Here's my old Smith Enterprise, Inc. slip on flash suppressor that they used to make especially for the 10/22. It uses a single set screw on the bottom to fasten it to the barrel. Even when using blue Loctite, I had one come off and go downrange at Williams Gun Sight's outdoor range, never to be seen again. And believe me, I looked. I hate losing anything that costs as much as that did. To avoid having it happen again, I cross-drilled my front sight, and filed a V notch in the second muzzle brake with a three square file. I pounded a roll pin into the hole and trimmed the ends flush with the sight base and touched it up.
Later, I swapped out the standard front sight and William's peep sight for a pair of Tech-Sights. You can see where I had to notch out the to rear of the brake to clear the screws on the sides of the Tech-Sight. With no cross pin, and not trusting the set screw, I needed to come up with another way to secure it. So I dimpled my barrel for the set screw, and used Green Loctite Retaining Compound for bonding sleeves and cylindrical fitting parts. I ground the tip of a machine screw to a point to fit the barrel dimple and screwed it in, securing it with more green Loctite to form a permanent bond (or so I thought
). Then I cut the screw off, filed it flush and sanded it down, and used instant blue touch up on it.
I had to drill out the screw to remove it, and tapped the flash hider off with a plastic mallet. I re-drilled the barrel dimple, touch up blued it, and filled it up with Amazing Goop automotive adhesive. Later, I installed the threaded adaptor seen in other recent pics, after I filed clearance for the front sights screws and repainted it. I re-tapped the screw hole in the Smith Enterprise flash hider to a larger size, and spent a long time scraping out the old Loctite with a small screwdriver. After a lot of scraping, I put some 120 grit sanding cloth on the shank end of a large twist drill bit, chucked it in my 1/2" drill motor, and polished out the the inside of the hole, including the bottom of it.
After all of that work, I cleaned it up with "unnatural"
(denatured) alcohol, let it dry, and sprayed it with a bunch of Rust-Oleum High Heat black spray paint. I tried to get a thick layer inside the hole sine it was always a loose fit. It was Flat BBQ Black, but wiping it with an old rag polished it up, just like my AR-15 barrels I painted. Rust-Oleum High Heat Spray Paint retains color and finish up to 1200º F. You can apply it to grills, wood-burning stoves, engines or other metal items, and it provides rust protection. Most Rust-Oleum paints withstand surface temperatures up to 200° F, 1,000 less than the High Heat paint.
Now I have one more extra part to throw in one of the big cardboard boxes full of stuff I'll probably never use again. Too bad, because the screw-on muzzle brakes that Smith Enterprise still makes are $80.00 each. It's like having a bunch of money in boxes that I can't spend, and will be thrown out when I die. I don't sell anything on eBay or Face***k, or I'd try to get some of my money back on this thing. And my walnut stock, which has an extended butt pad to fit normal sized men.
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