ok what material would you use? would alumminun be a good choice thinking about weight?
What would be the best location for the ports i am thinking 1 3 5 7 9 and 11 o'clock.
thanks dave

If you're going to make your own, I would suggest making the largest thread diameter you can get away with. You take a bunch off the OD end of a barrel, you will change the ID of the end of the barrel, and that's not what you want to happen. Make it big.

Normally, I use 416R or 4140, barrel steels, to match the barrel. But I do have aluminum brakes on two rifles that need to be under a certain weight. A 6.5-284 and a 6mm Dasher have alum brakes, both have brakes similar to Vais and work well. I have no idea on what design would be effective on a rimfire. The more gas expelled behind the bullet seems to give the most braking.

Rather than thread it I would make it a slip fit and silver solder it on.

I use 4140. As for the spacing every 45 degrees seems to be about right. You can do 30 degrees but you'll have to stagger the hole location. Be sure to drill the ports with a small enough drill as that you have a good amount of material between the holes. I'd say at least .050.

never considered soldering. that would be easier to fit
thanks

i will make a couple one from aluminum and one from 440
Ill use a set screw for the aluminum until i figur out which one.

I like the 24 turn per inch threads as well as large expansion chambers too. Typically I prefer 6 holes per revolution (60 degrees) and keep the holes rather large (the smaller holes are louder in my opinion). I also cant the holes foward 10 degrees. I also rotate the holes 10 degrees to the right every row (mostly for looks as I haven't seen a noticable difference in performance between the many hole configurations I have tried). I do know that larger exit holes decrease the noise level considerably but I typically go .030" over nominal bullet diameter.

Nathan

Nathan,
I agree with you with regards to the noise, if the number of holes is the same. The larger the total surface area of the ports the less noise you will get. So you can use a higher quantity of smaller diameter holes to get a similar noise level. I tend to use a lot of holes and I can fit more in a brake for a larger total area if the holes are smaller.

For the brakes I made for the 550 mag project I used .201 diameter holes. These were a special set up. There were 5 rows on the top of the brake every 30 degrees with every other row staggered and one row pointing toward the ground. I tried to maximize the area of porting given the total size of the brake and a minimum of .050 between all holes.

For an unlimited class 50 BMG brake I just got done making I used .375 dia holes at 45 degrees. Every pair of holes were connected with a .250 slot. There were 4 sets of 2 holes and a slot on each row.

What I�m getting at is that you can match the brake design to the intended use. On the 50 BMG the idea was to reduce recoil period. So I maximized the area as much as I could. I also was not concerned about dust being kicked up from the ground or the ears of other shooters. At the match everyone wears ear protection.

The 550 mag is a different need. It is a hunting rifle. The idea was to reduce recoil but to also take into consideration that a PH or your trackers may be standing at your side and to minimize muzzle flip for faster follow on shots. So there are no holes on the side of the brake and a lot pointed up.

I do like adding a forward tilt of 10 degrees to reduce noise but I have found that for maximum recoil reduction the ports are actually best if angled toward the shooter. Since this is way too noisy I opt for a 90 degree orientation to the bore.

Either way it looks like you�ve found something that works for you and looks good doing it. There are lots of designs out there and I think there isn�t much difference between 90% of them. They all work to one degree or another, usually dependant on the cartridge more so than the brake, and they make noise in place of recoil.
JMHO
John

thanks fritz,idaho.. I had not considered an angle and will also incorporate that into my trial and error design.
the barrel is .920" i will stay with the large 24 thread
10* angle foward .201 ports, .580 on the expansion chamber
How long total length would you make the brake?

If you have a 2" oal with 3/4" of thread. You're adding 1.250" in length to your barrel. With a center spacing of .250 between holes you'll have a front wall of .150. You can then get 5 holes per row. I would do a row every 45 degrees but given the small volume of gas from a 22 rimfire every 60 would be more than enough.
John