Gimme a Brake

Muzzle brake, that is.

I bought a Mosin-Nagant rifle a couple of years ago with the idea that I could practice some long range shooting on the cheap. Some day I want to try my hand at an elk hunt and I figured this would give me the opportunity to sharpen up my skills. The first time I took it to the range and tried shooting it from the bench, however, I discovered the metal butt plate and my broken collar bone that didn't heal straight weren't very compatible. I figured a muzzle brake and a rubber butt pad would be just the ticket. The butt pad helped but the muzzle brake I made wasn't very effective.

I got The Accurate Muzzle Brake by Troy Newlon for Christmas so I made myself the one in the picture. The book gives information on several designs with the pros and cons of each of them. It contains some real good information on the required machining techniques but doesn't give you any real dimensions for various calibers. Because of that, you're on your own as far as overall length, inside, outside and gas hole diameters. So I'll have to make a trip to the range to see how effective the thing is. If it works fairly well, I'll get a black finish on it to match the barrel. It's a lot of work making one of these things and threading the barrel. It wouldn't be worth it to have a gunsmith tackle the job. It would probably cost twice to three times what the gun cost. All it cost me was a tap, a piece of stock and a lot more time that it was worth to shoot a $100.00 rifle. But it is a job that I can put in the done column.