I am having serious problems drilling through this muzzle brake, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it. It must be some form of hardened steel. Ive tried titanium coated and carbide tipped mason bits. basically just slowly scratches the surface. I did use some oil as well. I think the main issue is not having a drill press. ive tried the cordless drill and the corded dremel. Any advice?

 

Start with a very small bit then work your way up

Start with a very small bit then work your way up

This and go very slowly with as much pressure as you can

http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php/topic/63056-drilling-a-brake/

This thread might help

OK I gave the cobalt bit a try, smallest one i had. Didn't touch it. I usually do my own muzzle pinning but this may have to be done elsewhere with a carbide bit and a drill press

Cobalt should do the trick..its Russian hardened steel right? My 74 style brake was a bitch before I got a cobalt 1/8 bit. It went through like butter.

Im going to head to lowes tommorow and get a new bit then give that a go. thanks everyone for the input so far

Do you intend to weld over the pin? Why not just tac weld the brake to the barrel?

I did not intend to weld over the pin. The barrel is 16.5" inches without a comp or brake on it. I was under the impression that it meets length standards already but needs to be made NJ compliant by at least blind pinning. NJ does not specify

 

EDIT: Seller just messaged me back and said this:

 

"Hello,

You can't drill through it. It is heat treated to be hardened, but you may be able to grind through the outside to get to the slightly softer inside."

You need the drill press. Or even more preferable, a bridgeport style mill.

The surface is usually harder than the rest of the item.  The surface gets "surface hardened" by heat treating.  On lots of stuff I've had to drill, I've used  a grinder to knock off 1/16 of an inch of metal on he surface at just the place where I need to drill.

 

I've read about (but never tried) using a center punch to "disrupt" this surface hardened layer.  If you can center punch it, at least your bit won't slip.  And then drill with a small bit.  Be aware that the inside surface will be hard too and it's common to break a bit when you reach that layer after drilling through the soft and chewy center.

I guess i can try grinding that first layer off in that one spot. Im not overly concerned with asthetics of the brake at this point, i'll give the grinding a try

If your near carneys point you can use my drill press.

just got it, all went smoothly. blind pin recessed jammed in with silver solder over the pin and sanded flush done deal

Nice! Whats this going on? Pics please

So what was the secret?  how did you drill it. 

Exactly what the guys above said. i used a dremel with a carbide tile cutting bit to gradually grind a hole in the surface by changing angles and using the edge of the bit. Once i got about 1/16"+ through i used some oil and put some of my weight behind the drill with a tiny cobalt bit. it slowly began to give way the deeper i got. I snapped one titanium bit but the cobalt did just fine. Because i had to grind the initial area so wide i ended up covering a larger portion of the area of the finished product with epoxy that i will also sand flush when it hardens. its not pretty, there are a bunch of scratches but its done. I'll put some pics up after the epoxy dries.

Why a mason bit chief? Get a small pinpoint punch and tap a dent into it then get a tiny carbide bit should easily work.

Why a mason bit chief? Get a small pinpoint punch and tap a dent into it then get a tiny carbide bit should easily work.

Not sure why. I guess I tried to just n use what I had and not buy extra bits. I'm glad it worked ill post after painting

 

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