Question about Contenders

[quilbilly]

A long time ago I picked up a 10" barrel 7mmTCU with a factory Muzzle Tamer (T/C version of a muzzle brake). The barrel is a sweet shooter but I quit shooting it due to the Muzzle Tamer after I shot it one time without ear protection (I did get the deer though). Is that Muzzle Tamer threaded on or permanently affixed? If it is threaded on, it would be wonderful to put a suppressor on it someday.

[Parson]

Retired gun smith here, everyone I ever saw 20and30 years ago were glued on

[Iowa Fox]

Retired gun smith here, everyone I ever saw 20and30 years ago were glued on

Yep, if the brake was a TC install they used a press fit with a locktite type product. Heck the 10" barrel without a brake is enough to blow your ear drums out with plugs or muffs.

[Nobade]

Yes, if you heat it you can get the brake off. They are not threaded. Terrible design, makes it louder but doesn't do much of anything for recoil reduction. If you are going to shoot it with cast bullets you'd be well advised to get rid of the brake - your accuracy will be much better without it.

-Nobade

[richmanpoorman]

Talk to GEMTECH. They could remove that *** and thread it for a suppressor.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Had one of the on a 14" 223 Contender barrel I sold it fast just to dang loud

[quilbilly]

That is what I was afraid of. Thanks for all your help. I have a TCR barrel in 338 WM that has the same Muzzle Tamer on it and it really does make a difference with full house loads but will blow your hat off when you touch a full house load off. Switching to CB's in it a few years back I discovered that once the MV dropped much below 1850 fps, the muzzle brake ceased working. Noise levels were acceptable and blowback gasses were gone. Now I use it for affordable long range shooting out to 500 yards at an MV of just under 1800 fps (boolits destabilize under 1650). With that lesson in mind, yesterday, I tried that 10" 7mm TCU barrel with 4.9 gr of Bullseye and it was downright pleasant to shoot! Next step is to chronograph the load and then see if those 140 gr. boolits are stable at 30-40 yards while saving the regular loads for my TC carbine in 7mm TCU. I will definitely look into GEMTECH if suppressors become legal to use to hunt in this state but in the meantime if this experiment works, I can think of lots of uses for a 140 gr boolit at 1100 fps.

[quilbilly]

Update - 4.9 gr of Bullseye give a chronographed MV of 1070 fps from the 10" ported 7mm TCU barrel. At 20 yards the 140 gr. boolits made nice round holes so are stable at least that far and although only five shots were tested at that range, 4 of 5 went into a 1-1/2 inch circle.

[mcdaniel.mac]

A long time ago I picked up a 10" barrel 7mmTCU with a factory Muzzle Tamer (T/C version of a muzzle brake). The barrel is a sweet shooter but I quit shooting it due to the Muzzle Tamer after I shot it one time without ear protection (I did get the deer though). Is that Muzzle Tamer threaded on or permanently affixed? If it is threaded on, it would be wonderful to put a suppressor on it someday.
I just had 4 barrels (3 Contender, one Encore) threaded by a gentleman in Texas. I paid I think $15 to ship them to him, and sent a check for $220 that covered the shipping back as well. I can pass along the website and name if you'd like. Wouldn't be difficult to have the tamer removed either.

I'll snap some pictures as soon as I get everything reassembled.

[quilbilly]

I just had 4 barrels (3 Contender, one Encore) threaded by a gentleman in Texas. I paid I think $15 to ship them to him, and sent a check for $220 that covered the shipping back as well. I can pass along the website and name if you'd like. Wouldn't be difficult to have the tamer removed either.

I'll snap some pictures as soon as I get everything reassembled.
I would like to see that.

[mcdaniel.mac]

I would like to see that.
Still waiting on a set of lugs and spare afternoon, but I got the .357 barrel together. Switched to a Navy-style 3-lug to see if that works better. The .30-30 and .44 Mag barrels won't be getting a mount unless I decide to switch to the Dead Air KeyMo system for my hybrid.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170506/b3e3ac42f543587462d65d8049828ce9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170506/0dd61d9f60db25127ae3bf1a363c58f4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170506/e77b557748c6df47d65e1abc4dbd8d36.jpg