I have an AKMS (7.62 caliber underfolder AK) with the slant brake and wonder what the hive thinks about putting the AK-74 style brake on it? I have always like the look of the 74 brake and hear that it is an improvement over the slant brake. Where is the best place to get one? It does not have to be US made as I have pretty much replaced the entire rifle with US parts and have more than enough US parts.

In the store.Three types to choose from.Good prices.K-var also makes a 74 brake.
Arizona Response Systems
 

I have one listed and available for sale:

Muzzle Brake

I have one of those that I have yet to put on my rifle but plan to buy one of the 'real' bulgarian ones with the baffles and the halfmoon design soon.

I put a 74 brake on the WSAR that I converted over, and I could tell a difference with fast follow up shots.  



I had to but on one of those 24mm thread adapters, and so far it has held up great.

Added 1 on my AK. Got it off gun broker cheap. Threaded right on, fits & works great.

When a K-VAR 24mm U.S. made "AK-74" brake was used on a full auto Chinese AKS, there was a perceptible reduction in recoil, but muzzle rise seemed to be unchanged.  Both of these conclusions were based on "seat of the pants" shooter impressions after firing 10-shot bursts, and were comparisons to the factory slant brake.

My conclusion was that the brake is effective at reducing recoil, but the added length makes its utility questionable on a rifle valued for being short and handy.

How do you "time" these 74 style brakes?

For a rifle with a 24mm muzzle thread, you thread the brake (righty tighty, lefty loosey ) onto the muzzle until it stops, then back it up to where the detent pin locks the brake in place.  Just like a slant brake on a 14mm muzzle.

For a rifle with a 14mm muzzle thread, you must first thread on a 14mm-to-24mm thread adapter (lefty tighty, righty loosey aka "reverse" or left-hand thread), then follow the steps for installing on a 24mm threaded muzzle.

FYI:  It can be a PITA to remove a 24mm brake from a rifle using a 14mm threaded muzzle.  The detent pin will be WAY down in the brake's detent notch, requiring a scribe or other small metal probe to move the detent to the rear for brake removal.  This is the case, even though the 24mm brake has a triangular-shaped cut at the front of its detent notch which is supposed to eliminate this problem.  It works well, but only with the higher position of the detent pin on the 24mm front sight base, AND the larger diameter of the "24mm style" detent pin.

You can also use a 14mm brake.

i had one on a a wasr underfolder and loved it i dont know how much it helped but it did.  Cut down on recoil  and muzzle climb for me.

Is  there anything I can use as a shim or something like a crush washer then? My slant brake has some play in it and I would like the 74 style brake to be more solid.

I bought some peel washers to do that, but I havent had a chance to test that out yet... the tapco slant brake looks like itll fit better (I have one) and I have a bulgarian -74 brake on the way w/ adapter and that will allow for finer adjustment to make it fit correctly I believe.

As long as your 74 brake will thread on to the point that it touches the front sight tower, you can carefully sand on the back of the brake so that it "times" (aligns with the detent pin) right at the point the brake tightens up against the front sight tower.  It is important that you keep the brake vertical when you are sanding it.  Using a sheet of sandpaper on the kitchen counter (or other "surface plate") will get the job done.  Depending on how many degrees the brake is "out" to begin with, it might take a bit of sanding to get it timed.  This is the same process that some people use to time a slant brake, which serves both a cosmetic function and will also tighten up a brake with loose threads such as yours.

If you modify (Dremel) an AR peel washer to fit over the larger outside diameter of an AK muzzle, then that would certainly work as well.

For an even easier solution, some people have reported having good results when using teflon tape on the muzzle brake threads.  I haven't tried this, but have heard it works from several members of this site.

I picked up some high temp silicone o-rings in two sizes.
I ordered two sizes. The first was a little two big for me. the second seemed to work. They are thin. Thicker might be better in some ways, but these 1/16" cross section ones fit between the barrel and the muzzle brake detent pin. They're soft and tend to walk if tightened too aggressively. I oiled them up first to allow some slippage. Seemed to help a little. No need to over tighten.

PM me and I'll send you a couple of each size, no charge.