Axis muzzle brake installation?

I've just had surgery on my shoulder/clavicle, and the doctor told me that I won't be able to shoot my accurate Axis .243 for almost a year :sorrow: (to allow my bones to heal completely).

I thought I would look into installing a muzzle brake on my already soft-shooting .243, but from the research I've just done, it looks like that is impossible to do myself, and may not be even possible for a gunsmith. Here's what I've found...

The brake I'm tempted to install is the "Impact Precision" one, which received high marks for recoil reduction in several independent comparisons. However, this brake (like most of the others) requires a "5/8-24" thread, and from what I can find (I was ignorant about this kind of thing, so I'm going from my research), that threading requires a barrel of 0.625" to 0.645" o.d. barrels. From my measurements, my Axis (not a HB or an Axis II) has a tapered barrel with the muzzle measuring .595".

So...how do people get muzzle brakes on the tapered barrel Axis rifles? Do the barrels need to be cut back to their thicker diameter in order for that to work?

You can also look at muzzle brakes with half inch instead of 5/8. Gunsmiths put muzzle brakes on sporter barrels like yours all the time. In fact, I just had a smith put a muzzle brake on my 260 put a muzzle break on my 260 sporter barrel.

A method frowned upon by the purists, but otherwise serviceable method is a clamp on brake. You've just got to be vigilant that it doesn't move.

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Hope you recover quickly. Maybe you need to learn to shoot off that other shoulder!

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Another option with the 243 being such a light recoiling round is to simply drop it into a heavier stock. This will allow the rifle to absorb more of the recoil without the additional effort of having the muzzle threaded. If you really like the factory stock, you could pull the butt pad and fill it with Bondo or other type of chemically air hardening material.

Kahntrol Solutions and Witt Machine are probably the two best known clamp-on brake manufacturers. I have not tried either one, but reports are very favorable with no mentions of them coming loose springing to mind.

There was one a while back on a 300WM. But I think he found he had the wrong profile brake for his barrel. They have to be an exact match for it to work.


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try here

http://wittmachine.net/index.php?mai...0qrt12nhl6vjj0

you need a digital caliper to take the measurements they want and mine both fit perfect

I had one made for my 22-250 HB and 1 also for my 6.5 Creedmoor tapered barrel

Yup, I just ordered one from Witt Machine. Had to get a new digital calipers to make sure the readings from my old calipers were correct (they were). Still nervous about it, but I'm eager to see/feel how it works.

Oh, and that suggestion about increasing the weight of the stock...I had already done a "stock stiffening", with several lengths of all-thead set into the fore-end, held in with JBWeld, as well as an all-thread running thru the "wrist" section of the stock, to reinforce it there.

Since I like photos, here is a recent photo of it:


[IMG]http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/r...psrdpbgkqx.jpg[/IMG]

Kahntrol clamp on brake on my axis .308. Call them they are very helpful. they keep the measurement on file.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...97193e4c2f.jpg
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...68fba6cbae.jpg

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OK, hope someone can help me with this. I put the Witt muzzle brake on according to the directions, but after checking it over several times, it looked like it was just tilted off to one side a bit. So, I thought I'd remove and reinstall...bad choice.

According to the instructions, it says something like the thread locker can be removed easily with standard gun cleaning stuff. Well, not in my case. The brake came off correctly, but I can't get the old thread locker off, and it's a problem since it changes the diameter of the barrel. I've tried Hoppes, I've tried brake cleaner, I've tried acetone...nothing works.

I took a picture of the remains of the thread locker on the barrel, and I'll try to post it tomorrow when I get access to my other computer.

Anyone know how to remove the remnents of this stuff? I'm getting frustrated enough that I'm almost ready to use sandpaper on the muzzle to remove it...

What kind of threadlocker?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rosco

What kind of threadlocker?

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Sorry....loctite blue, as the instructions specify.

I used permatex blue thread locker with no problem, took mine off and back on and just left and use the locker already on the barrel
acetone or zylene should remove it
I had to lightly tap mine on to start with anyway

http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/r...pshtdc3yzs.jpg

This is what it looks like after trying Hoppes, brake cleaner, and acetone to clean it off. I can feel "ridges".

acetone will remove the permatex brand

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lonewulf

acetone will remove the permatex brand

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Already tried Acetone, didn't work.
i found something online that said using the flame from a lighter will work; trying that next.
if not, then sandpaper.

I think Xylene and sandpaper would do the trick. The finish on the barrel will probably get roughed up a bit though.

You can get the barrel threaded in 1/2 x 28 and get a threaded bushing from brownells, that will convert it to 5/8 x 24. Works great on mine...


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I have a witt machine and tool muzzle brake on a mosin nagant I cut and recrowned the barrel on. I have a video on youtube of our 10 year old shooting 203 grain brown bear soft points out of it. almost no recoil at all. I have one coming this week for my .300 win mag.

You can get a thread reducer to go from 5/8" to 1/2". Lots of places sell them and they are inexpensive.

Well, finally got all the residue off, but it took scraping it off with a knife blade, then cleaning up the rest with sandpaper. Pretty much ruined the finish on the end of the barrel. But i did get the brake back on perfectly straight now. I just need to get out to the range to try it...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by A.McPherson

You can get the barrel threaded in 1/2 x 28 and get a threaded bushing from brownells, that will convert it to 5/8 x 24. Works great on mine...


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This is news to me. Great. I was watching, because my .308 Axis doesn't have the heavy barrel and was wondering what I could do. I must go find this part.

Cool. Didn't take long. I love the internet...

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod58022.aspx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daddyusmaximus

Cool. Didn't take long. I love the internet...

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod58022.aspx

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I'll have to bookmark that, in case this doesn't work out...

Since I started this thread, I thought I would finish it off on a positive note.

Here's the rifle with some new mods:

http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/r...pswpppxold.jpg

Shoots as well as ever with the new muzzle brake on it!

Thanks for the update. I'm ordering today for my Axis 30-06 budget build.

Did the muzzle break help any with your group size?