Muzzle Brake and Method of Making the Same

The invention relates to firearms and more specifically to a muzzle brake that can be either integrally formed on the end of a gun barrel or formed as a separate member that would be attachable thereto.

In the past muzzle brakes of various designs have been known. They serve the purpose of keeping the recoil energy of the guntube, developed during firing, low, and thereby reducing the recoil braking force on the gun. This is achieved by forcing the propellant gases, flowing out at the muzzle, to strike against baffles of a muzzle brake. The gases are diverted to the rear as much as possible and generate a forward force on the muzzle brake, which retards the backward recoil of the barrel.

Muzzle brakes having various patterns of apertures and slits are presently available commercially. Many of these have complicated structures that are costly to manufacture. Others are of a simple configuration but are not felt to be very efficient.

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel method of making a high efficiency muzzle brake at an economical cost.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method of forming a muzzle brake in the integrally formed barrel of a firearm.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel muzzle brake that operates at a high efficiency rate.

Applicant's novel muzzle brake and the method of making the same has been designed to be economical to manufacture. Of equal importance is the fact that it performs at a high efficiency rate.

The muzzle brake is formed by taking a tubular sleeve having an outside diameter D2 and inside diameter D1 and a wall thickness T and drilling a plurality of circular rows of apertures in the tubular sleeve. The axes of these apertures are substantially perpendicular to the outer surface of the tubular sleeve. The circumferential spacing between each of these apertures is such that they intersect the adjacent apertures on both sides of them at a point intermediate the wall thickness T to produce integrally formed baffles in the interior of the tubular sleeve. The apertures of each of the rows intersect each other at a point between twenty percent to sixty percent of the thickness of the wall of the tubular sleeve. If the intersection of the apertures is at a point spaced radially outwardly from the bore of the tubular sleeve greater than sixty percent of the wall thickness, the muzzle brake would not have sufficient structural integrity to perform its function over a normal lifetime. If the intersection of the apertures is at a point less than twenty percent spaced from the interior diameter of the tubular sleeve, the internally formed baffle would not provide a sufficient amount of wall height to appreciably intersect the propellant gases as they are traveling through the bore of the muzzle brake. The efficiency of such a muzzle brake would be quite low since their purpose is to reduce the recoil of a firearm and also to aid in directing propellant gases of the bullet radially outwardly through the radial apertures of the muzzle brake. In order to insure the high performance of applicant's novel muzzle brake, the apertures of each circular row are radially spaced from each other in the range of twenty degrees to sixty degrees. The diameter of the apertures should be in the range of twenty percent to thirty percent of the outside diameter of the tubular sleeve. The longitudinal spacing of the axes of adjacent circular rows of apertures should be in the range of 1.25-2.0 times the diameters of the apertures.

Due to the structure of applicant's novel muzzle brake, it is possible to form the muzzle brake integrally on the barrel of a firearm or it may be formed as a separate component that would be screw threaded thereon.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view illustrating applicant's novel muzzle brake formed integrally on the barrel of a rifle;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the muzzle brake formed as a separate component which would be screw threaded on the end of a gun barrel;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front end elevation view of the muzzle brake illustrated in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a crosssectional elevation view of the novel muzzle brake.

Applicant's novel muzzle brake will now be described by referring to FIGS. 1-5 of the drawing.

In FIG. 1 the muzzle brake 10 is illustrated as being formed integrally on the front end of gun barrel 12 of the rifle 14.

ln FIG. 2, a gun barrel 16 is illustrated having external threads 17 formed on its front end 18. A muzzle brake 20 has internal threads 22 formed on its rear end 23. The muzzle brake 20 is formed of a tubular sleeve 26 having a bore 28 having a bore D2. The outer diameter of tubular sleeve 26 is D2 and the wall thickness is T. A plurality of rows of apertures 30 are spaced radially around the circumference of tubular sleeve 26. The cross sectional view illustrated in FIG. 3 shows this disclosed embodiment of the muzzle break having the apertures 30 intersect at a point T/2 distance from the inner diameter D1 of the tubular sleeve. The plurality of rows of apertures 30 thus form a plurality of baffles 40 with chambers formed between the adjacent baffles. The tubular sleeve is preferably less than three inches long.