to hear what solves your problem . the rifler
 
Chuck: I may be the "guilty one" that michael p. burns spoke of, from the earlier posting about loss of accuracy with a brake. The Tikka 308 was a consistant sub moa producer, added a brake & group sizes tripled, from around 2" at 300 yd. to close to 6", same distance. 'Smith opened up the muzzle brake bore diameter by an additional .010", ( .005" on each side of the bullet), and as if by magic the groups shrunk to even slightly smaller than previous without the brake. He warned me that opening up the diameter might decrease the effectiveness/ increase the felt recoil, but if so, I cannot tell any difference. ;)
 
I think perhaps having the hole opened up as Mike suggests will be the first thing I try. I had a chance to measure the bore diameter of the brake with my calipers a while ago and got .300 at both ends, only .016 total clearance. That may just be too small for the .284 bullet. I'm not sure what it should be but as Mike said, it's not working now so opening it up by .010 can't do much harm. I'll post my results as soon as I can get this done and do some testing.

Chuck
 
.030 is too small for .284 bullet. it should be a minimum of .0304 with better accuracy around .0309 from what I have found.
I have a vais on one of my rifles and I would think building it out of aluminum would not be much of a concern due to the amount of ports and how effective it is. If it was a slotted port type brake it would be more critical.
Just some thoughts on the strength of aluminum.
 
chuckgreen said:
When I switched to .284 Shehane in my 1K LG last year I had two new barrels theaded for a Vais brake made from aluminium. The lighter brake was suggested by a respected long range shooter who originally built the rifle and seemed like a good idea to help me make weight. I've always used the brake shooting this rifle as I don't much like recoil.

I've never been able to get these barrels to shoot as well as I thought they should until recently. A couple of weeks ago I decided to try them without the brake and suddenly my groups shrank by 40%. I was surprised as I've used Vais stainless brakes before and never had a problem.

The brake seems to fit properly on both barrels but as I think about it I've never seen anyone else using an aluminium brake and wonder if anyone on the forum has had any experience using one. Could the material itself be affecting accuracy?

I'd appreciate your comments.

Chuck
Click to expand...

Chuck,

Before saying anything, it would be necessary to know if there is any alteration of the surface where the hot gases hits the metal of the brake. Craks, erosion etc...

R.G.C
 
I had a 243ai with a custom made muzzle break out of aluminum. I decided to use aluminum because this gun also had a 1.25 straight barrel for 28". it worked great shot as good as any 243ai ive seen. i wouldnt hessitate to build the next one out of aluminum. Im gonna put my money on its not the material of the break but an issue with the break its self such as the bore diamater or something else structuraly.
 
From a manufacturing stand point there is only one reason that i biuld with steel and moreover a hardened steel such as cm or 416 s.s .That is to ensure that if the break is banged around it does not bend and obstrust the bore alignment . I await your findings in this matter of the aluminun break .
 
therifler said:
From a manufacturing stand point there is only one reason that i biuld with steel and moreover a hardened steel such as cm or 416 s.s .That is to ensure that if the break is banged around it does not bend and obstrust the bore alignment . I await your findings in this matter of the aluminun break .
Click to expand...

Rhe rifler,
Agreed
There is aluminium and aluminium, and even the most sophisticated alloy does not possess the characteristics needed for such a purpose... Reason of my question in a previous post. If it is to save weight, Ti would be a better option to cosider...but need some skill to machine.
There is also brake and brake. The design adopted perhaps impose excessive constraints/heat/erosion on the light alloy one?
R.G.C
 
I also believe that your son is on the right track, "harmonics". Thus my quick comment towards "tuning". Your Broughtons are shooting very well without any extra weight attached at the end of the barrel. Too many "tuner" shooters suggest that the most affective location for a tuner is at the muzzle and beyond, where your brake is now located.
Just my opinion, good luck.
 
Thanks for the feedback all. Your comments were really helpful.

I'm going to definitely try having the bore of the brake enlarged by .010 and see what happens but I think my future brakes will be stainless.

I'll post what happens after the enlargment but it may be a couple weeks as I have to get it done.

Thanks for the help.

Chuck
 
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