On my 15-22, the black ring at the front of my handguard keeps coming off. Luckily it can’t get past my muzzle brake. All four fingers are locked in tight, but the little critter still tries to come off. I guess it just can’t take the massive recoil. Any suggestions?



The brake is home made, makes it look like a Tiger don't it?

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Doug Stump

That's strange, I haven't had any problems with mine coming lose. I have removed mine a couple times but it seems to lock in tight when I put it back on. Did it always do this or is it something that it recently just started doing? How many times do you think you've had it off? Are all the tabs still in good shape or are they getting worn/rounded off?

My other thought is that maybe your barrel or flash hider is slightly off balance or not seated properly... if there is an odd vibration when shooting and it's rubbing against the plate then it could be working the end plate lose although this seems unlikely as the vibration would probably need to be fairly strong to unseat the tabs... Perhaps you could enlarge the hole on it so that the barrel doesn't touch it and see if that helps? Otherwise, no idea.

It's come loose three times in 300~350 rounds fired. Twice without the brake (and I actually found it) and once after I made the brake. Every time I have put it back on it seems to lock in tight, but works loose somehow.

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Doug Stump

turn it 45 degrees and reinstall it should clip in the holes in the forearm not the grooves... sorry if im assuming your doing it wrong but thats the only reason i can think of it coming loose

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07/SOT2
NRA Instructor

I do clip it into the holes, there's nothing to hold it under the rails. For the life of me I can't see why it's coming loose.

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Doug Stump

5 minute epoxy or super glue should keep it in place and be able to be hidden from sight. Or a hammer, I know my dad could fix anything with super glue and a hammer.

Id guess also that brake is causing the barrel to flex and allow it to work loose. Thats a darn sturdy looking brake also.

Duct tape guys, duct tape. It doesnt fail

If it doesn't move and it should: WD40
If it does move and it shouldn't: Duct Tape

Mine also walked out after a couple hundred rounds. Problem was not with the rifle but rather the operator.

Below is the correct position to properly snap into place. Belt_Fed is correct. When positioned 45 degrees from the below pic it will walk off.

Attached Images

DSC02396.jpg (44.3 KB, 131 views)

That was my first thought as well, not being clipped into the holes, but DougStump has already said that he is clipping it into the holes and it's still coming loose. So it must be something else causing it to do that.

Perhaps he should simply try and get a replacement end plate from S&W. He indicated that it happened even before he put on his muzzle break so it's possible that it was a defective part from the factory.

Since we can't physically look at it the best we can do is just toss out ideas. I don't know what else could be causing it that hasn't already been suggested though. *shrug*

If I was in Vegas.... I'd place a big bet that Doug is as convinced as I was that I had the end cap properly positioned... but I didn't. My hunch is that he'll have a 'Oh I see' moment as I did (and regularly do)

There's a chance that one of the clips is not in, but bent out. I tried to force mine into position that way too. I think I've tried just about every way possible to improperly install the end cap. Haven't tried backwards yet... but I've only had the rifle a few months

Anything is possible Phil... but he did previously state that there's nothing to clip onto in the grooves when he said he has it clipped into the holes. So that leads me to believe that he understands how it needs to be installed. If it was a single occurrence I'd be inclined to agree with you since that was my first thought as well. But it seems unlikely as he seems to understand the correct position of it yet it's happened multiple times and apparently continues to do so.

So either that was the issue and perhaps he's embarrassed to have made the mistake and admit it... which he shouldn't be if that's the case. I messed it up the first time I took it off and quickly realized my error, it's no big deal. Or it's something else causing the issue.

But yeah, it's pretty much impossible for any of us on here to definitively determine what's going wrong until we hear more back from him on it.

Just leave it off and let your barrel free-float. Mine's been gone for 2 months and i haven't looked back. Mike in TX

The end cap was properly positioned and clipped into the holes for at least the last two times it fell off. After the first time it went AWOL, I paid particular attention to secure it properly. I’ll just have to wait and see if it comes loose again. I won’t attach it by any permanent method just in case I want or need to remove the barrel. If it comes loose again I might just take it off and end the problem. I guess plastic is as plastic does.

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Doug Stump

Wow. That muzzle brake. It looks so much cooler than I thought a large brake would look on this rifle. How does it work? Is it loud? How much would you charge? That is a good looking well machined piece of craftsmanship.

Tacticool22,

Well, it must be working as I don't feel much recoil. But it doesn't make a .22 sound like an 88mm!

Right now it’s a slip-on & held in place with a set screw. I wanted to make it out of aluminum, but couldn’t scrounge up any (I’m not going to buy a ten foot stick of 2 inch round stock for a four inch long project). But I was able to get a short piece of black Delrin type plastic. I scaled it up another tenth of an inch from what I had planned to give the slip over part a bit more meat. If I ever get around to threading the barrel ½x28 then I’ll make a thread on model that’s much more to scale. But right now, ridiculous is fun.

If there are any home machinists here, I turned the front end and part of the back end on the lathe, but didn’t bore it out for the barrel yet. I needed to clamp it in the milling machine by the nose and tail to cut the slots & was afraid that if bored out it wouldn’t have enough support. After I milled out the slots, I had trouble getting it back in the 3 jaw lathe chuck to finish the back end. No matter what I tried, two of the chuck jaws were over the holes. Then the light bulb went on. I put a piece of masking tape over the hole in the center baffle, taped a piece of toilet paper roll around the front holes and filled the front half up with Cerosafe! The next morning I chucked it back in the lathe and finished the back end. Then off to a pan of hot water to melt out the Cerosafe. I’m going to remember that the next time I have to turn/mill something hollow, as long as it can stand up to hot water.

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Doug Stump

Don't mean to sound like more of an AH than I usually do, but why fool around with set screws?

Since I haven’t threaded the barrel yet, and the brake is a temporary made out of plastic, using a set screw on the bottom was the best solution.

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Doug Stump

That's a plastic muzzle brake in the pic?

Yep! I can get you the plastic type when I get home from work. Basically, it’s a Delrin type plastic with molybdenum sulfate mixed it. They said it’s (normally) used for plastic bearings. It sure machines nice, and they had a two foot piece left over from a previous customer. It’s not painted, that’s the natural color.

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Doug Stump

Wow! Never would have guessed it was plastic. How does it compare with the weight of aluminum, and would it hold up well to threading with the barrel?

When I get home I can weigh it and make a guess about what an aluminum version the same size would weigh, but I’ll bet the plastic is a lot lighter. It threads very well, but you’d have to use a coarse thread just like aluminum. Your threads have to be larger than the metal (or plastic) grains and I doubt that 28tpi would hold. When I decided to make it out of plastic, I scaled it up .1 inch more, so it’s bigger than I originally intended. If I ever get around to threading my barrel 1/2x28, I’ll make one out of aluminum scaled properly to the barrel. It does get some interesting comments at the range.

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Doug Stump

you can allways thread a metal glug and press it in so that you have nice clean threads and light weight

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07/SOT2
NRA Instructor

The plastic is "Nylatron GS" and as is it weighs 2.5 oz. Depending on what alloy of aluminum it would weigh anywhere from 5.5 to 6.0 oz. That would probably be too heavy.

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Doug Stump