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Anyone here successfully made there own muzzlebreak, they are so expensive down here in Aus. If you have, was it difficult and where did you get the plans for it. Just so you know i wouldn't make it, my dad is a mechanical engineer and has no doubt that he can do it.
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Making a brake isn't difficult so long as you have the right equipment. If you have a good lathe (or a bad one that you operate exceptionally well) and a good mill (diddo) or drill press it'll get the job done. At the minimum a dividing or simpler indexing head of some kind is highly desirable so that your ports are symmetrical.
Make your brake first, then thread your barrel. This way you have a better chance of having a better thread fit since its much easier to thread a brake onto a barrel than it is to thread a barrel to the brake while its in the machine. So long as dimensions are clearanced enough to avoid physical contact, concentric and symmetrical it's of little consequence as to the number of holes, the spacing/pattern, or diameter etc. Finish ream your bore diameter to .030" larger than the caliber and you'll be fine. Run your internal threads about a hundred and fifty thou deeper than what you need. Depending on how you thread the brake, this will mitigate a number of potential issues with your internal threads locking up on the barrel threads before the shoulder/face contacts one another.
Crown your barrel as you normally would, it'll work just the same.
Just some numbers to put it into perspective a bit better.
If a bullet is traveling at 3000fps in a 28" barrel, by my math that is 1/1285th a second. (3000X12='s 36000 inches per second 36000 inches per second divided by a 28" long barrel ='s 1285 barrel lengths in one second or 1/1285 of a second barrel time)
A typical muzzle brake is only about 2 to 2.5 inches long so that's only 1/18000 to 1/14400 of a second in "muzzle brake time"
Now short of the bullet "trading paint" with the brake just what the heck is going to happen in that short a time span? I've made and installed dozens of muzzle brakes in all sorts of configurations for customers and they've all worked just fine.
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i'm more worried about attaching it to a match grade barrel without ruining it, can you somehow do it without modifying the barrel?
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Not if you want it done right and want it to look like something presentable. If you or your Pops understands machine work then this will be an easy procedure for you. Support the barrel through the spindle. Use a three jaw scroll chuck that is indexable or a four jaw indepenedent on the front and a "spider" on the back side. Indicate the barrel so that it is running concentric to the lathes spindle centerline. Get as close as you can, anything at or below .0005" is fine.
Keep the crown close to the chuck's face so that the workholding has maximum support and rigidity. This will mitigate any chatter so long as your tools are sharp and you pay attention to speeds/feeds on the lathe.
Turn your thread major diameter for half an inch on the barrel and then start threading. When you get close start test fitting the brake. It should "just" fit. Not so tight that you have to use pliers, but with a nice silky feel to it. If it rattles on there the way a cheap nut does on a bolt then you screwed up. cut it off and try again. Better yet, practice on a scrap piece of steel before you turn to the barrel.
If you really really want to be anally retentive and the caliber is large enough, drill the center of the brake undersized from its finish dimension. Thread the brake onto the barrel after it's been fitted and then single point finish bore the brake to the +.030" dimension I mentioned earlier. This way you are 100% certain the bore is concentric. Don't use a reamer or drill because it is just going to follow the hole that is already there. If the hole is off center all you did was make a bigger hole off center.
Happy to help if you have anymore questions.
Cheers,
Chad Dixon
Here is an example. This is not a barrel that's been drilled. These are two separate threaded together pieces. If you look very closely you can see a slight change in material color and a bit of oil has wicked at the seam where the barrel shoulders up to the brake about 2.5-3" back from the crown. It hides better when everything is clean. This is a switch barrel to my 338 lapua Magnum.
