how do I take it off?

I have a friend that just made the deal of the century. He just found a bought a pawned SS Contender shot very little for $250

However, it came with a 14" .223 Remington hunter barrel. What's the best way to take the muzzle tamer off. IMHO absolutely useless in this caliber.

[ 04-08-2003, 17:51: Message edited by: Alpo ]

I have heard that they are glued on......have heard reports of them "shooting" off too! In my opinion, the best way to remove them is to chuck the barrel in a lathe, cut just behind the brake and recrown...

Alpo
They are soldered on. I believe the method suggested Gonhuntin to have it cut off & recrowned is the way to go.
Rich Jake

PM sent

Production barrels have the brake soft soldered on, so a "less invasive" method of removal is to simply warm it up with a torch to melt the solder.

If you want to do some lathe work, make a neat little sleeve to put over the tenon the brake was attached to...... this saves the last 5/8" or so of barrel instead of lopping it off.

Fox Ridge "Custom Shop" barrels with brakes I have checked were all threaded on.

And, yes, the soft soldered brakes do occasionally shoot off. Best early warning of this is a continually shifting impact point, final indication is...... the brake is gone. But before it departs, it can drive you plumb nuts trying to figure out what on earth is going on.

With reference to recrowning the barrel in the event you do cut off the tenon for the brake, if you do it in the lathe, which you should, do not rely on the exterior of the barrel being concentric with the bore. Most of the time the two do not coincide as precisely as is needed for getting a crown that is square to the bore. I put a sleeve on the outside of the barrel, turn the barrel on center to turn the sleeve concentric with the bore, then run the trued sleeve in a 1" (25mm) bearing in the steady rest while cutting the crown itself. This is the only way I have come up with to get the crown square with the bore.

Brownells' hand driven, piloted crowning tools give better results than what you find in the majority of factory barrels, but the pilots usually do not fit tightly enough in the bore to do a precise job..... good, but not precise.

My two pfennigs' worth.

Mike

Thanks guys. clerkofkirk you've got a PM.

Mike,

Along those same lines, I personally have a 14" SSK .309JDJ with an SSK brake on it. It is superbly accurate, but too dang loud (a common complaint I guess). Would it be possible to remove the nut at the end of the barrel and run a trued sleeve like you describe into the brake to "turn it off"?

It sould be even nicer if the nut could be taken on and off to activate / deactivate the brake. Could this be done without the brake inadvertently coming loose during extended shooting?

It has been a long time since I have removed the end piece from an SSK "Arrestor" muzzle brake, and I do not recall how much room there is inside for a sleeve as the brake is done by SSK, but it can be modified to take a sleeve, perhaps at the expense of having to go to a large thread diameter for the end piece and making a new end piece.

I have bored the end out of the factory Muzzle Tamer brake, threaded the end inside, and made a new end with the exit pupil in it. Flats were milled on the sides of the end so it could be unscrewed readily, and a thin sleeve was made to fit inside the expansion chamber of the brake.

Remove the sleeve, and you have a brake. Put the sleeve in, and you have a plain barrel with about a 1" long extension on it that does nothing.

Virgin Valley makes a neat looking "on-off" muzzle brake. I don't know if they angle their ports back or not, btw, but angling the ports back like TC does their brakes, and like I do mine, gives more recoil reduction.

Hail Jeff Stratton at Virgin Valley and have him tell us about his brake here. This may be just what you are looking for. It should be much more convenient than having to unscrew a plug and keep tract of a sleeve every time you make a change.

Mike