Milsurp After Hours

It was off to the range yesterday to shoot my 91/30 and M38, lots of fun.
As I am always on the lookout for ways to reduce recoil because of poor condition neck bones, I purchased one
of these for my 91/30. At first I was very happy with the recoil reduction, but after shooting a combination of
light ball and hollow-core low recoil ammo, something was amiss. Then I noticed the muzzle brake was gone and
nowhere in sight. Found it about 40' downrange and a little worse for wear, never did find the collar that holds it on.
The screw holes were a little elongated from the screws being ripped out. There were no marks where a bullet may
have hit the inside and tore it loose, which was nearly impossible since it slid over the barrel and is a very snug fit.
The only thing I can guess is the overpressure just blew it off, which also seems unlikely as the vent holes in the
brake are very large, as you can see in the photo. The biggest problem is going to be finding another collar, I will
drill the holes slightly larger and tap them and use longer stainless steel screws.
The brake worked well and now I just have to find, or try to make, another collar........

Im not surprised it blew off. You would be better off down loading ammunition. If you want to fit a brake you really need to thread the barrel for screw on jobby. Pity I live in the UK I could of made you a new collar.

If it eventually blew off with the 91/30 I'd bet it would have come off the first time on the M38. There is enough charge in the surplus for the long 91/30 but its wasted as fire balls on the carbines...

Make him one anyway Dave. Send it carrier pigeon...

Threading the barrel is not an option because I don't make permanent changes to my M/Ns. Although I do like to
add little changes like scopes and bent bolts, everything can be put back to original. My original sights and numbers
matching bolts are safe in a drawer, bought extras to have made into bent bolts.

"down loading ammunition".....Is that re-loading my own or removing powder from surplus ammo, I've never done
either one, if the second is even possible??

Muzzle brakes aren't interchangeable on 91/30 and M38, ends of the barrel are very different. Think the M44 is
different also, see lots of ads for M44 muzzle brakes, virtually none for M38 and some for 91/30.

It is possible to pull the bullets on military ammo and reduce the powder charge but I would not recommend it unless you are a very experienced re loader.
Reloading is the way to go using military ammo gives you no control over your ammunition a lot of it uses corrosive primers and some of it is machine gun amunition. Reloading your own is easy to do once you learn the basics and you have complete control over the ammunition you are using. I don't use any bought ammo in any of my milsurps. Reloads are a lot easier on the shoulder as well.

Reloading is probably the way to go and many on here enjoy doing it, but I have no place to do that and
it just isn't something that interests me.
Just got an email back from the place I bought the brake, they are sending me a new collar, screws, and
wrench for my brake. Guess I can't complain about that............

I have a threaded brake on one of my K31s. It's a non-matching rifle so no big deal. I'm a recoil sissy. No medical reason, just 100% sissy :P

Good luck on remounting it!

-Fluffy

Have you tried a Pachmayr Decelerator butt pad, I have a couple and they work great....IMHO.
Having tried many different chicken pads over the years, this one seems to work best.
The small size one fits best on my M/Ns and SKS. For sale at most online places, on ebay too.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/699899 ... bidextrous

I've used muzzle brakes, and they only work if they are diverting a lot of gas backwards (towards the shooter). You can set them up so that they pull the rifle forwards. Regardless of reduction, this increases noise a lot. They also usually affect group size, almost always in the negative.

Pads on the gun, or on you, do a lot, always.

Have considered getting one of those, but so far the chicken pads and muzzle brakes seem
to work well enough for me. May have to re-consider someday if those don't work for me.
So far I haven't really felt any gas being blasted back at me, and the noise isn't really a factor
as I'm mostly deaf anyway..............
And if you've ever seen my scores for the shooting contests here, you know that group
size is not a big worry for me...........