Fluted Barrel And Muzzle Brake

[Harold]

My girlfriends birthday is coming up and i would like her to have a quailty rifle instead of her 400$ mossberg. im a tight wad for the most part but i had an idea that i could rebuild my howa 1500 for her. its getting a lil worn out so it needs it anyway. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get a light weight fluted barrel with a muzzle brake that wont break the bank?

[JimmyHoffa]

Are you looking to get a barrel pre-made all one piece with a muzzle brake?  If a detachable brake is okay, you could get the brake from a manufacturer and have a gunsmith or machinist thread the barrel to accept it.  You could also have either a gunsmith or machinist flute an existing barrel.  Depending on the contour of the barrel you already have, you may have to make smaller grooves, but smaller and more of them can give the same effect as the large deep ones.  I don't really have an idea of what a shop would charge for it.  You can research the brakes do determine what level of recoil reduction and noise increase you/she would like.  I have the Weatherby brake and they claim 57% reduction in recoil.  Browning makes some brakes with good reviews too.

[Harold]

the barrel thats on it has a good 1200 rounds thru it so far, im not sure how long it will last but i would like it to be a gun that lasts her for a long while. as for a once piece barrel/muzzle brake i didnt even know that existed, seems like it might be a bit more expensive. thanks for the info ive never had a muzzle break or replaced a barrel. just sounded like a fun project to me.

[JimmyHoffa]

Gun projects are fun and addicting.....scroll through some projects on here and you'll see.
Some rifles have the end of the barrel turned to remove the lands beyond the depth of the grooves.  How they crown it right must be tough.  You could get a magna-port set up near the muzzle which acts like a brake, they basically drill holes in the end of the barrel.  In the past I found some deals on barrels from midwayusa.  Haven't checked recently.  They had chromoly and stainless.  Just have to dig around because there are tons of match barrels out there that may make it seem like every barrel is pretty expensive.

[Harold]

yeah, i have a pretty severe breaks in my leg so im looking for stuff to take my time up, reloading and building guns looks like it will be my new " :Ptrend" When purchasing a barrel, how do i know if it will work with my howa action, from everything ive seen it dosnt have specific matches, do they all just use the same standard or metric thread size???

[JimmyHoffa]

Some are standard, usually if they come for that specific action.  If not, a barrel blank can be used and threaded to fit the action.  Many come rifled, but would need to be chambered---cut/reamed/spaced/crowned and all that fun stuff.  There are some on here I think that have a lot of experience with this type of stuff.

[Harold]

huh well i hope to learn alot from everyone! thanks for the advice so far.