Euro Metal Muzzle idea, need feedback

[ryddragyn]

So I am playing with the idea of a European style metal muzzle on my next wood gun build. I've looked at all the usual suspects (Abellansub, Teak-Sea, et al), and tried to come up with ways to do it in a distinctive way.

This is my idea:

A section of 316 stainless tubing, that is cut in half into a half cylinder like the first image. The height of the half cylinder will be the same as the width of the gun at the muzzle. The inner diameter of the tubing will need to be the same as the height of the gun. The end of the gun will need to be perfectly rounded so that vertically it will mate with the inside of the half cylinder. The band slot will be cut from the very front of the gun. The section where the track goes to the end of the gun will need to routed out of the cylinder so that the shaft is only on wood. Finally, the metal will be held onto the end of the wood using two or four pins at 45 degree angles.



Rough sketch:

[JonahL]

Looks like it should work, though I think you will need to use screws, not pins. If you want to use pins, you need to think up a way to press/pull them back out if you want to take the SS off the gun. I would also want the SS to be flush with the top of the stock, the edge there might snag the shooting line as it goes by.

[Tin Man]

Carbon fiber tube piece, epoxied in place.

[ryddragyn]

Carbon fiber- can't find some tubing of the right diameter on eBay (yet), but I'm looking into having a local shop wrap something for me for cheap. Great idea!

As for the top edge, I'm going to chamfer and deburr it thoroughly to get it flush.

[Tin Man]

If you have epoxy, it would be easy to make a short piece. Www.sollercomposites is your friend.

If you don't care that the muzzle be a full 180°, then a section from any tube of equal or larger diameter would do. What size are you looking for?

[JonahL]

If you are going to do carbon, you can just lay it up in place with packing tape over the end of the gun. Then pop it off, clean up the edges & screw/bond it back in place. The cool thing about that approach is that you can do non-round shapes, just shape the muzzle any way you want & then layup the cap on top.

You could do the layup before cutting the slot, or fill the slot with a piece of foam or wood during the layup process.

-J

[ryddragyn]

Originally Posted by Tin Man

If you don't care that the muzzle be a full 180°, then a section from any tube of equal or larger diameter would do. What size are you looking for?

Gun height is 1.6", so a tubing with that inner diameter would do.

The carbon fiber would certainly act well as a band retainer. How much would it help with reinforcing the band slot though, versus the screwed-in metal?

[Tin Man]

Here's what I meant by the tube ID not needing to match the stock exactly. This is drawn with a tube ID of 2", and a stock height of 1.5". Because the CF tube can be sanded, routed, shaped, etc, you can smooth the shape a bit more than you could with a stainless tube.

I think if the epoxy bond were good between the CF and the wood, the band slot would be at least as strong as if it had an inch of wood out front.