Muzzle break --- Brake, Broke, Broken, Busted

[Dawg2019]

I have a Remington 700 that I purchased second hand. It has a muzzle break on it that I’m not too fond of, I tried to get it off without any success. I tried a heat gun to warm it up and still no luck, any suggestions before I head to the gunsmith?

 

[ChrisG]

Hack saw. Seriously that is exactly what the gunsmith is going to do. He will cut it off then recrown on his lathe. Or were you trying to preserve the threads?

 

[Dawg2019]

Yes sir, I want it off so I can mount my suppressor.

 

[revturbo9967]

Is it a screw on?

 

[BourbonTrail]

Kroil, gun vise, & a strap wrench. That’s how I get A2’s off of AR’s that people never clean.

 

[Red Leg]

Muzzle brake.

Unless you have the proper tools, I think I would go to a gunsmith and see what he can do. I also would be careful applying heat.

 

[Firebird]

Bourbon trail had it right-I’ve had a gunsmith do this for me before on a rifle I purchased. His tools were better than mine and it was off in a couple minutes. He did have a minimum charge however. . .

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

You might try this, as it worked on a shotgun choke that I couldn't get out. Do this in your garage or workshop.

Fill a plastic cup, container, etc with Kroil or equivalent.

Rig up a coat hanger wire to hang your gun with the barrel pointed straight down and about an inch off of the ground.

Place the gun barrel/muzzle brake into the container of Kroil, with the container sitting on the floor. Let it sit for a day or so.

Remove rifle barrel from the Kroil container and wipe dry. Attempt to unscrew the brake. If still unable, get the hacksaw.

 

[Lars Blomqvist]

I have a Remington 700 that I purchased second hand. It has a muzzle break on it that I’m not too fond of, I tried to get it off without any success. I tried a heat gun to warm it up and still no luck, any suggestions before I head to the gunsmith?

I have had the barrel up in a lathe, cut of the end of the barrel,. just behind the part You do not want to use. Make a new thread on the barrels foreend, You problem is solved for many years ahead.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

Red Leg has this right- both on spelling and the heat- you don’t want to break your gun taking off the brake.

too much heat will affect the temper of the steel and could be a safety problem. I don’t know if you can get it hot enough with a heat gun to cause problems, but a torch surely will so don’t do that. Unless I had an IR thermometer and I knew what a safe temperature was, I’m not sure I’d want to find out the hard way what a heat gun can do. You won’t hurt it putting it in a freezer to see
If the barrel and brake have different coefficients of expansion that work in your favor. Could even freeze it to get the barrel as cold and small as possible then carefully warm the brake. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

I find that an impact wrench is a game changer when it comes to stuck nuts. Not sure if you can get a socket on there or not. If not, you could use a manual impact wrench and bang on it after mounting it up in a vice. Don’t leave any distance for the barrel to bend or you are hosed.

if you have to buy any tools to do the job, you are money ahead taking it to the gunsmith unless this is going to be something will be doing multiple times.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Muzzle brake.

Unless you have the proper tools, I think I would go to a gunsmith and see what he can do. I also would be careful applying heat.

Where's @sestoppelman at? He still must be asleep. He usually is the first one to pounce on the spelling of brake vs. break. LOL

 

[WebleyGreene455]

What @revturbo9967 asked. Are you sure it's threaded to the muzzle? Pinned-and-welded? If it's the latter, I don't think it's coming off without a fight and you'd be better off cutting-and-rethreading.

@CoElkHunter I would've done if Red Leg hadn't, lol. I was half expecting pictures of a FUBAR'd bore.

 

[JimP]

Just take it to a smith to take care of it. If you keep messing with it you may end up with a lot shorter barrel or even turning the barrel in the receiver

There is even a possibility that the barrel may need to be re-threaded to match the suppressors threads

 

[revturbo9967]

What @revturbo9967 asked. Are you sure it's threaded to the muzzle? Pinned-and-welded? If it's the latter, I don't think it's coming off without a fight and you'd be better off cutting-and-rethreading.

@CoElkHunter I would've done if Red Leg hadn't, lol. I was half expecting pictures of a FUBAR'd bore.

Welded and pinned was my next question. If you can find the spot welds you can usually grind them down a hair, enough to where the pins will pop once you give the brake a spin. The pins are normally just fit in a dimple on the barrel and will push their way out once you start to unscrew. That said you will need to re chase/cut the threads.

 

[ChrisG]

The heat issue is overblown a little if you can keep the barrel below 900F you would be fine. The issue isnt so much the temper as the end of the barrel isnt taking that much pressure to begin with. The issue is affecting the dimensions of the rifling. As a rule, hammer forged barrels will expand (open the diameter of the bore) at the heated point, button rifled barrels will contract. So you would end up with a loose or tight spot in the bore depending on how the barrel was made. Cut rifled barrels will take a lot of heat and are routinely silver brazed to attach sights, gas ports and other things (1,500F or higher in some cases) with no effect. That said, heating it with a propane torch to 400F or 500F may break free any locktight put on there and will not affect the rifling.

 

[Dawg2019]

Called the local smith and if it’s not pinned $29 and if so it’ll cost more. Better than me screwing it up and having to buy a new one. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Buffalo1]

Have a good quality gunsmith remove the muzzle break. It will save you money and heartache in the end.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Break... Hahahaha... Freudian slip indicating possible outcome in the absence of a trained gunsmith? Glad you found a solution Dawg.

 

[mark-hunter]

What can be learnt from this topic is following:
When you have muzzle break, remove it evrey time after shooting, and clean the threads.
When you have a threaded cap on top of barrel, remove it every time after shooting, and clean the threads.
When you have a supressor on the barrel, remove it every time after shooting, and clean the threads.

When you have removable chokes, on shotgun, same as above.
Otherwise, the question as this may arise. Now, only solution is: to take it to gunsmith.

 

[sestoppelman]

break, break, sigh........

almost as bad as saying, " I could care less". Just grates on the soul....