Bushmaster AK muzzle brake
- Thread starter Dorcas
- Start date
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
Hello. I own a "Shorty AK" with the brake you mention. It IS louder than the plain, crowned bbl, but since the vast majority of my shooting is with ear protection at the range, that's of little import. Best.
I also have a Shorty AK, and I think it is a great little rifle. The brake is loud, especially off to the sides. It may annoy people shooting next to you, but whenever I'm at the range, people seem more interested in the rifle than annoyed by the blast.
Do NOT fire it without hearing protection though. One time, I was about to leave the range, there was going to be a cease fire in a few seconds, and I already had packed up my gear. There was one round left in the magazine so I fired it at the backstop, forgetting that I was no longer wearing earmuffs. I had temporary hearing loss for about 5 hours. My hearing came back and there was no permanent damage, but it was not a fun experience.
Do NOT fire it without hearing protection though. One time, I was about to leave the range, there was going to be a cease fire in a few seconds, and I already had packed up my gear. There was one round left in the magazine so I fired it at the backstop, forgetting that I was no longer wearing earmuffs. I had temporary hearing loss for about 5 hours. My hearing came back and there was no permanent damage, but it was not a fun experience.
Dorcas,
I also own a BM shorty ak - a slick little rifle thats very accurate.
Ditto to what Stephen A. Camp and Andrew said about noise and ear protection.
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BKs Pistol Pages
I also own a BM shorty ak - a slick little rifle thats very accurate.
Ditto to what Stephen A. Camp and Andrew said about noise and ear protection.
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BKs Pistol Pages
WalterGAII
Moderator
I own a Shorty, on which I installed a Smith brake. It's loud, but it's also very easy to remove, when one needs to do barrel work,etc. I prefer the full 16" of rifled barrel. I'd never buy a rifle with a permanent brake.
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Shoot to kill; they'll stop when they're dead!
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Shoot to kill; they'll stop when they're dead!
KurtsKustomFirearms
New member
Permanent brakes are a fact of life now, unfortunately, on the AR15 series of rifles and carbines, which are another specialty of my shop. My new A2 Tac Brake takes the muzzle brake to another level. It has been well received over at AR15.com. I first mnanufactured this brake approx. 5 years ago, and recently put it back i9nto production. CNC machinery is now seriopusly being considered. Take a look:
http://forums.ar15.com/Forum12/HTML/001847.html
Kurt V. Wala
Kurt's Kustom Firearms www.kurtkustom.qpg.com/
http://forums.ar15.com/Forum12/HTML/001847.html
Kurt V. Wala
Kurt's Kustom Firearms www.kurtkustom.qpg.com/
Kentucky Rifle
New member
Andrew,
Your post makes me REAL glad that I bought the Pro-Ears. My Shorty is the "plain barrel" model. It's loud enough. The .223 doesn't have much recoil anyway, however sometimes I think the brake would be good just to protect the crown.
Will
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Mendacity is the system we live in.
Your post makes me REAL glad that I bought the Pro-Ears. My Shorty is the "plain barrel" model. It's loud enough. The .223 doesn't have much recoil anyway, however sometimes I think the brake would be good just to protect the crown.
Will
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Mendacity is the system we live in.
WLM,
I got the Shroty AK because of the look of the brake, not because to control the AR's very light recoil. It's a matter of opinion, but I just don't like the appearance of a bare muzzle on an AR. It looks, well, incomplete. I like the AK brake's looks. It's not as good as an A2 birdcage, but better than a plain muzzle, IMO.
The brake also pretty much eliminates muzzle rise. You can easily hold the same point of aim while firing quickly.
I got the Shroty AK because of the look of the brake, not because to control the AR's very light recoil. It's a matter of opinion, but I just don't like the appearance of a bare muzzle on an AR. It looks, well, incomplete. I like the AK brake's looks. It's not as good as an A2 birdcage, but better than a plain muzzle, IMO.
The brake also pretty much eliminates muzzle rise. You can easily hold the same point of aim while firing quickly.
Keifer, i'm not sure exactly what youre asking..but when you heat a tubular object, the internal diameter decreases.If it wont slip over your muzzle cold, it sure as h*** wont go over it when heated.when objects are heated they expand in all directions, so a tubular object will expand inward as well as outward.
Mongrel66 - I think your wrong on that - I have watched maintenance men at the plant where I work heat up bushings to slip onto shafts - before heating they couldn't drive them on with an arbor press - they used a big propane torch and heated the bushing up and it slipped right on - they then held it in place for a few seconds and it shrank to fit as it cooled - I have also watched them replace shafts with worn bushings because they were unable to remove the old bushing that had been installed that way.
I was originally going to agree with mongrel that freezing the brake would be the method that works, but I have observed otherwise (sorry mongrel). The place I work at installs guide pins and bushings into injection molds by cooling the parts and dropping them into holes. Then I remembered a thing I learned at one of my first engineering jobs. The application was a collar installed on the shaft of a compressor. The collar (ring) had to be heated in a toaster oven (no kidding!) before it was able to be slipped over the shaft (just as Keifer described). It worked quite well, and the part pretty much stayed in place after cooling down to room temperature.
So my feeling is this:
<LI>Installing a shaft into a hole - freeze the pin, drop it into hole.
<LI>Installing a 'hole' onto a shaft - heat the 'hole' and slide it onto the shaft.
I have observed both, and I am pretty confident the above is true.
I like the 'temperature assisted' press fit idea. No ugly set screws. I don't mind the silver solder, but it is something that non-gunsmiths cannot work with.
One problem I see with heating the brake and slipping it onto the barrel is that the heat generated from firing the rifle may cause the brake to loosen and "ping!", your expensive muzzle brake is 30 yards downrange.
This may not happen though because the barrel will also heat up and expand and continue to retain the brake.
The best way to use these techniques would probably use them both together. Freeze the barrel, and heat the brake. Theoretically this will give the tightest fit. I would be careful though, the brake may contract enough to constrict the bore and worse case scenario would be "Kaboom!". Another failure is that the muzzle brake would crack under severe stress.
Kurt, do you have an opinion on this?
Jason
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"Ray guns don't vaporize Zorbonians, Zorbonians vaporize Zorbonians" The Far Side
[This message has been edited by jcoyoung (edited March 03, 2000).]
So my feeling is this:
<LI>Installing a shaft into a hole - freeze the pin, drop it into hole.
<LI>Installing a 'hole' onto a shaft - heat the 'hole' and slide it onto the shaft.
I have observed both, and I am pretty confident the above is true.
I like the 'temperature assisted' press fit idea. No ugly set screws. I don't mind the silver solder, but it is something that non-gunsmiths cannot work with.
One problem I see with heating the brake and slipping it onto the barrel is that the heat generated from firing the rifle may cause the brake to loosen and "ping!", your expensive muzzle brake is 30 yards downrange.
This may not happen though because the barrel will also heat up and expand and continue to retain the brake.The best way to use these techniques would probably use them both together. Freeze the barrel, and heat the brake. Theoretically this will give the tightest fit. I would be careful though, the brake may contract enough to constrict the bore and worse case scenario would be "Kaboom!".
Another failure is that the muzzle brake would crack under severe stress.Kurt, do you have an opinion on this?
Jason
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"Ray guns don't vaporize Zorbonians, Zorbonians vaporize Zorbonians" The Far Side
[This message has been edited by jcoyoung (edited March 03, 2000).]